ITLKSEZ
Watching a toddler play w/a loaded gun
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2015
I picked up this Leaf about a month ago for cheap due to drivers side body damage and an ignorant seller.
It’s been saving me an insane amount of money on fuel, and surprisingly, I love the stupid thing. I’ve been driving it everywhere for the current equivalent of about 323mpg at current fuel prices.
But I do have a few gripes. This thread will follow the modifications.
#1 on the list is the fact that it doesn’t have a spare tire, even though there’s plenty of room to fit one. There’s some major square footage that’s unused under the trunk floor. I’ve been carrying a spare in the trunk and it takes up all the space. So today I fixed that.
I started by marking where I wanted to cut.
Then I cut!
My plan was to use the cut section as the floor in my spare compartment. All I had to fab was the ring to connect it. The thinnest material I had enough of was 14g, so I had to use the press brake to bend it in 1” increments.
One of the many test fits…
After a bunch of tacks, and a clearance notch on the bottom edge to ensure axle beam clearance, I added tabs to the top rim. This is getting set in place with seam filler. I really don’t want to risk welding on this car if I don’t have to due to risk to the electronics, or getting zapped trying to unhook the main battery.
Test fit… nice!
I had one tube of chunky 7-year-old seam seal left over from the jeep build, so I pulled the tub back out and put big blobs at the location of every tab. I set it in place and used what was left to coat the whole seam.
I have more sealant on order that will be here this evening. I’ll coat the remaining seams inside and out.
Here’s a shot of the underside. You can see how much wasted space there was.
It’s been saving me an insane amount of money on fuel, and surprisingly, I love the stupid thing. I’ve been driving it everywhere for the current equivalent of about 323mpg at current fuel prices.
But I do have a few gripes. This thread will follow the modifications.
#1 on the list is the fact that it doesn’t have a spare tire, even though there’s plenty of room to fit one. There’s some major square footage that’s unused under the trunk floor. I’ve been carrying a spare in the trunk and it takes up all the space. So today I fixed that.
I started by marking where I wanted to cut.
Then I cut!
My plan was to use the cut section as the floor in my spare compartment. All I had to fab was the ring to connect it. The thinnest material I had enough of was 14g, so I had to use the press brake to bend it in 1” increments.
One of the many test fits…
After a bunch of tacks, and a clearance notch on the bottom edge to ensure axle beam clearance, I added tabs to the top rim. This is getting set in place with seam filler. I really don’t want to risk welding on this car if I don’t have to due to risk to the electronics, or getting zapped trying to unhook the main battery.
Test fit… nice!
I had one tube of chunky 7-year-old seam seal left over from the jeep build, so I pulled the tub back out and put big blobs at the location of every tab. I set it in place and used what was left to coat the whole seam.
I have more sealant on order that will be here this evening. I’ll coat the remaining seams inside and out.
Here’s a shot of the underside. You can see how much wasted space there was.
