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Fitting the electric drivetrain

A project log for Mitsubishi E-clipse

1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX (4WD) conversion to pure electric power.

jarrodJarrod 03/16/2017 at 19:020 Comments

There are a couple of issues to overcome with the Smart EV drivetrain being retrofitted into my Eclipse, Firstly, the motor mounts are of course wildly different so I've had to grind off the left side mount to make room. A new mount will be fabricated for this spot..

I'll also fabricate a mount for the other side, both will be welded to the subframe.

Next issue is that the electric drivetrain gearbox will only work in one orientation, or else it will leak oil out of it's vent hole and the gears will not be correctly lubricated by the built in oil channels. This means the differential must be on the other side of the engine bay. Unfortunately it collides with the suspension crossmember (which has an indent for the original gearbox differential)

So this requires some more grinding..

I'll have to weld some extra support around the hole to make up for the structure I've cut out. But it just about fits now

Getting close to the steering rack, I'll need another cm or so to allow for vibration isolation.

To check alignment I ran a string from the center of one wheel to the other and used a laser line to indicate the axle center. Need to get this as close to central as possible to reduce loss in the CV's

Just a little further and it'l be spot on.

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