[llninja]

...so I'm going to build my own. I already have a 3/4 ton Suburban sitting in the driveway. Last week I picked up a wrecked Volt with a seemingly good drivetrain from Chicagoland. I also have a line on another wrecked volt in a junk yard in Ohio that I hope to get for a steal. The plan is to rip out the ICE of the Suburban, stick a Voltec powertrain in the front and in the back, and put both batteries in the wagon area of the Suburban. I know I'll have to take an acetylene torch and do some welding to get this to work, and I'm probably way over my head and will be asking for tons of help on this forum (especially WOT), but since VIA Motors won't sell me anything as I'm not a fleet owner, and it doesn't look like GM is going to ever build a Voltec Subyukonade, I'll be spending my nights and weekends trying to build my own.

Wish me luck.

 

[Bill Step]

does this day have anything to do with this?

 

[srmarti]

Either a very ambitious DIYer or an April fools joke. Whatever.

 

[Raymondjram]

I find it easier just to drop the Suburban body over the Volt floor and chassis. If I had that crashed Volt, I would have a new fiberglass body built around it, but not as big as a Suburban.

 

[ChiVolt]

Wait!!! Don't waste your time building one!!!!

You can have ours from that time my wife and I were on MTV's "Pimp My EV Ride". We'll charge it up and point it toward your house. ...Besides, we don't use it nearly as much as we thought we would.

 

[Bacardi]

You might have got me if you had said "New month incentives means a lease deal so good that even I couldn't say no!"

 

[WopOnTour]

llninja as per your PM here is some of the VIA motors data I have to support your project.
Given the fact you are using a Volt powertrain and TWO Volt battery packs (~32-33kWh) in comparison to the VIA 24kWh RESS I predict you should garner close to 55 miles AER!

The trick will be to encompass the Volt's HVAC and an electric power steering into your Suburban. If you can find a wrecked current generation Suburban (2014 or newer) it would have a 12V electric power assist system.


Good luck on the project and know that you can count on my support, where I can help

WopOnTour

 

[llninja]

llninja as per your PM here is some of the VIA motors data I have to support your project.
Given the fact you are using a Volt powertrain and TWO Volt battery packs (~32-33kWh) in comparison to the VIA 24kWh RESS I predict you should garner close to 55 miles AER!

The trick will be to encompass the Volt's HVAC and an electric power steering into your Suburban. If you can find a wrecked current generation Suburban (2014 or newer) it would have a 12V electric power assist system.


Good luck on the project and know that you can count on my support, where I can help

WopOnTour

I haven't had AC in this Suburban for about 5 years, so that isn't an issue. Though I hadn't thought about the power steering yet. I did run low on power steering fluid before where the pump whined like crazy and it felt like manual steering. That won't be fun or else I'll end up with Popeye arms. Thanks for the 2014 electric steering suggestion. Although, now you've got me wondering, maybe I should just fine a wrecked Via, steal its drivetrain, and use the bigger volt battery for longer range. I haven't even checked whether the voltages will work out or not. Plus I've already got the wrecked volt, there's no turning back now.

So maybe with version 2.0 I should start with a 2014 Suburban instead of a 1995 one. On a side note, I wonder how far I'll be able to drive on ICE with my Suburban's 40 gallon fuel tank. When gas was near $4 per gallon, I recall near $160 fillups.

 

[supchrgamx]

good luck

 

[saghost]

This seems like it could be a great project, with enough coding skill and access to GM source code to sort it out. Sadly, I suspect we'll be hearing a different tune tomorrow...

 

[llninja]

@WOT

I think the brakes will be interesting too. I'm also worried about what to do with the brake system as trying to stop this beast as well as doing regen might be hard to get right. But I'm willing to go full-on manual mode where I could use some joystick-like potentiometer to dial in the regen and use the brake pedal for friction brakes.

As for the twin T shaped batteries, since they come in segments, I think I should be able to reconfigure the Ts into several straight lines similar to the way that Russian put a second Voltec battery in his hatch.

 

[llninja]

This seems like it could be a great project, with enough coding skill and access to GM source code to sort it out. Sadly, I suspect we'll be hearing a different tune tomorrow...

Yes, tomorrow I'll be at Church and won't be able to hit the garage until late afternoon after service and bible study. Lots of praying to figure out how to make this work. Given the vast amount of space under the hood, I'm wondering if I might be able to fit two voltec drivetrains under the hood, one to drive the front wheels, another to mate to the center driveshaft. Maybe a couple of U-joints so one can be on top of the other.

 

[scottf200]

Yes, tomorrow I'll be at Church and won't be able to hit the garage until late afternoon after service and bible study. Lots of praying to figure out how to make this work. Given the vast amount of space under the hood, I'm wondering if I might be able to fit two voltec drivetrains under the hood, one to drive the front wheels, another to mate to the center driveshaft. Maybe a couple of U-joints so one can be on top of the other.

I'm pulling for you to get those multiple drivetrains working...

 

[llninja]

I'm pulling for you to get those multiple drivetrains working...

Pulling.... that's funny.

 

[2VoltFamily]

Is it me or does anyone else notice that everything GM makes on the truck chassis (suburban, tahoe, etc) seems to have at least one running light burned out. I would say 95% of everyone I see on the road has this issue.

 

[rmay635703]

Others have done what you propose, if you want it reliable you want to keep everything as close to oem and basically skate board it having a Volt that still thinks it's a Volt.

Something like this is easiest
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/1946-chevy-prius-truck-34935.html
Body on skateboard if you measure and plan well "may" result in steering and more lining up.

Other helpful hints are that salvage ELRs were last I checked, were cheaper than salvage volts.

I would get the exact track and wheelbase for both volts and the ELR then compare to various years and makes of suburban, Tahoe s and blazers.
Sometimes you surprise yourself (Volt has the same wheelbase as a 1990 blazer)

Diyelectriccar and ecomodder have skilled shade tree mechs who can help with design

OEM might actually happen, diy your gonna want a FWD 5speed stick and a Nissan Leaf motor on the rear axle but things get complex fast.

Good luck and make a project on either ecomodder or diy depending on which method you choose, converting a suburban is electrically complex, making a Volt skateboard with a subframe and suburban body is mechanically complex.

I know which I would do.

 

[llninja]

Others have done what you propose, if you want it reliable you want to keep everything as close to oem and basically skate board it having a Volt that still thinks it's a Volt.

Something like this is easiest
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/1946-chevy-prius-truck-34935.html
Body on skateboard if you measure and plan well "may" result in steering and more lining up.

Other helpful hints are that salvage ELRs were last I checked, were cheaper than salvage volts.

I would get the exact track and wheelbase for both volts and the ELR then compare to various years and makes of suburban, Tahoe s and blazers.
Sometimes you surprise yourself (Volt has the same wheelbase as a 1990 blazer)

Diyelectriccar and ecomodder have skilled shade tree mechs who can help with design

OEM might actually happen, diy your gonna want a FWD 5speed stick and a Nissan Leaf motor on the rear axle but things get complex fast.

Good luck and make a project on either ecomodder or diy depending on which method you choose, converting a suburban is electrically complex, making a Volt skateboard with a subframe and suburban body is mechanically complex.

I know which I would do.

Well, there's no way a Suburban, Tahoe, or blazer will match the track and wheelbase of the volt, but I wonder if I could take the skateboard of the model S.... hmmm.

 

[ampera_jed]

You'd not need to use Voltec to achieve the same result.

Just stick a Leaf axle set in the rear. The original engine would then be the 'REX'. It can both drive the front axle AND can recharge the battery pack too whilst driving (if necessary).

 

[rmay635703]

Well, there's no way a Suburban, Tahoe, or blazer will match the track and wheelbase of the volt, but I wonder if I could take the skateboard of the model S.... hmmm.

Never know until you measure stuff up and find out what moves, what can be removed and what can be bypassed. A Volt skateboard might only work for the front tub but so what, subframe to the skateboard for the rear tub and gain hitching point.

Other option if you have 2 volts is to overlap and stitch the 2 volt skateboards together to get your desired wheelbase.
Those is exactly what limo places do but if you can find a junk ELR your driving dynamics will be better.

 

[llninja]

You'd not need to use Voltec to achieve the same result.

Just stick a Leaf axle set in the rear. The original engine would then be the 'REX'. It can both drive the front axle AND can recharge the battery pack too whilst driving (if necessary).

I forgot to mention the current Suburban is 2wd, not 4, so the ice in front only drives the rear wheels. I'd have to transplant an AWD version of the transmission/transaxle assembly to achieve what you propose. Plus mixing of an American and Japanese case seems blasphemous to me.