The Hybrid Convertible Project Prius v

1960's Generous Motors at it's best. Most people don't know that the cowl and many other parts that went into GM's hurried Camaro/Firebird initial design had already been developed for the 1968 Nova and was taken as-is. I have even seen photos of a Nova converted into a 4-door "Camaro" by someone. GM lived to regret this compromise when the wild twisting of the convertible body on the highway had to be controlled by adding the heavy vibration dampeners in all four corners.



Bill the Engineer

 

Right side passenger compartment floor is out. Tough old 'Bird. The left side will need to wait until next week. I need to be careful where I stand now, because some areas can't support my weight any more.




I am including a comparison shot of the tunnel cut-out and the corresponding "v" floor area that will be under it. The tunnel will end just shy of the fuel tank wiring access hatch.




Bill the Engineer

 

The fun is just beginning. Getting that last seat belt out was a real pain...



Note that I haven't even begun to cut-out the trunk area yet.

Bill the Engineer

 

Yes. The traction battery will be where the bottom rear seat cushion was. I plan to put it in a rain-proof ventilated box with a hinged top. The rear seat cushion will go on top of that, still below the side window height, but elevated. It will be the perfect place for the dog to ride on the way to the beach... or for a homecoming queen to ride with the top down in a parade.

Bill the Engineer

 

I can go under the convertible body and stand up in the middle now.

Bill the Engineer

 

Passenger compartment floor cut-outs completed. Tough old bird. It ate a dozen saw blades in the process.



I also opened a hole in the trunk floor so I could feed through a tape measure to start to layout the cuts there.



More reports as progress is made.

Bill the Engineer

 

Progress not likely this weekend. I'm just back from a business trip 3 time zones away, and the heat index here both Sat and Sun is supposed to be 100F or above.

 

Yeah, and the jet lag isn't helping. I should have been in bed hours ago.

So far the forecast for Saturday sounds good. I have a lot of black marker work on both the body and the chassis to do before I cut any more. The rear axle area will be the most tricky, since I need the structure of the "v" for the rear suspension, but the structure of the old Bird for the convertible top and side quarter windows. That fuel filler neck needs to be accounted for too... Glad I like solving puzzles!

Bill the Engineer

 

Life is what happens when you were planning to do something else. I got as far as marking the location of the rear axle centerline on the "v" chassis and Firebird body yesterday. Then my neighbor called me over to help him get his car running that had died in the garage... and the rest of the day was shot.






The rear axle centerline is the "zero point" of the project from which all other dimensions are based. I am remeasuring everything to make sure things will fit together properly when I finally drop the body onto the chassis. The next step will be to unbolt the traction battery on the "v" chassis. Then I can create cardboard templates for the rear wheel well cut-outs on the Firebird body.

Next weekend I am off to a car show in search of Firebird parts. Maybe I'll get some time to sneak out to the garage during the week.

Bill the Engineer

 

A good couple of days this weekend.

Friday I went to an all-Pontiac flea market ad car shoe in Norwalk, OH. My Firebird wasn't equipped with a/c originally, but I want the finished car to use the donor car's a/c. I was lucky to find a vendor who had the set of three Firebird a/c vents out of a salvaged car for $25.00. For that price, I couldn't say no.



Saturday was a good day too. After some initial garage clean-up, I got the trunk floor cut out. Then I was able to re-measure my passenger compartment floor cuts directly from the zero line. They were an inch too far aft, so I was enlarging the holes forward by an inch all afternoon. Tough old Bird...





Bill the Engineer

 

Yesterday's photos were all of the Firebird body. Marking and verifying of the donor Prius v chassis also continues. The rear wheel wells of the donor car will be protruding into the trunk of the Firebird body, so that all needs to get figured out. Also i have marked where the side sills and firewall will land once the assembly is together.






Bill the Engineer

 

Well, you can most definitely see my thought process at work if you start at the first post and read up to the present. The plans evolve as I discover things about the cars. Usually they are happy discoveries.

Bill the Engineer