2006 iTech, let the mods / upgrading commence

hi all.

i thought i would start a thread for the mods / upgrades that i do to the prius while i own it, hopefully that will be a LONG time

this will be the thread where i will be posting all of the pics and info for the upgrading /modding of the 2006 iTech Pruis...

over the following 3 or 4 weeks from now (april 23 2014) all of the following will be installed...



Whats in the boxes ?

a pair of nice new OEM headlights to replace the old and faded ones on the car now.



the headlights will be fitted with a new set of osram nightbreaker globes too.



raintracker will be installed.

this is the SINGLE biggest thing i miss from my last car.
the Golf had rain sensing wipers, the Prius doesn't (for now )

Hella LEDayLine 5 DRL kit will be installed.



steelmate parking sensor kit (8x sensor front and rear, with LCD screen)
i have already had the sensor heads painted so they match the silver on the car...



and the following will also be installed...



they are from the top...

24mm Progress rear stabilizer bar, with upgraded corolla bolts and nuts
Juiced Hybrid Mid brace plate
Tanabe front underbrace
Tanabe Strut brace
24mm Matrix front stabilizer bar with new bushes and brackets. bushes and brackets are at the top.

i have been stockpiling parts for the last month or so, waiting till everything was here before posting anything.

i am also investigating the Vais MML for USB / iphone integration.
if the Vais purchase happens, i will post that here also.

Jason.

 

It was $90 not including shipping.

From raintracker.com in the USA.

Jason.

 

so, yesterday, i had the suspension and chassis upgrades installed.

i have to say, im really impressed with the changes.
the car is Much more stable at highway speeds. the drive home involved 165km or so of mostly highway at 100-110kmh.
in fairly gusty conditions. the car wasn't as bothered by the wind as it was previously.

the car is much stiffer, with minimal body roll now, and the turn in to corners is much more positive than it had been previously also.

couple of pictures of the parts installed follow...
didn't take pics of the front sway bar, as it's pretty much hidden anyway.

my installer had to drop the subframe slightly in order to gain clearance for the front swaybar during the install also.
after the bar was in and the subframe bolted back up, he did a wheel alignment on it, so all is good there.

also, on an unrelated note, i made a time-lapse video of the drive home from my mums place on the south coast today.
she lives 165km from me. the trip took me about 2.5hrs, and it's condensed down to about 3 minutes in the video.
the video was shot with a GoPro Hero3 white edition, shot at 5 seconds per frame.

i have a friend in mums town that has a suspension shop, and he did the install for me on Saturday.
i helped him to do some plastering in the office of the shop....









i will post the link to the video once it is finished uploading to YouTube.

Edit:
video link added...

Jason.

 

another box arrived today...




the VAIS MML-T1 arrived today.
it will be installed in a few weeks time along with the rest of the electrical mods.
i have an install day planned for the 17th of may.....







Jason

 

installed the MML this past weekend.

was a simple enough item to install. i had to resort to a YouTube video in order to pull the radio out.
and after a bit of mucking about with the programing of the unit, it works as advertised.
it will even charge and play music from my iphone 5S through the lightning connector.

and as an added bonus, the MML also removes that annoying "I agree " button for me !
it automatically presses that button immediately upon bringing up the map on the nav unit.

i will try to make a quick video showing it's operation soon.
i didn't take any pics of the install. at the moment, i have the unit sitting in the lower glove box,
but i plan to relocate the unit behind the glove box this weekend, and only have the USB cable in the glove box.

i have to say, i am really happy with its performance and the audio quality from the USB stick.
money well spent i say

Jason.

 

didn't take video / pics of the actual install, but it wasn't that hard.
took two of us about 10-15 minutes. had to remove the wiper arms, and the plastic tray, then removed the wiper motor assembly and that gave us clearance to bolt on the mounts for the brace.

tomorrow im having most of the electrical upgrades being installed.
pics will follow.....

Jason.

 

we had the car on a hyraulic hoist when all of these braces were installed..
so no pre load was on the brace. the car would have been the same as if it were on the ground.

the suspension shop where we did the installs said no pre load was needed.
we just bolted it on, and adjusted it so it was a snug fit between the mounting plates.

Jason.

 

ok, so today went well.

all of the bits i had purchased are now installed.



the old faded and uv damaged headlights...



new headlights screwed in...



drilled sensor holes and DRL units installed......



rear sensors installed



all buttoned up and DRL's running.





the screen for the parking sensors.

and a closer look...



digging into the dash to install the rain tracker...



the rain tracker works very well. in the testing that i did with a bottle of water anyway.
rain predicted for later this week, so i should get to test it in the real rain soon enough.

as for the DRL's....
stumbled upon a happy accident there. i had been told that the blue wire at the washer pump has power when the car is in ready mode. turns out that this is true, but there's a catch....

don't know if it's just my car, or all prii, but this wire has power when ready mode is first selected,
and stays hot for about 30 seconds or so, then it goes low and the DRL's turn off again !

i have discovered that while MOVING there IS power at the blue wire !
as soon as the car comes to a stop and remains stationary for more than 30 sec or so,
the blue wire again goes low, and the DRL's turn back off.

start moving again, and they turn back on.... strange behavior, but i kinda like that.
don't really need them running if the car isn't moving.

the new headlights have really transformed the look of the car. it looks fresh and new again.

took us about 6 hours today to install all of the above things.

Jason.

 

two video's showing the VAIS MML operating, and i installed a Tapturn flasher relay today also.

i will get a video of the raintracker operating as soon as i can.

Jason.

 

bumping an old thread here.

so, some of you will know that the enginer type plug in system that was in the car failed about 12 months ago.
im now in a position to go back to PHEV and will start the acquiring of parts in the next month or so.

im planning on installing a 10kwh plugin supply system.
the completed install will take sometime,however, as funds are still kinda limited.
might take me 12 months or so to get it finished.

i will keep this thread updated once parts start arriving or are installed.

Jason.

 

So, With much thanks to lopezjm2001 we did about 75% of the plugin supply install this last weekend.

Got all of the HV wiring done, got the rear controller and contactor boxes located.
And Installed the BMS and monitor for the BMS.

Still to do is hook up and mount the front controller and run the wires from the front controller to the rear one.
Also still to do is the battery pack. That will have to wait until further funds are available.
The charger which I already have will be installed later in the year, as I need to have a custom mount fabricated for that.

I hope to have the remaining wiring and install of the front controller done next weekend.
The battery pack will have to wait until closer to the end of the year.

The BMS (the blue box) was purchased from EV-power in Western Australia.
This will controll the charging and monitor the pack and be used to signal the rear controller in the event of an LVC event.


More updates and pics will follow as the install progresses.

Jason.

 

We did the rest of the hardware install and wiring today.
All that's left is to mount the charger and buy the new cells for the extra HV battery.

Decided to move the rear controller to the other side of the car, closer to the BMS.
This made the connections between the two much simpler and also the connections to the front controller.
Hooked up the 2 power supplies that will power the rear controller and some cooling fans when charging.

Tidied up the wiring and have Done as much as I can until I get more $$$ for the new battery pack.

Pics attached.

Jason.