Convert Electric Truck to Diesel?

[retmil46]

Here's the scenario -

I've got a 1981 Ford Courier/Mazda B2000 pickup, that was constructed new as an electric by a company called Jet Industries in Austin TX. It was originally sold to a phone company in Portland OR, and I picked it up from the 2nd owner in Port Townsend WA back in '94, when I was stationed at the sub base in Bangor WA.

I had it shipped back home to NC in '97 when I retired from the Navy, and spent a couple years updating the motor controller, electronics, battery charger, new DC traction motor, etc. I went over everything else on the truck as well - tires, shocks, suspension, interior, rear diff, 12V electrical system, even had it repainted.

I actually used it for commuting to work for about a year before I quit tinkering with it. Two main reasons for that. One, with my normal daily commute, a set of batteries would only last about a year before they required replacement because of insufficient capacity - and the price of buying twenty golf cart batteries in one shot every year greatly exceeded any savings in gas money. Two, I got tired of having to play Battery Charging Electrician all the time, a constant effort to keep the ting in proper operating condition.

When I parked it over 6 years ago, the truck itself only had around 25 K original miles on it. Body, interior, and all the running gear are still in excellent shape.

Here of late, I got to thinking that to make it a useful pickup truck, I could remove all the major electrical hardware, and install an older VW diesel engine in it - one of the older models that's still mechanically injected with a wastegate turbo. The truck still has the stock drivetrain with a 5 speed manual tranny and 3.31 rear end - the electric motor is bolted to the tranny with an adapter plate and coupling to the flywheel and clutch.

Once you removed all the electrical components, you'd have a clean slate to work with - no exhaust system, no fuel tank, nada, that you'd normally have to deal with converting a gasser to diesel. The main points would be fabricating some workable engine mounts, and coming up with an adapter plate to mate a VW diesel engine to the stock tranny.

In stock gasser form, this type truck had a 2.0 L four banger gas engine, and weighed all of 2000 lbs sopping wet - with a 1500 lb cargo capacity. The gearing on the tranny and rear end are almost identical to that used by VW on their diesel vehicles. The electrical schematic for the entire vehicle fits on an 8 X 15 sheet of paper, and it came stock with a 35 amp alternator - this was about as basic a truck as you could get.

Any opinions or ideas?

[kerry]

Sell it and buy a diesel truck. Isn't there a pretty good market for electric vehicles? Hell if I were close I would consider it. I almost bought an electric Le Car conversion 20 yrs ago. Have far were you commuting with it?

[roflwaffle]

Don't molest it, sell it. Even if you don't want to stick a proper set of LFP batteries in there I'm sure someone else will. You can use any pickup with a blown engine for a diesel conversion.

[OMEGAMAN]

Please post some pics. How about the wiring diagram.

[The Clk Man]

Sounds like it would be a great project to mess with.

[retmil46]

Gents, as Mr. Spock said in one episode of Star Trek, "you'll find that 'having' is not as desireable as 'wanting'" - especially when it comes to the reality of the care and feeding of an electric vehicle.

I spent the better part of 10 years trying to make the bloody thing useful and user-friendly. Just too much of a PITA constantly having to be your own engineer, mechanic, electrician, etc, checking and and adding water to 20 batteries every week, sweating bullets on range if the DOT throws a detour at you on the drive to work.

Do a Google search on "Ford Courier" or "Mazda B2000", and you'll see what type of truck we're talking about - electric part aside, do you think anyone would really want a 30 year old bare bones compact pickup with NO AIR CONDITIONING?

That's one other reason I'm looking at converting it to diesel - I could finally rig up workable A/C on the bloody thing.

I could make far more money selling off the components - 30 hp DC traction motor, 144V/800 amp controller, 40 amp dc/dc converter - than I could selling the truck itself.

And I don't want a behemoth diesel pickup as they sell nowadays - and not the piss-poor fuel economy that goes with them - something the size of this Courier with a small diesel would suit me just fine.

[BobK]

I second the motion to sell it as is or as parts. Then buy an '80s era Isuzu pickup with diesel from factory. Small truck with good motor. There were other small diesel pickups back then too. Just find one in NM. Heck VW made a very small diesel pickup '80-'82. later ones had the 5spd. I had an '80 with 4spd and it got around 40mpg.

[compu_85]

I disagree. If the body is straight I'd consider the swap. It's easy to find a motor. It's hard to find a rust free body that doesn't have a million hard miles on it.

You can probably sell the electric kit to recoup some costs.

-J

[TwitchKitty]

Originally Posted by BobK

I second the motion to sell it as is or as parts. Then buy an '80s era Isuzu pickup with diesel from factory. Small truck with good motor. There were other small diesel pickups back then too. Just find one in NM. Heck VW made a very small diesel pickup '80-'82. later ones had the 5spd. I had an '80 with 4spd and it got around 40mpg.

Bingo. On target. Give the man a box of Cracker Jacks.

Or, just tow a trailer behind a MB diesel wagon on the rare occasion that you really NEED one.

[whunter]

Originally Posted by retmil46

Gents, as Mr. Spock said in one episode of Star Trek, "you'll find that 'having' is not as desireable as 'wanting'" - especially when it comes to the reality of the care and feeding of an electric vehicle.

I spent the better part of 10 years trying to make the bloody thing useful and user-friendly. Just too much of a PITA constantly having to be your own engineer, mechanic, electrician, etc, checking and and adding water to 20 batteries every week, sweating bullets on range if the DOT throws a detour at you on the drive to work.

Do a Google search on "Ford Courier" or "Mazda B2000", and you'll see what type of truck we're talking about - electric part aside, do you think anyone would really want a 30 year old bare bones compact pickup with NO AIR CONDITIONING?

That's one other reason I'm looking at converting it to diesel - I could finally rig up workable A/C on the bloody thing.

I could make far more money selling off the components - 30 hp DC traction motor, 144V/800 amp controller, 40 amp dc/dc converter - than I could selling the truck itself.

And I don't want a behemoth diesel pickup as they sell nowadays - and not the piss-poor fuel economy that goes with them - something the size of this Courier with a small diesel would suit me just fine.

The electrical components are still desirable, and should sell.

An OM615 - 616 will easily fit the space.
IMO you can fit the OM617 NA or turbo with a bit more effort.

.

[compu_85]

I'd think the 617 is too heavy... they got small 4 cylinder gassers normally right?

It's not hard to convert a TDI to mechanical...

-J

[vstech]

I told you when we were looking at your Liberty that it would be COOOL to look at the truck!
I'd like a crack at it.

[whunter]

Originally Posted by compu_85

I disagree. If the body is straight I'd consider the swap. It's easy to find a motor. It's hard to find a rust free body that doesn't have a million hard miles on it.

You can probably sell the electric kit to recoup some costs.

-J

That is how I would do it.

.

[Walkenvol]

Toyota, Datsun/Nissan, and Isuzu all sold small diesel pickup trucks in the US in the early 80's. VW also sold the rabbit truck diesel during this era although it probably didn't have similar payload capacity of the others. One of the regular forum posters has a Datsun in his signiture with 400+K. Surely a patient search would turn up a viable candidate. Hard to believe the electric model would be worth less?

The Jeep comanche pickup is a good candidate for the OM617 due to the turck having both a 4 cylinder and straight 6 motor option with several successful projects converted to MB diesel to be found on the net. I find it easier to learn from other's experience when possible.

Bottom line though is its yours to do with as you see fit. Good luck!

[whunter]

Originally Posted by compu_85

I'd think the 617 is too heavy... they got small 4 cylinder gassers normally right?

It's not hard to convert a TDI to mechanical...

-J

The VW TDI would be sweet for space and power to weight ratio.

.