Underneath the Beast; a Tour of the Dark Side

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

TonyWilliams

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
10,107
Location
Vista, California USA
Forward, looking aft:

IMG_0625.jpg



The front underbody panel is not made of plastic, but instead some type of fiber-ous, sound deadening material:

IMG_0626.jpg



Six screws total, and six plastic connectors. Note that the two forward, outside bolts are shorter, and don't have Phillips heads. All the bolts take a 10mm wrench.


IMG_0628.jpg



Once the cover is off, you can see the radiator and the pathetic little horn. That's gunna get changed !!!


IMG_0631.jpg



Looking forward, the actual water cooled electric drive motor. Gear box is on the left side of the motor, with the half shaft that drive the front wheels, directly behind the motor.


IMG_0632.jpg
 
Two big fans are mounted on the back side of the radiator:


IMG_0633.jpg



The main power line to the electric drive motor:

IMG_0634.jpg



The rack and pinion steering, just aft of the drive motor gear box and left half shaft:


IMG_0635.jpg



Left front wheel drive. Quite conventional:


IMG_0636.jpg



Right front wheel suspension:


IMG_0639.jpg



The front grill:


IMG_0642.jpg
 
In the words of Dave Matthews, " hike up your skirt a little more...and show your world to me."

Thanks for the pics. Are you just poking around or upgrading the horn?
 
Number two under-body cover, over the forward portion of the main drive batteries:


IMG_0643.jpg



Looking forward; Big orange/red cable is the main battery power feed to motor (you can see the motor attachment). You can see the aft motor mount in this pic also; there are three, and they are HUGE for such a tiny horsepower engine. Not sure why. The two aluminum tubes are for cooling the charger located in the rear of the car, behind the rear seats. The smaller diameter orange/red cable is from the charger plug-in on the front of the car, and goes all the way to the rear where the charger is:


IMG_0644.jpg



A close in shot of the rear motor mount and main battery power connection to the electric drive motor:


IMG_0645.jpg




IMG_0646.jpg



Looking aft, main battery cable attached to battery assembly. Cooling lines above for the charger:


IMG_0647.jpg
 
Number 3 aft under-body panel:


IMG_0648.jpg



IMG_0649.jpg



The bottom of the battery, looking aft. The only under-body panel left on the car is the rear cover, behind the rear "axle", where the Nissan Versa gas tank would be:


IMG_0650.jpg



Main cable feed out of battery, close up:


IMG_0651.jpg



Bottom of the battery. This is some sloppy sealer work, and I predict it was done in Long Beach, at the pier, prior to delivery to the dealer. What a mess (and they didn't even seal everything). This is just too sloppy to imagine Japanese guys at a Nissan factory in Japan doing:


IMG_0652.jpg
 
The final, rearmost under-body panel:


IMG_0654.jpg



This panel actually has FOUR different fasteners. The most forward one is a plastic nut that was finger tight. The bright coated bolts go into the lower rear bumper facia:


IMG_0653.jpg



Looking forward; All those black cables are for the parking brake. I wouldn't even want to guess what that all weighs !!! The small cable to the left is the emergency release, that the vehicle operator can access through the trunk. The cooling lines go up into the body to cool the charger located behind the rear seat:


IMG_0655.jpg


IMG_0656.jpg



Rear of main battery assembly, in front of rear axle:


IMG_0660.jpg



Left rear suspension:


IMG_0662.jpg



Looking forward; This is the cable that begins from the front charger plug-in port, to the charger, located here behind the rear seat :


IMG_0664.jpg



Jacking location is identified, like most cars, with the two notches in the lower body:


IMG_0666.jpg



In front of rear wheels, looking from right to left:


IMG_0667.jpg



Looking right to left; Main battery mounts and ground straps:


IMG_0668.jpg
 
Right rear tie down / tow point. This piece is way overkill for this job (but I'm sure somebody can bend/break it):


IMG_0669.jpg



Cooling hoses going into aft portion of vehicle for battery charger:


IMG_0670.jpg



Rearmost part of main battery assembly:


IMG_0671.jpg



Left side, looking forward; Main battery mounts, grounding strap, jacking point lugs:


IMG_0672.jpg



Rear axle, from left to right:


IMG_0673.jpg



Looking forward; Right rear brake assembly:


IMG_0674.jpg



Looking forward; Left front steering / brakes:


IMG_0675.jpg
 
Drive motor, looking aft:


IMG_0676.jpg



Looking right to left; Right half shaft leaving gear box, aft of motor. Steering rack and pinion is aft (left in the picture):


IMG_0677.jpg



Looking left to right; gear box with left half shaft. Note and upper and lower oil fill, but no real drain:


IMG_0678.jpg



Looking right to left; Left front motor mount. I can't believe how big these three mounts are:


IMG_0679.jpg



Looking right to left; front torsion bar is directly behind steering rack and pinion:


IMG_0680.jpg



Looking left to right; Right front wheel, with torsion bar looping over steering rack and pinion. Right half shaft in front.


IMG_0681.jpg



Looking forward, behind right front wheel; torsion bar is connected to a link directly between steering tie rod end, and half shaft:


IMG_0683.jpg



Main battery power cable mounted on electric motor:


IMG_0684.jpg



Looking forward; right half shaft support bearing, gear box to left, motor in front:


IMG_0685.jpg



Cooling fluid goes in this. Maybe the coolant pump?


IMG_0686.jpg
 
Marvelous pictures! LOVE this thread.
The cooling lines go up into the body. Not sure what' up there to cool.
That would be the Charger, if I'm not mistaken.

If this post ends up in the middle of your fine picture thread, I'll delete it for sanitation. :)
 
GroundLoop said:
Marvelous pictures! LOVE this thread.
The cooling lines go up into the body. Not sure what' up there to cool.
That would be the Charger, if I'm not mistaken.

If this post ends up in the middle of your fine picture thread, I'll delete it for sanitation. :)


It's too late for me to go edit right now. But, you're probably right. That also means that the part that I thought was the main battery disconnect is wrong; that would be the wires to the charger.

The main disconnect must be directly in the center top of the main battery assembly.

Tony
 
Great pictures! I'm an engineer, so seeing all of this (no matter how foreign) is exciting.

I am curious, are you doing this just to take it apart and see what's there, or are you making modifications?
 
TonyWilliams said:
It's too late for me to go edit right now. But, you're probably right. That also means that the part that I thought was the main battery disconnect is wrong; that would be the wires to the charger.
The main disconnect must be directly in the center top of the main battery assembly.
Right, from what I've seen of the main battery pack, the disconnect port at the rear seat really is just a 'window' into the top of the battery. The disconnect mechanism is part of the battery pack.

The charger is in the hump behind the rear seats. There's another thread here where someone photographed it nude.

Given the intimacy of these pictures, are you planning to yank the battery pack? :) You would be the first to let it down.

Also, I'm curious about the smear-happy sealant. Why wouldn't they do this at the factory, and what purpose does it serve while being unimportant enough that it can be so sloppy. Strange.

The whole parking brake mechanism seems either overengineered or made complex in haste.. I can't tell which.
 
I think he's trying to figure out where to install the aftermarket flux capacitor.

Just keep it under 88, Tony. ;)
 
GroundLoop said:
Given the intimacy of these pictures, are you planning to yank the battery pack? :) You would be the first to let it down.


I'd want to read the actual service manual before doing that. I do have jacks that would work, and the center of mass is stamped into the lower main battery case.

They had the battery pack at the "test drive" that I took in October, 2010, and I did take pictures. Seems like a lot of work for limited additional info for me.


The whole parking brake mechanism seems either overengineered or made complex in haste.. I can't tell which.


Or both. There are lots of places on this car to cut weight. It doesn't even look like they made much effort there.
 
Back
Top