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2005 Prius to Light Duty Pickup Truck Conversion

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Ruudh, May 23, 2016.

  1. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    Wow, good for you. I had enough trouble keeping the various computers happy as I moved or removed components/sensors I no longer needed.
     
  2. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I keep everything with the harnesses, place main components, then do what I have to to satisfy components so codes aren't set. Tony Rish on Facebook. I only have a few pics of my electric subi on there. I let the website go because I took on more at the college, but if you want to see my fabrication work, look at my Facebook Vega album, and also Electric Revolution Motors on Facebook. That is the only page I maintain for the business any more, and that really needs more recent stuff. There are some pics of the electric VW conversion I am working on, as well as the Cabrio. I need to learn to document more, but when I am in the zone, it is hard to remember to stop to take pictures. I wish I knew more about coding, it would make it all much easier.

    XT1585 ?



    XT1585 ?
     
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  4. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    How about the "Priup"?
     
  5. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I like Prickup. It is the best.

    ASE Master tech with advanced level L1, F1, L3(electric/hybrid). Full time CSU system educator Auto Department. former Toyota T-10 instructor, EV conversion, plug in hybrid conversions and hybrid repair.How about Hilux Coup?
     
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  6. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    Doesn't matter what you want to call it guys. It has been called "Pruck" for several months now and I don't believe it is going to change.
     
  7. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    Hahaha...well

     
  8. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    once you name them, they won't answer to anything else.:cool:
     
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  10. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    Here is a picture of how I got the cooling air to the battery via a set of six 1" ID plastic hoses, since there was not enough room to route a regular dryer hose or something like that. The fan had to be relocated since the intake ducting grossly interfered with the cargo bed location. IMG_3010.JPG
     
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  11. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    Good solution.

     
  12. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    Thanx. The cooling fan is now located on the right side between the cargo bed and the rear passenger door. One of the other major issues I had to address was structural strength, since the Prius is basically a unibody construction and has no "frame" like regular trucks. Cut away the upper rear quarter of the car and you have seriously compromised the structural integrity, and my guess is that if I opened the rear doors, and then put a 700 to 800 lbs load immediately behind the driver, the vehicle would buckle. I increased the strength of the structure by 1) welding the rear doors shut to make them an integral part of the body and 2) running 1.5" tubular steel welded between the roof structure and the lower part of the rear fender well. I illustrated this via a "stick" figure, which I'll try to add to this post. I've had sporadic luck including photos/illustrations. Structural strength.jpg
     
  13. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    I was wondering about that. Even while changing HV batteries, I have noticed that sometimes the hatch and doors sit a little funny.

     
  14. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    You are a wise man.. I thought I did, but I guess I haven't given sufficient consideration. Today was a typical summer day in Florida and I went on an errand run where I guess the Pruck sat in direct sunlight in various parking lots for about 2.5 hours. Outside temperature was 92 DegF. I watched the (lower battery sensor) temperature climb to 105 DegrF by the time I finally pulled into my garage. So I guess I need to do something extra to shield the battery from ambient and radiation heat. I'm open to any suggestions. I am still seriously considering running a dryer vent hose from the driver's underfloor AC outlet to the compartment that houses the HB fan, and then setting ther AC distribution accordingly on hot days. The battery temperature stays nice while underway, but once parked in the sun, it doesn't recover even when underway again.......
     
  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    but that may be true of any prius. do you have previous metrics?
     
  16. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    They make heavy duty insulation available through MSC or maybe Grainger that I used to use in the turbo diesel generator bays on musician's touring coaches. It is available in varying thicknesses and comes in sheets or rolls, it is layers of (wool?) fibers interwoven with thin aluminum layers. Insulates and works very well as sound deadening.

     
  17. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    Those numbers aren't actually very bad. Pretty typical of what I see here in AZ. The battery is a mass of insulated nickel that is slow to change temperature EXCEPT when generating its own heat internally.

    If you are providing the blower fan inlet with cool interior air and exhausting the post-battery air overboard, you are probably fine, but you need to establish your inlet air temperature is notably lower than your TG1, 2 or 3 when the interior is comfortable. You should also note your battery speed setting, 1-5 is pretty much normal... 6 is oh sh!t! battery is hot.
     
  18. tony2ltr

    tony2ltr Member

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    The ductwork to access the AC is a great idea. At some point during the training I had on these cars, the Yota engineer said the AC will kick on in the car for the battery cooling to access colder air when the battery fan couldn't keep up. that is why the intakes were in the back seat, but it was a long time ago, and had never heard of that or seen it since in training.

     
  19. S Keith

    S Keith Senior Member

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    I didn't see this until now. If those hoses are directing A/C cooled air directly to the cooling fan inlet, or its general vicinity, you are probably fine. I'd collect some more data. The key is the air inlet temperature or inhaling air temperature (can't remember what the HV battery ECU calls it). If that's getting down to 0-10°F above your A/C set point or lower, you're good.
     
  20. Ruudh

    Ruudh Member

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    So here's what I decided to do. There are 2 AC outlets under the front seats, each about 5.5" x .75" (shown in picture #1). No-one is sitting behind either seat anyway, so I'll plug up the outlet under the driver seat, and fabricate a small duct (prototyped in cardboard in the second picture) that ends in a 4 or 5 square inch opening,.and route a small dryer hose directly into the bottom of the (sealed) compartment that now houses the blower. The third picture shows the other inlet for conditioned cabin air behind the passenger seat' View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179 IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG View attachment 111179 IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG View attachment 111179 IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG View attachment 111179 IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG View attachment 111179 IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG

    So this is what I have decided to do. Under each of the front seats there is an A/C outlet, each about 5.75 x .75". There is no back seat, so I'll plug up the one under the driver's seat, and made a plenum adapter for the one under the passenger set that terminates into a 2.5 or 3" house which I'll route into the compartment that contains the blower. Second picture shows the adapter prototyped out of cardboard. IMG_3491.JPG IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG The last picture shows the existing inlet into the blower compartment behind the passenger seat. IMG_3491.JPG IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG IMG_3491.JPG IMG_3495.JPG IMG_3494.JPG
     

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