It has been a while since my last update. My inverter control board was off getting repaired, the cold weather, rain and snow made outdoor work either unsafe or unappealing, and right up until the break I was buried with work. But getting there again now. With everything else ruled out I decided to focus on my battery pack and charging. If you’ve been following … Continue reading Charging ahead
It turns out that the inverter board failing and me smoking some components (see last installment) was just the beginning of a week of technological disasters for me. My broadband router failed, wiping out a morning while I tried to cobble together a working arrangement until I could get hold of a replacement. In the middle of that, my web server (actually a virtual instance) … Continue reading Rebuilding enthusiasm
This week I have mostly been focused on getting the car wired up. Inverter connection housings With the battery box and inverter mounts in, the first issue I had to solve was the connections on the inverter, which were now fouled at the back by the firewall and at the side by the wheel well/strut housing. I tackled the low voltage connections first, looking at … Continue reading Weaving the loom
Another week or so of big progress. Tomorrow (sore muscles permitting) I will test fit the motor and gearbox for the first time. Adaptor Plate Over the last week my daughter and I have measured and drilled the holes in the two halves of the adaptor plate (marking them out with a transfer punch), bolted them up to the motor and gearbox respectively, welded on … Continue reading Making the adaptor plate
[2020-07-19] With the motor running and the rain falling yesterday, I put some time into the electronics that will run the car, beyond the inverter. I stripped out the existing ECU (what BMW calls a DME) from its neat little hidey-hole up against the driver’s side bulkhead in the engine bay. It sits in one of a pair of slots under a water-proof cover and … Continue reading Doing the can-can-CANbus
While I wait for the car I’ve started sketching out the electronics and particularly the bus systems I will need to tap into in order to keep things like the instrument panel working. The ZRoadster forum has been absolutely invaluable here with links to wiring diagrams and service manuals for the Z3. Z3s, which were built on the E36 3-Series platform, use two different bus … Continue reading CANBus & BMW diagnostics
