DIY Electric Vehicle Diaries #1

I purchased my first car two weeks ago, Sunday, June 6th, 2021. It was a big day because after months and months of searching and what seemed like endless research, I had finally found the donor vehicle for my electric vehicle conversion.

After a quick trip to the hardware store, I was ready to take out the engine to replace it with the electric motor, but that’s easier said than done. I began by removing everything that looked like it belonged to the engine which included tubes, plastic covers, and the whole engine wirng harness. It wasn’t easy though; a lot of times I would reach plateaus where there was nothing I could do with what I had. Sometimes screws wouldn’t turn, connectors just wouldn’t come off, and things were too hard to reach. But little by little, I made steady progress, and everything finally started to come together.

And after watching hours and hours of engine removal YouTube videos, I was ready to take bigger steps towards progress. To get better access to the engine bay area and all of the parts is housed, I removed the bumper, bumper bar, and the radiator/radiator fan assembly. With access to so many parts to take out, I grabbed my torque wrench and went on my merry way. It hurt a bit tearing apart my dilapitated MINI but I had to keep my vision to the future, when this MINI would breathe life into its soul again (hopefully).

A couple more days pass as I make slow progress on the car, slightly overwhelmed by the giant expanse that is the engine. Sometimes it would feel like there was too much to do, and I found myself asking if I would ever get this done constantly. All of the wires, tubes, spilled coolant, and bumps in the road that kept popping up made this whole process unbearable and very unpleasant.

At times when I couldn’t handle the engine anymore, I would preoccupy myself with other things that needed to be removed like the exhaust and the fuel tank. I choose to stick to removing the exhaust because I was tired of spilling liquids and wasn’t trying to get a whole tank worth of gas spilled all over the backyard. So I detached the back of the exhaust from the car, grabbed the two exhaust pipes, and gave it a yank. It didn’t budge much so I looked under the car and found a plate holding the exhaust up in the middle of the car, out of reach. I sat back, thought for a minute, and tried shimmying underneath the car to untighten the bolts holding it to the car. My head got stuck going in from the side of the car so I went in from the back, where there was more space to move about. I made it to the plate holding the exhaust in place, undid all of the bolts, and the exhaust fell to the ground. The exhaust blocked my exit so I had to get some assistance helping me to shimmy back out.

With the exhaust detached from the car, I gave it another yank. There was a little more movement but it was still stuck. I went to the front of the car where it used to be attached to the engine and tried pushing the front end through a tight area to set it free. Nothing. With the engine in the way, it was hard to get a good grip on it and push out of the engine area, so I chose to put off this task until after the engine was out, that is, if I could ever get this dreadful engine out.

I got back to the engine with a clearer head and ready to take on the challenges it threw at me, eventually getting to a point where only a few more things were still attached to it. The next day I jacked up the car, set it on some cinder blocks, and prepared to take the axles out from the transmission. What I thought would take me a couple of minutes turned out taking me a couple of days as things didn’t turn out exactly as planned. I was able to take the front wheels off but it was a hassle trying to get the axles out. Not really knowing what to do with this big bump in the road, I grabbed my computer and watched probably a dozen or more YouTube videos and tutorials on axle removal. After some trial and error, I purchased some tools for the job and it worked! Using a ball joint separater I managed to release the arms holding the axle to the frame of the car. And to get the wheel-side end of the axle loose, I twisted off the bolt holding its end in place using a torque wrench and a jack stand to push the end of the wrench up, popping the axle nut loose.

With some help, the transmission-side end of the axle was detached and out of the car completely, leaving me with removing the last of the wires, cables, and coolant pipes from the engine. And just like that, on June 16th, 2021, the engine was completely unattached to anything except for the engine mounts. I was delighted about the accomplishment made and that I was one step closer to getting the engine out!

For the next two days, I planned about how I was going to take the engine out. I had the engine crane set up already, but it was time to prepare it for use. I had planned on using chains to lift it out, but they were too big to attach to any parts on the engine and too short to wrap around the engine. My dad had some seatbelt-like rope that had a high weight rating and was long enough to wrap around the engine, so he securely wrapped it around the engine, leaving a loop at the top for the engine crane hook to grab on to. I was feeling a little nervous because all of the hours spent taking this huge machine out was for this moment.

I took a deep breath and cranked the hydraulic pump on the engine crane, lifting the crane up a few inches. Another crank. A couple more inches. Two more cranks. The seatbelt tightened its grip. Another crank. The crane hook was pulling the engine up, but the mounts were preventing it from moving any further. I darted over to the engine mounts and carefully unbolted them from the car and then darted back to the engine crane to lift the engine out of the car. I had this constant horrifying thought nagging in the back of my mind that the engine would slip out of the seatbelt and crash on the ground, damaging the transmission which I needed so badly. My hands were shaking but I just kept on cranking until, with a lot of help, I was able to pull the crane with the dangling engine out of the car and push it over the forklift pallet where it would stay. To lower the engine onto the pallet, I slowly twisted a knob counterclockwise, depressurizing the hydraulic pump and lowering the engine. It lowered slowly and settled on the pallet, perfectly balanced and upright.

I can’t sum up the feeling of accomplishment I felt from getting that big chunk of metal out of the car. All of those long days of work for this. I felt accomplished, but only for a few sweet moments. I still have many more long days to go in this electric vehicle conversion. But at least now I will be primarily working with the electrical aspect of the car. And it felt good to have a clear working space, although it could use a lot more cleaning to make it suitable for the electrical components. My next task would be connecting the electric motor to the transmission, and measuring under the hood to prepare for the placement of the electrical parts that will control the car. It seems a bit daunting but one step at a time will get me where I need to go.