Bonsai Charge, Part 1: the 60-day Leaf (maybe)

TLDR:

• I got a very cheap 2013 Nissan Leaf S with 'cosmetic' damage, but the guy I bought it from never transferred the title so now I can't get it titled easily.
• I now have a 60-day temp tag.  Bonding for title is completely not worth it.  Yeah, I could just talk to the guy again and see if he'll do the proper title stuff.
• I was going to ask GRM for input on what to do, but I think I've convinced myself to keep it as a "Leaf" for the 60 days and then it gets shredded/composted into donor parts.

Note: I'll try to put any actually useful Leaf technical info into Somebeach's "Leaf for EV swap" thread.

Basically, I bought this Leaf off a guy who had bought it in 2023 from an auction but never transferred the title and only drove it on his own property (yeah or whatever, 1k miles/ year is still a lotta laps around a horse corral).  On the phone he said it had a clean title but he had "never registered" it.  That should have been a clue for me to ask if this clean title was in his name.  Oops.  Anyway, at some point someone in his family supposedly DUI'd the Leaf into a tree/ fence/woodpile.

I had already come up with two major 'branches' of possible projects I wanted to do with a Leaf: 1) modify the thing but basically keep it as a Leaf; 2) use the motor/drivetrain as a donor to convert some other car.

My basic unit of reference for everything is a Mk4 Golf.  Anything larger is too bloody big to justify its existence (at least, as a single-occupant vehicle, if not more generally).  Leaf is almost a foot longer than Golf.  The stackup of Leaf + Golf doesn't fit in my driveway w/o sticking out into the sidewalk, which is unacceptable.  Kinda difficult to clip the overall length of a Leaf, but that doesn't mean it is impossible...

I 'need' ~70miles of range to drive around recreationally.  I think the battery has fairly typical degredation (for a 2013 leaf) so I expect it has maybe 60-ish miles of range, depending on a bunch of stuff.  The "S" trim level does not have DC fast charging.

Aerodynamic drag is proportional to CdA (drag coefficient times frontal area).  It takes a lot of work to improve the Cd a huge amount.  OTOH, the frontal area...

First things to do

• clean the interior, recycle the Monster Energy cans and .22LR brass
• get LeafSpy app and check on the battery
• remove the "Zero Emissions" lettering, or cross it out and write "Reduced FSU-Index" instead
• probably add "NOT A TESLA" or something similar.

Very interested to see what happens with this!

Oh for sure this needs to be powertrain swapped into a smaller and much cooler platform. 

A few suggestions for your consideration:

Always wanted an ev powered mg midget....

I'll post a useful update eventually, but a couple teaser pix (which hopefully I won't regret):

In reply to Oapfu :

Oh boy, i can only hope that little wooden coaster is the target of a driveline swap!

bbbbRASS said:

In reply to Oapfu :

Oh boy, i can only hope that little wooden coaster is the target of a driveline swap!

Me, too!

I reckon that's what Oapfu plans to drop the pack onto after liberating it from the Leaf shell, and still have it "mobile" instead of being a multi-hundred pound garage filling paperweight

edit
on second though, maybe not, since the central board seems not quite wide enough to really give the pack a steady place to rest?

hobiercr said:

bbbbRASS said:

In reply to Oapfu :

Oh boy, i can only hope that little wooden coaster is the target of a driveline swap!

Me, too!

Y'all are pretty close, in an indirectly-meta kind of way.  Sleepyhead is correct that it needs a couple additional 'outrigger' crosspieces for stability.  Overall I'm amazed that the thing mostly worked.  I cheated and bought lag screws and corner braces, otherwise everything was all crap lying around the garage from other failed projects.

But I'm planning to put all that in a separate "Part 2" thread.

I got a nastygram from the HOA management b/c the Leaf has been sitting in my driveway under a too-small car cover held down with ugly orange ratchet straps.  Or maybe I should say there was a high likelihood of potentially being or becoming a nastygram?

The Association has reasonably determined that an alleged violation of the community governing documents has occurred or is occurring...

I am so totally done with the mouse smell of this Leaf.  At first it felt weird dismantling/destroying the newest car I'd ever bought, but now I have no problem making this thing an ex-Leaf.

Supposedly the Leaf kills its stock 12V lead-acid battery (Group 51R) fairly quickly, and a larger capacity battery has better longevity.  Weak 12V batteries are known to cause all kinds of problems and errors (including some super-scary brake booster fails).  I may not care long term, but I needed a new battery right now just to figure out if the various DTCs were real or not.  So far (only 6 months) I have had good-ish luck with an H7 size Weize ultra-cheap AGM I stuffed into my GMT355, so I got an H5 for the Leaf.

Group 86 (stock for GMT355, fits in Leaf okay but this one is dead too); stock Leaf size 51R; Weize H5 (Group 47) AGM:

H5 obviously requires new hold-downs (1/4" PVC sheet would NOT be acceptable for real).  H5 should fit even w/o the cutoff, and also should fit with the headlight in place.  Brilliant idea: let's bolt the negative cable's ring terminal against painted sheetmetal!

I got the cheapest 7in round LED headlights on Amazon.  Later I decided I'm not really going to bother mounting 'em.

Forbidden bubblewrap? Laminated windshields make cool crunching noises.  If you fold and jump on it enough, a complete windshield will easily fit inside a 35gal wheelie bin.  The world's nastiest shower curtain liner kept most of the glass contained.  That is surprisingly tough stuff.

I'm not really sure what is going on here, but I know it's bound to be endlessly entertaining in a GRM sort of way.

Leaf roller skate  it seems, but what's  gonna be the top hat!?! 

I'm in either way. 

Um....  if you end up selling the drivetrain, I could be a buyer....  for reasons.

Looking forward to seeing what you're cooking up. Nissan Leafs have been on my radar since I found out about this build. Seems like a lot of fun GRM-type shennanigans are possible
 

wvumtnbkr said:

Um....  if you end up selling the drivetrain, I could be a buyer....  for reasons.

The drivetrain, including inverter and charger!

I know this doesn't really fit with your current goals for this project, but if you like your rollerskate, you could give it a major upgrade!

https://www.theautopian.com/some-geniuses-are-swapping-brand-new-chinese-batteries-into-dead-nissan-leafs-for-over-250-miles-of-range/