2005 Prius to Light Duty Pickup Truck Conversion

Wow, good for you. I had enough trouble keeping the various computers happy as I moved or removed components/sensors I no longer needed.

 

Doesn't matter what you want to call it guys. It has been called "Pruck" for several months now and I don't believe it is going to change.

 

Here is a picture of how I got the cooling air to the battery via a set of six 1" ID plastic hoses, since there was not enough room to route a regular dryer hose or something like that. The fan had to be relocated since the intake ducting grossly interfered with the cargo bed location.

 

Thanx. The cooling fan is now located on the right side between the cargo bed and the rear passenger door. One of the other major issues I had to address was structural strength, since the Prius is basically a unibody construction and has no "frame" like regular trucks. Cut away the upper rear quarter of the car and you have seriously compromised the structural integrity, and my guess is that if I opened the rear doors, and then put a 700 to 800 lbs load immediately behind the driver, the vehicle would buckle. I increased the strength of the structure by 1) welding the rear doors shut to make them an integral part of the body and 2) running 1.5" tubular steel welded between the roof structure and the lower part of the rear fender well. I illustrated this via a "stick" figure, which I'll try to add to this post. I've had sporadic luck including photos/illustrations.

 

You are a wise man.. I thought I did, but I guess I haven't given sufficient consideration. Today was a typical summer day in Florida and I went on an errand run where I guess the Pruck sat in direct sunlight in various parking lots for about 2.5 hours. Outside temperature was 92 DegF. I watched the (lower battery sensor) temperature climb to 105 DegrF by the time I finally pulled into my garage. So I guess I need to do something extra to shield the battery from ambient and radiation heat. I'm open to any suggestions. I am still seriously considering running a dryer vent hose from the driver's underfloor AC outlet to the compartment that houses the HB fan, and then setting ther AC distribution accordingly on hot days. The battery temperature stays nice while underway, but once parked in the sun, it doesn't recover even when underway again.......

 

So here's what I decided to do. There are 2 AC outlets under the front seats, each about 5.5" x .75" (shown in picture #1). No-one is sitting behind either seat anyway, so I'll plug up the outlet under the driver seat, and fabricate a small duct (prototyped in cardboard in the second picture) that ends in a 4 or 5 square inch opening,.and route a small dryer hose directly into the bottom of the (sealed) compartment that now houses the blower. The third picture shows the other inlet for conditioned cabin air behind the passenger seat' View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179 View attachment 111179

So this is what I have decided to do. Under each of the front seats there is an A/C outlet, each about 5.75 x .75". There is no back seat, so I'll plug up the one under the driver's seat, and made a plenum adapter for the one under the passenger set that terminates into a 2.5 or 3" house which I'll route into the compartment that contains the blower. Second picture shows the adapter prototyped out of cardboard. The last picture shows the existing inlet into the blower compartment behind the passenger seat.