OldVolvo

For sale interlude: I have decided to sell my Volvo 123GT from 1969. For the time being I am still busy rebuilding the electric Volvo Amazon wagon and I need all the resources (time and money) for that. I cannot keep all future restoration projects. All ins and outs and many photos are on my blog https://www.oldvolvo.com/blog/for-sale-rare-volvo-123gt-from-1969/

Using the 3D scan and after making 3D models of the Volkswagen PTC heater and the modern evaporator designing the new heater box became much easier. From the design back to a cardboard mockup to validate fitment. Some more room needed to attach the two Spal blowers.

3D scanning now comes in handy! Much more convenient than crawling under the dash and balancing the evaporator and PTC heater. Should have adopted this way earlier! Only challenge is that I need to learn to work in Fusion 360 instead of Onshape as the latter cannot import and process this type of scans.

Test fitting the modern plate airconditioning evaporator and the Volkswagen air PTC heater under the dashboard of the Volvo Amazon. It is tight but should fit without having to modify the firewall again. Best chance is with the PTC high voltage connector towards the steering column.

In June I worked on the new HVAC box by cutting up the old one. The heating element was damaged and I want to upgrade to the Volkswagen PTC heater I reverse engineered. I will keep the top blower including it's mount. Maybe I can also repair and retain the original Frigiking F500 airconditioning front.

Last idea in April was to just make beams straight to the front and prototyped that in wood. Made them from steel in May and installed then towards the end of June. Slowly some progress on my own car in busy EVcreate times.

In April I've also worked on the motor mounts. The Engiro motor only has mounting points at the back and in the middle on both sides. For the middle the car does not really have a convenient spot to mount to. Bought MG motor rubbers and explored some options in CAD as well as in the car. Work in progress and evolving as I go along.

Exploring alternative locations for the inverter. Unfortunately it is too big to be installed on the firewall. That would require modifying it again and would take up too much interior space. So the best option in the end is all the way down on the subframe.

From CAD to car. Then it took until mid April when I worked on the car again and checked the intended position of the inverter. Not ideal since the premade cables from the Leadrive inverter to the Engiro motor are a bit too short.

Still in the last Christmas holidays in January I explored the battery box possibilities since it had become clear how much the Engiro motor could go into the tunnel. Two MEB modules next to each other was tight but would fit ending up with 5 in the front. Inverter on top is visually nice but not easy to achieve. Good news: much lower center of gravity than with the Siemens motor and Tesla battery modules.

Upgraded my Cembre crimping tool from a hydraulic to an electrical one. Also bought the special indent die set for the Engiro motor lugs.

Time between cutting into the Volvo Amazon tunnel from the parts car and cutting into Voltvo was about 4 months. Since I'm so busy with EVcreate R&D and supporting others doing conversion it took until the Christmas holidays before I found time working on my own car again.
But the dummy Engiro motor was in in January this year.

Some June 30th flashbacks.
2018 = Received my first 3D designed parts for mounting the Tesla modules
2019 = Fabricating the custom heater and airconditioning box
2020 = Assembling the painted car
2021 = Spontaneously caught fire when parked
2022 = Disassembling and prepare for cleaning
Now in 2024 making some progress again. Will post some further updates soon!

Quickly added an original throttle pedal. Not bad at all! I will modify the throttle to create some more space. But overall I'm quite happy with how the motor fits. The tunnel needs to be widened a bit on each side but not too much. Now having the motor where the M400 gearbox used to be will make a huge difference.

After placing the gearbox support and adding some reinforcements, I was able to partially cut out the tunnel and it was time to fit my dummy Engiro motor. The most important questions are: is there enough space left around the accelerator pedal? And: How far can/should the motor go back?

To squeeze in the Engiro motor I need to cut the tunnel of my Volvo Amazon wagon. Since it was flame galvanized I want to do this first time right. So last summer I bought a middle section of a Volvo Amazon that was cut up already from DinkyCorgiToys. Thanks guys! Now I have a nice test bed.

To make the motor connection cables for my Engiro motor I need a fairly specific crimp. This is a 70 mm2 DIN 46234 indent crimp. After some research, a Cembre HT61 turned out to be the best tool in combination with a specific die set for this type of crimping.

Nine years ago on April 10th 2015 I met Anne from New Electric. It was at the very beginning of my Volvo Amazon EV conversion journey. I really liked the engineering and pioneering atmosphere. Thanks Anne for inspiring me! Still very happy that I bought my first parts with you and the adventure that started back then.

Still a lot of work and a long way to go but Voltvo will be back on the road even 'greener' ;) and better. To be continued.

The motor is indeed a very powerful Engiro motor. It is tuned with a six phase Leadrive inverter. Peak torque is 670 Nm and peak power is 227 kW. Enough for a direct drive implementation. So dropping the gearbox and it's noises! Only downside is the weight. It is almost as heavy as my previous Siemens / DMOC setup, but more than twice as powerful.

Thanks to "a little help from some friends", I unloaded the new motor for Voltvo with my sons on a beautiful summer day last year. Who recognizes this motor? Further details and information will follow.

I ordered two sets from the lasercutter. One out of aluminum to practice my TIG welding skills and one out of steel to assemble quickly. Won't fit easily in the narrow tunnel of the Volvo Amazon but does not seem impossible. With a bit of luck it could perhaps be squeezed into the tunnel almost completely. In this setup there would not be a gearbox anymore.

Time to catch up with some updates. In my blogpost 'Rear wheel drive EV conversion motor options' I wrote an Engiro motor would be the ideal way forward https://www.oldvolvo.com/blog/ev-conversion-motor-options/ (after a Tesla small drive unit directly powering the wheels). I could not let go that idea so in Februari last year I made a dummy to see if it would fit at all.

My website has been renewed! The English version is now accessible at https://www.oldvolvo.com and more translations will be added. I completed my conversion blog as I stopped bloggin in 2019. Furthermore the electric/Voltvo section has been expanded with the former Voltvo website (the result) and a section about the fire as well as the rebuild. Stay tuned for more news about thats soon.

That was a nice first day of the Volvo fair of the Klassieker Vereniging. Under the impression it was less busy than other years. Nice conversations and seeing nice people (again). Great positive open attitude regarding conversion to electric. Also sold some parts together with my son. Tomorrow is another day. Shoutout to Alain from Volvo Lotte Collectie for (in my opinion) the stand that really created the best atmosphere at the fair.
It was a beautiful day (the day of the autumn equinox, by the way)! See you tomorrow.

Preparations for the Volvo fair by the Volvo Klassieker Vereniging in Rosmalen tomorrow. You can find me at H.12. I'll be selling some parts I collected over the years and will not be using anymore and of course as for all ins and outs for converting to electric.

New insights in the cause of my electric car fire! Building on responses I received after publishing my blog post I was able to link events that I had not identified as being relevant before. Now the fire seems to be less 'sudden' and perhaps even better explained. Read the addendum on my website: https://www.voltvo.nl/what-caused-my-electric-car-fire/

Today it's been exactly two years since our electric Volvo Amazon wagon spontaneously caught fire during our travels in Sweden. Now it's time to share my thoughts on what might have caused the fire in a blogpost. https://www.voltvo.nl/what-caused-my-electric-car-fire/ It has become quite an extensive analysis. I'm curious what you think.

Great to see that the car I decided to let go was being picked up in style by Volvo Lotte Collectie.

Our good old Volvo 940 that made it possible to continue our trip in Sweden after the Volvo Amazon had caught fire received a well deserved wash. It has driven 605.000 km (of which 150.000 by us since September 2016) and just received a fresh MOT. Still going strong.