Looking towards the back you can see part of the rear suspension that prevented me from having the hole any larger going back. The black rear break lines are also visible, they did have to be re-routed slightly, just some hand bends and a new clap to make sure they would not rub on the battery box.
The next couple pictures show how the rear batteries will be placed in the battery boxes. The support for the battery box has been installed. It is a simple structure made up of some steel strap and angle that hangs the batteries from some of the beefier parts of the Audi structure.
Looking under the car, the angle makes it look like it hangs down but it is actually about an inch higher than the floor. I may make a belly pan to prevent snow from getting packed around the batteries in the winter.
I made another mount that bolts to the adaptor plate for the over the motor battery box.. A battery box will sit between the far motor mount and this angle.
The wood is temporary to make sure the batteries fit. Battery box will span the same area.
Checking for clearance, with an inch and a half of wood there is still a gap between the battery and the hood. This will give room for the added height of the battery box.
I picked up some 0.080 5052 aluminum sheets from Storm Steel, a local metal supply shop, to make battery boxes. Thanks to Doug for his help and the use of this well supplied shop, we sheered and bend up the battery boxes in an afternoon.
Doug has a really well supplied shop, he offered to pre-drill rivet holds in the end caps using his CNC mill. This was a quick way to get a dozen holes with 1 inch spacing. It's good to have tools but it's better to know someone with tools who knows how to use them.
Rear battery box riveted together and sitting in place. I used AN426 and AN470 rivets that I had leftover from when I built my RV-8 airplane. The rivets on the bottom of the box are countersunk AN426 so the boxes would sit flush. Rounds head AN470 rivets were used on the sides. I had fun bucking rivets again, maybe I need to build another plane? I still need to make mounts to support the front edge and something to tie into the old seat belt attach points.
Another shot of the box and the tight fit to get 13 batteries across the little TT.
Still working on the front battery boxes, Lower front is almost done, needs the added 3 cell pouch on the front. The over motor box still needs the end caps installed.
My parts pile is getting low, I need to order parts to get Audi power brakes and power steering functional again. Until next time.
You said you've got 50 batteries.
ReplyDeleteSo if I've got the count correct:
11 (front) + 8 (above motor) + 3 (battery pouch in engine compartment?) +
13 (passenger area)
That leaves 15 in the sunken gas tank box.
Is that correct?
I'm seriously considering the same conversion, but with a convertible roadster and I don't think I'd be able to get any in the passenger area. I may have to go with smaller capacity battery.
Good luck with your project.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct on the 15 cells in the sunken box, I have one row of 11 across the box and a row of 4 cells turned 90 degrees. I will get some pictures when I get the box installed.
I have not looked at how a TT roadster top folds but I would expect it to take up some room. If you are not worried about trunk space the box could go back there and there is always the spare tire well.
Let me know if you start a build.
I'm dealing now and will probably buy the roadster.
DeleteWhat has been your biggest challenge so far?
I've never welded before, but I think I can practice and build the motor mount shown in your pictures and I could probably even build the angle brackets like you have.
I'm a bit scared about the TT's ECU computer and all the old ICE wires . I suppose you just terminate those with the appropriate resistor.
The biggest challenge so far has been finding time to work on the car. Everyone asks when it will be done. My response is Thursday, I just tell them which Thursday. There have been a number of small problems, trying to get the fuel tank out, Finding room for batteries, making things fit where I want them. That is the fun of doing a conversion.
ReplyDeleteI don't have the ECU tackled yet but one thing I found is that the 2000-2001 TT have a more basic interface to the instrument panel than later one do. It is mostly single lines to light warning lights, there is a CAN bus but as far as I can tell this is for the message center. I will be taking the throttle signal direct from the peddle and not trying to use the ECU to control my throttle. This makes things easier but I will be giving up cruise control and air conditioning. Just a couple tradeoffs I have made to so that the conversion is easier. I have most of the ICE wiring harness out of the car and have removed unneeded wires for coils, fuel injectors, and such at the ECU connector. You will want a service manual with a good set of diagrams even then I find them confusing and require a bit of studying to understand what I am looking at. This is part of the time problem; I would rather be building battery boxes that studying wiring diagrams. It will all get done in time after all I have until Thursday to get it done.
I ran into your blog and I am truly intrigued. I have been thinking to do this with my TT and I am happy to see that you have already done it with yours. A question still perplexes me. Can this conversation be applied to a 03 TT Quattro with a 6 speed manual transmission? Being that the kiddos are on the way, I would love to do this conversation to keep the car and avoid having to give in to the "mini van"... Help dad save his TT. heheh
ReplyDeleteMy take is you can convert anything, it just takes more work on some. I kind of lucked out when I ended up with a 2000 TT to convert. After 2001 they started using more CAN bus and less discrete wiring. Some ways this is easier and some harder. You either have to keep the ECU with more inputs spoofed or you can spoof the CAN bus. The problems with this is to get the data off the existing CAN bus because Audi will not give you this data. The tuner community may be able to help you with this. As for the Quattro drive, it will get in the way if you try to sink the batteries into the back seat area like I did. I also understand that the Quattro system's torque vectoring is controlled via CAN bus. If you are not a hacker type who likes the challenge of getting to software you may want to go another direction. But an electric minivan could be fun also.
DeleteHi Alan, I've been converting my 200 Audi TT Quatro for a while now and havn't really thought about the torque vectoring. do you think it will cause an issue if I don't try to hack the system and just leave it as is? Also what did you do to connect the gas pedal with the throttle box? Audi TT's have an electronic pedal and I believe you would need a regular cable pedal in order to connect it to a throttle mechanism.
ReplyDelete