Squarebody Adventures

One man's adventures of rebuilding a 1987 GMC R1500 Longbed

Electric Conversion

This is only ideas if I ever planned to convert the truck to electric. The premise with an electric vehicle is to get your electrical load as low as possibly to extend the life of the battery per charge. Switching all lights will be a must. The idea here is to not use a direct drive but to replace the gasoline engine with an electrical motor.

Transmission

The selection for a 2-speed powerglide transmission is because the Tesla Model S comes with a 2-speed transmission. They switched to the 2-speed after destroying too many transmissions. The hydraulic pump will be used to circulate the transmission fluid since the torque converter will be removed.

Steering

Front Suspension

Phase 1: Stock suspension

Rear Suspension

At he beginning the rear suspension can stay the same but eventually will need to convert to a 4-link suspension to make the electric drive more efficient.

4-link suspension

Rear axle

The rear axle can stay the same for now. At some point the gears will need to be changed to make the electric motor more efficient.

Batteries

Computer

Gauges

Dakota Digital Gauges or Intellitronix

Battery pack temp sensor (Optional)

Lighting

Brakes

Interior

Wheels & Tires

Cooling

HVAC

Exterior

Cruise Control

Other

Tesla Rear Subframe Mount Kit

S2SLA 1985 C-10 Conversion