[VIDEO] Man Creates Electric Lego Corvette ZR1 with Working 4-Speed Manual Transmission

Electric versions of the C8 Corvette are said to be on the way, at least according to the internet.

But if you can’t wait that long for an electric Corvette, you might want to think about building an electric Lego Corvette ZR1 like the kind that YouTuber HyperBlue has been working on for the past 10 months!

In a video posted recently, HyperBlue explains that he started with a Lego Technic C7 Corvette ZR1 and added a small DC motor controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer, a small credit card-sized computer used for many other projects.

He created a three-step ignition system with a key first inserted into a slot, then a covered switch that turns on the electronics, and finally a button that starts the engine.

On a cold snowy day, HyperBlue actually recorded the sounds of a starter cranking and motor running in a real LT1 Corvette, so it’s a very realistic – and surprising – sound from a toy.

Once the car is running, a gauge cluster is operational, along with two white headlights, four red taillights, and four yellow exhaust lights.

As the rear deck is raised, we see that the actual engine is mounted perpendicular in the cabin. Torque goes to a differential routing at 90 degrees which goes into the four-speed transmission that is in neutral at this point so you can see the motor, differential, and output shaft spinning but the wheels are not engaged. He even sends a little bit of torque to the motor so the camshaft will fire the pistons, and an accelerator pedal on the custom control platform even allows him to rev the motor and make it spin faster.

HyperBlue says the four-speed manual transmission is a typical H-power that is activated by inserting a small bar and turning it in different directions to engage the gears and cause the wheels to spin. He devised a lift system in the back to bring the rear wheels slightly off the ground so he can gain more torque and make the wheels spin really fast in third and fourth gears.

Technically, he says this electric Lego is a mid-engine version just like the C8 because the electric motor, the electric motor’s transmission, the Lego transmission, and the differential are in the rear of the car, with more weight over the rear wheels – unlike the real C7 ZR1.

To top it all off, he even installed wheel-mounted sensors and software to monitor the powertrain’s output on a nearby laptop.

HyperBlue plans to add more videos showing underneath the hood and the complicated build process.

Source:
TopSpeed.com

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