I Thought I Finally Fixed The 2 Million Dollar Concept Van Until Disaster Struck! What Would You Do?

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Call the former bright idea CEO and tell him he can come get it. It’s been a very cool project and we all learned along the way, but you don’t owe us any more content on this thing.

Axle sheared off due to being a cut axle, and poor weld penetration. You can still see the grinder marks after the cut they made. Always have to remember, this van was never supposed to be reliable. Just needed to do what it was promised to do, for a short time.

The Space Van project has been the ONE reason I started to follow your channel. You are approaching all the problems intelligently, peacefully and methodologically. That is your strength. Although I believe all the setbacks make your head ache. Please do not abandon this project because the van would be scrapped without you. The burden of trying to understand previous owners/builders ideas is not easy to carry. I would estimate the "load" worth about 200.000 when working decently. You are the hope and inspiration for car enthusiasts who restore really old patched up vehicles. I am working on a Steyr 50 "Baby" , 1939, which is rebuilt with axles and engine and gearbox from 3 totally different newer cars. Couldn't do without your videos. DeLorean is nice too!!

I’m so impressed with how much time, effort and energy you’ve put into this project. You’ve identified and solved many issues. Your troubleshooting skills are an inspiration. Thank you. I would have accidentally maliciously set it on fire long ago.

I'm indifferent. I watch your channel because you are SO PASSIONATE about every one of your builds. If you're done with this space van and no longer passionate about it. Let it go. If you feel like you need to fix this thing for you, keep going. I'm in for the ride either way.

I personally think that you have gone as far as you should. This has been one of my favorite projects of yours, but your time and efforts can be used more productively elsewhere. Fix the axle, tell the CEO 50K-100K and say goodbye to it. He will appreciate the EV aspect of it and the addition of the starter button. Whatever you get for it, recover your costs and the rest to charity is a GREAT idea. PLUS, look at what you have learned through this experience. Thanks

HI Alex, I'm an 12v aftermarket installer and what that module looks like to me is a key-less entry module. The green and blue wires are negative pulse usually by default under a second and up to three through programming. Green is lock and blue is unlock. So if you were to ground the blue wire simulating unlock output that might trigger a function to start. Maybe... That module is readily available but since it's just a momentary ground output you could easily test your results. It's also not waterproof by any means. Sad to see the ending you had. Good luck! -Jon

Just an idea but for little to no cost for you, I'd clean all the wires up under the hood, eliminate any that don't need to be there. Fuel, air, spark are the three keys for the gas motor, then research how the Chevy Volt changes from electric to gas mode, chase the key wires from the engine management system back to the computer side of the electric part and see what's causing the short. As for the acceleration problem on the gas motor it may be drive by wire versus cable like old school cars, seems that when in ev mode the throttle works fine but when in gas the drive by wire system doesn't connect back to the throttle body which is all ran through a computer. I say start from scratch, clean all unnecessary wires up in the engine compartment and go from there. As stated previously the rear axle was a custom hack job, poor welds on it, either fix it or find it from another vehicle. I'd really like to see you come out on top with this vehicle.

I love that some car channels (LSC, VGG, MORR, SuperFastMatt, etc) still produce actual long-form videos that keep us engaged in this modern-day land of constant shorts...

time to wrap up the story on this one my guy. You've already put 100x more time into this than anyone else would. You've made us more than proud on this one but not all mysteries were meant to be solved.

Given that it's a standard Chrysler gas engine, I wouldn't give up on in quite yet. That throttle issue I'm guessing, is that the switch over from EV to gas should cause a number of relays to switch control. Your starter bypass worked but I'd bet there's another relay that the computer should be activating, that connects the gas pedal to the fuel system or engine computer.

It was disheartening to see Alex go down such an emotional path ending in despair and loss. Don't worry Alex, your loyal fanbase is here to cheer you up!

Sell that back to the CEO

I was at a meeting with Bight when there had a business incubator at the University of Indiana in the Indianapolis area years ago (early 2010’s if memory serves) and met with the engineering team and saw the “Bight Idea” (what you call the Space Van). Bright was looking for funding from the company I worked for… I spent an entire day pouring over it and it was a typical “prototype show vehicle” it was pretty crudely cobbled together based on a Chrysler product vehicle on the time and did not function when I saw it. They could not even get it to function to demo it to us at the time… I’m not aware of it ever reliably functioning as designed…

It's Alex's enthusiasm that makes his channel work, for me. I don't care which vehicle he's working on - it's just a joy to watch him do his stuff so methodically. It seems he still enjoys the challenges this POS presents and I hope can get the 'project' to where he wants it to be.

I applaud you for taking the electronic modules apart if you think they are a problem! Way too many car guys treat electronic modules like magic black boxes, not even trying to repair them. Speaks for your intelligence, trying to understand something new you are not familiar with instead of giving up instantly

Alex, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it was never set up correctly in the first place. I do however enjoy watching you brainstorm through it.

That axle has likely been sheering off for some time, and OF COURSE That van wasn't built for driving. It's a proof of concept. You got it better than it was for sure.

I sympathise completely with that feeling of defeat when every success just seems to lead to another failure - I used to own a Land Rover. The van is really only worth what you put into it. As a concept car it's of very limited use outside a museum or collection, and if the CEO is happy to reimburse you for your efforts he deserves to get his van back. It would be the right thing to do. If you really want to get this thing running as a sort of daily drive, you'll have to team up with an electrician, strip out all the wiring and redo it, then get a mechanic to go right through the thing looking for problems. Would it be worth the cost? Probably not. You've given it your best shot and it's driving you nuts. Time to save it in as original condition as possible for historical reasons and get it back to the CEO.