My Dusty 71 GMCe Electruck

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by CG

I have a 65 Corvair I think would be neat converted. Its automatic with a bad engine. But 100 miles isnt much of a range around here, maybe 200 would work that way I could go and come back without having to sit at a charging station.

Im pretty sure I could have the drive train on the Corvair rebuilt for less than an EV conversion even if its from the Good Enough Garage =)

you just reminded me that I need to put out a video where I go over the How To Pick A Car For An EV Conversion Flow Chart !

[Gregski]

so I finally found a 3rd Gen (2007-11) Lexus GS450 at a [ahem] local junkyard, think only 180 miles away, so I decided to meet it in person. Believe it or not I have converted my 1971 Chevy/GMC pickup truck to electric using parts off of this animal yet I have never seen one in person nor sat in one and made funny engine noises, so I figures it was time...

Pick N Pull has an online inventory search lookup thingie, and although it tells you if they have the vehicle you are looking for, they do not tell you what parts it has remaining and what has since already been sold and parted out, so it's a crap shoot, but it was either this or sit on the couch and eat a bag of Cheetos

Top Tip: Note the Set Date, that is when the vehicle arrived at the yard, this one says 3/11/2025 so that was only 10 days ago, that is worth the risk, you would not want to drive 3 hours to hope to find parts on a car that has been sitting in that yard for 3 months already, as it would have been picked to the bone.


Fiddy Shades of Gray!


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[Gregski]

Unfortunately the inverter (upper left hand corner of the engine bay by the orange hoses) had already been extracted Gorilla Style and the inverter plug was lopped off, although in a civilized close to the plug manner, more on this later

[Gregski]

Hey G-Money what's the point of you visiting a junkyard and getting more 3rd Gen hybrid Lexus parts, aint your truck already converted to electric, ronnin' and drivin'?

Yes, correct, it is, but I am preparing for Phase III of the project and hope to setup a second set of transmission/inverter/battery pack in a workbench formation for testing in preparation for switching from the legacy VCU to the ZombieVerter !

[Gregski]

so among the short list of parts one needs from the Lexus GS450h to do a rear wheel drive American Muscle Car / Truck electric conversion is the drive shaft, or at leas the 3 prong drive shaft flange

please note the rear flange is not the same as the front flange and will NOT mate to the transmission output shaft (thank you Lexus, Not!)

I did not notice the cut in the driveline until the photo opp and needless to say I was a bit pissed, anyway I pointed it out to the Pick N Pull cashier and she charged me for a single piece driveshaft $68 Denarius, instead of a two piece one, which apparently is cheaper, and I thought was more than fair, so thank you

[Gregski]

the transmission crossmember is strictly optional but when Artur The Great asks for one, you pull it, unfortunately this one was damaged, wonder if this is a common failure point due to the 1,000 Nuclear Meters of torque this transmotor is capable of putting out [allegedly]

[Gregski]

going to build two of these Motor Run Test Stands, many reasons to have them, one being ability to test the new VCU aka the ZombieVerter which I plan on using in Phase III of the project


Motor Mobilizer 3000


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[Gregski]

got both motor stands built, got no more excuses to not work on the actual truck

[CG]

Originally Posted by Gregski

got both motor stands built, got no more excuses to not work on the actual truck

Exactly! Looking forward to progress pics and vids.

[Gregski]

so got another truck update for you all [well sort of] in this video I explain in excruciating detail how we connect a high voltage DC battery to an AC electric motor

GMCe DIY EV Pre Charge Circuit Contactor Box


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[Gregski]

bigger 24 kWh BMW battery pack going in tonight, this should give me a range of just over 80 miles

the patented porcupine design

Last Pic: modules arranged in installation formation
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[Gregski]

well then I saw this mess and I just couldn't let it go...

[72 tigger]

Your vast skills and knowledge are impressive!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Your vast skills and knowledge are impressive!

appreciate the positive feedback, thank you

[Gregski]

So now lemme tell you what I'm not supposed to tell you, the extra curriculars

so it all started with me wanting to relocate the water pump which then led me to this, replacing the radiator, and I did this for a couple reasons, first I got tired or using many reducer hoses to step down from like 1 1/2 inches down to 3/4 for the Tesla water pump and even further down to 5/8ths for the inverter, and transmission

and the second reason was cause the darn bottom outlet port on my stock Chevy radiator headed straight for the passenger side frame rail, so I needed a narrower radiator, complements of this sexy 2014 Nissan Versa

[Gregski]

Mandatory Stare 'n' Compare

the new Versa rad has only 1 1/8th inch inlet and outlet

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[Gregski]

all moched up

notice how the bottom outlet clears the frame rail now - Winning !

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[yuccales]

Can't imagine how long a printed out "Dusty" dna would be!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by yuccales

Can't imagine how long a printed out "Dusty" dna would be!

ha ha, probably not as long as his younger brother's Rusty's here: Restorying Rusty

[Gregski]

you all ever werk on your car and say ahhh I'll do that later, well looks like now it's later for the Greg and he is going around and a fixn' everything he should have done did right the first time

here I am finishing loomin' the OEM headlight wire harness, I swear once I run out of this corrugated split wire loom (pronounced: cheap crap) I am graduating to that sexy braided expendable wrap like all the cool kids be runnin'

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[Gregski]

I swear there's a wire mess every where I look, that green and yellow wire bundle is the stock rear lights harness, and all I really have going to the OEM bulkhead (everything else was engine related and has been deleted) is the red wire which supplies main 12v power to the OEM fuse box in the cockpit, the tiny black wire is the signal for the Prius EPAS Electronic Power Ass. Steering, this should get cleaned up tonight, so that my brain can function and not be distracted



that's a little gooder


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[Gregski]

then it was time to tidy up this fugly Prius power steering mess, note the unclipped zip ties, how recluse it that?


I can live with this


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[Gregski]

Progress Not Perfection

I live my life one module at a time!

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[Gregski]

so glad all the heavy liftin' is done

[pjmoreland]

Looks really good. I'm looking forward to seeing how the two motors do now that you've got the input shaft locked.

I see you went with Ford V6 cylinder numbering for your battery pack numbering scheme...