Lokiel's "Gina" (2004 Titanium SE)

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:20 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Aug 21, 2016 5:14 pm[

Sensor Box

To avoid the "Rat's Nest" wiring nightmare, I like to make a box that houses all connections, resistors and sockets that wires can simply plug into.

For this box I'm using the following type of connectors and board (note: when assembled, the side with the copper tracks is on the underside):


* The board simplifies connecting components, the copper tracks extend from one side of the board to the other so you can connect anywhere along the track.
* The green plug and socket connectors are rugged. The pins straddle every 2nd track which comes in handy since you can plug other connectors on the opposite side of the board offset by one track and they're not electrically connected. Unfortunately the pins are slightly too big for standard board holes so you need to drill the holes out.
* The white connectors are used to crimp onto wires and plug into the green connectors, held in place by its screws. These are great! In the past you had to solder the wire strands together to use these connectors, otherwise only one or two strands was actually holding the wire in place and were prone to breaking off. I strip the wire end so that when it's inserted into the pin it almost comes out the other end, them I crimp the lower half - no soldering required, easy!

The Adaptronic ECU has serial input support for the Innovate Wideband O2 sensor which I really liked since the ECU knows when it's warming up and the data is actually invalid.
The MS ECU supports Wideband O2 sensor input via Analog input or CANBUS input. I'm already using both spare Analog inputs so I needed CANBUS input. I purchased the MSLabs CAN Wideband module (see http://www.trackspeedengineering.com/Engine-Management/MSLabs-CAN-Wideband-Module.html) for this but wasn't happy with the fact that the box was quite large and included a "shedload" of long cables.

I'd read about the TinyIOx board (see http://jbperf.com/io_extender/tinyIOx.html) that supports Innovate LC1/2 serial input, supports additional I/O and has CANBUS support, and IS TINY!

aidandj from MT.net wrote a great "Idiot Guide" on how to install it (see http://www.miataturbo.net/megasquirt-18/how-use-tinyiox-89144/) so I decided to buy a couple (one to "play with" and the other for the car).

Here's the Sensor Box all wired up:










* All MS inputs are on one side (2nd photo in this group) and all sensor inputs are on the other side (last photos in this group)
* You can't see it in the photos, but the top housing has mounting tabs on the two short side
* The green sockets need to extend outside the box so you can see in the 2nd photo of this group that I needed to make the cutout extend all the way to the base so that I can fit the base and board in at an angle - black electrical tape closes that gap
* The 5V and GND sources all come from the MS (labelled "+/-" above)
* The Oil Temperature sensor needs a 2490ohm pull-up resistor so I used a 2K4 and 91K resistor in series
* The AIT sensor didn't need the pull-up resistor since the MS already has this internally
* I snapped off the TinyIOx's prototype section to fit it in the box
* I could have used 2 8-pin green connectors instead of the 6 I used but I prefer to group them together into smaller connectors (makes it easier to "dick about" with individual components)
* This sensor box is smaller than the stand-alone MSLabs CAN Wideband module
* A future job is to add 2 more temperature sensors on the TinyIOx's CANBUS, so that I can log the temperature inside and outside the Cold Air Box (and later EGT sensor input).

Man am I glad I made this sensor box, even with it the footwell still looks like a rats nest with all the Innovate wiring, MS serial cable, vacuum hose and I still need to delete the PLX Devices' Display Module:


I'm not going to bother permanently mounting this yet, too many other jobs need attention and it's really handy being able to easily access the ECU (the top of the ECU case hasn't been replaced since I took it off when I first got it).


Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Aug 21, 2016 5:19 pm[

So when will you be tuning it on the road?

Next weekend I hope; yesterday spent the afternoon Idle tuning in the garage until I got a headache

I really need to find an old drain pipe that I can hook up to my exhaust and route around the corner - hanging the arse of the car outside the garage and using a domestic fan to keep the exhaust gas out just doesn't cut it.


Originally posted by Magpie, Sun Aug 21, 2016 6:31 pm[

Sometimes when I read your thread I sense similarities with mine, changing plans (and bird nest wiring).

I have a ventilation fan at home, similar to this http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/Product/Fan-Extraction-300mm/339245


Originally posted by beavis, Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:24 pm[

Good, neat, detailed work, well done. I used the same temp sensor. But i couldnt source a connector.
I didn't see in your post, but did you get one for your sensor?

I actually did something very similar with my MS3pn ecu running a few jumpers to the external connector for OilT,OilP etc, though I managed to avoid needing an additional board. And I ended up having to create a big spreadsheet with all the little changes so i didnt forget (or more accurately, because I wouldn't be able to remember i my head)


Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:52 pm[

beavis, I assume that you're talking about the GM AIT sensor.
I ordered mine from Adaptronic, see http://www.adaptronic.com.au/product/air-temperature-sensor/ - it costs more than some other places but comes with the connector and pins so you can neatly connect it to your wiring harness (some come with attached pigtails that you solder onto your harness which looks uglier).
You should be able to find the connector at many auto electrical places, it's a standard GM air temperature connector.
The cheapest option is to take your side cutters with you to a pick'n pull yard - just look for Commodores and snip off the connector to the air temperature sensor (FYI: GM air temperature connectors are different to fluid temperature sensors, the latter look like a mushroom-shaped plug - air temperature sensors don't)

If you meant the Saturn TX73 oil temperatures sensor, I bought the sensor and connector from http://www.rockauto.com/, the connector's product code is S1170,


Originally posted by beavis, Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:02 am[

Ah sorry, I wasn't clear, I was referring to the saturn OilT sensor.
Thanks for the info nonetheless.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:29 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:07 pm[

When I installed my Cold Air Box I used a 3" accordion hose mated to a 3"-diameter flange through the parcel shelf.
The flange was only 30mm deep so after passing through the parcel shelf, there was only about 25mm for the hose to attach to.
It was always at the back of my mind that it may slip off eventually and I've been on the lookout for a longer-shafted 3" flange.
I'd looked at plumbing fittings but they're all metric, 65mm, 70mm, 80mm, 90mm and 100mm diameters - I needed a 76mm fitting (ie. a 3" flange).

I stopped in at a boat shop and spotted this deep 75mm vent:



Close enough and good enough with the vents eliminated:



Here's the difference in shaft length:



The accordion hose is now attached securely and much easier to attach - it used to slip off the flange's shaft too easily when the clamp wasn't firm and it's in a very awkward spot.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Aug 25, 2016 10:32 pm[

After Idle-tuning Gina in the garage last Saturday with the door up and domestic fan blowing the exhaust out, I ended up getting a splitting headache that lasted a few days so I figured I either needed to tune outdoors or come up with a solution.
Magpie's extractor fan was a good idea but I think a short hose from the exhaust with the garage door closed and the hose sticking out might work better.
I popped into SuperCheap to see if they had anything suitable and was told that they no longer sell it - apparently it was popular for venting exhaust fumes into the cabin for suiciders so was taken off the shelves.
I found this at Bunnings so hope it will do the job:


It's 3m 100mm aluminium accordion-hose rated to 250*C which should be OK for Idle tuning.
I bought the 100mm hose joiner and a galvanised 90mm diameter flange which I've clamped around the end of the hose joiner to block the end at the exhaust and keep the hose from touching the exhaust pipe.
The 90mm flange fits over the 3" exhause pipe.

Anybody see any problems with this (other than burning the bumper if the hose is now too close)?

I figure if I can keep the hose short that the exhaust gas will flow out free enough.


Originally posted by Magpie, Fri Aug 26, 2016 8:48 am[

I could lend you my extraction fan

Duct it upwards, Carbon Monoxide is just lighter than air, hence get it above the level where you breathe. Simply get it high enough up and as far away as possible, maybe not healthy for people who live near by but safer for you. I would not close the garage door, keep as much ventilation as possible. Even a small exhaust leak in a closed space will be unhealthy and could leave Gina in the garage for a lot longer


Originally posted by Lokiel, Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:39 am[

Here's my "CAD diagram" of what I was planning to do, it keeps the hose short and hopefully the fumes won waft down and under the garage door gap:

Code: Select all

  Garage
   Door
    []
    []
    []
    []  _____
    [] |  ___ <-- Exhaust Pipe
    [] | |
| | [] | |
| |____| |
|________| <-- Duct

Originally posted by Magpie, Fri Aug 26, 2016 11:48 am[

____ _ __
/ _ \/ |/ /
| / \|| /
| \_/|| \
\____/\_|\_\

However I would make it higher on the outside.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:42 pm[

Code: Select all

________   ____  __.      __      __.__.__  .__        .___     
\_____  \ |    |/ _|     /  \    /  \__|  | |  |     __| _/____ 
 /   |   \|      <       \   \/\/   /  |  | |  |    / __ |/  _ \
/    |    \    |  \       \        /|  |  |_|  |__ / /_/ (  <_> )
\_______  /____|__ \ /\    \__/\  / |__|____/____/ \____ |\____/
        \/        \/ )/         \/                      \/       

PS: If you don't hear anything more from me, it means that this didn't work!


Originally posted by Magpie, Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:15 pm[

So what about Gina?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Fri Aug 26, 2016 1:53 pm[

I'll need a coffin


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:08 pm[

The trip to the cemetery will be furthest Gina's been in a year!


Originally posted by Magpie, Fri Aug 26, 2016 2:38 pm[

^^^^^ LOL ^^^^ how true


Originally posted by Okibi, Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:37 am[

I picked out a tombstone
<--Lokiel Edit:This was NOT the original image, it no longer exists, so was replaced with this one to preserve creative response.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:30 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sat Aug 27, 2016 8:18 pm[

The aluminium ducting worked brilliantly, one end on the exhaust pipe, the other wired to a jackstand to keep it from rolling around/away and facing up:





I was able to "dick around" with Open and Closed Loop Idle tuning for 4 hours straight without dealing with exhaust fumes and headaches.

I got rid of the galvanised flange on the exhaust pipe end since it touched the bumper but left the hose joiner in place since it added weight to the hose which helped keep it on the exhaust pipe and not bounce off when the idle was low/erratic/hunting.

Interesting notes:
* It was surprising how much condensation developed in the flexible hose, the entire inner surface was wet - no wonder exhausts rust on the inside
* When idle tuning, the exhaust pipe only gets warm, the aluminium ducting was cooler so there's not much heat produced - I could have have used a silicone 3"->2.5" 90* hose reducer and one of my unused 2.5" intercooler pipes for this

Tomorrow's job is to tackle the GM LSx CNPs again. I couldn't get them or the Fab9 plugs working using the Adaptronic ECU so hopefully I can get them working with the MegaSquirt.
I needed to buy a new battery for this round of idle tuning since my old one would only allow a few cranks before needing a re-charge and I wonder if this was the original issue? (ie. not enough cranking amps for the larger coils).


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Sep 07, 2016 9:36 pm[

From thread "At Last: Flat Bottomed Steering Wheel Option for NA/NB" (http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=72924&p=891549&hilit=flat+bottom#p891549)

https://www.ilmotorsport.de/shop/article_detail.php5?aid=5964&oid=3&depth=0&page=2&count=100&PHPSESSID=0a5952e5a7dfeb2cde29b2c034f290a8

You send your wheel in and they refurbish it:
"These wheels are refurbished OEM parts, that are upholstered with leather in different designs. We only used the highest quality, stretchy and wear resistant leather hides,
Top and bottom parts are executed in smooth leather, the gripping area is executed in perforated leather. All work is done by hand with great workmanship.
The sport models have a flattend bottom part that gives your interior a new dynamic look.
The steering wheels are plug and play exchanged with your OEM wheel."

I bit the bullet and purchased a wheel from eBay Germany, since I wanted to hang onto my wheel, and got the seller to send it to IL Motorsport in Germany for refurbishment - saved me postage and handling from Australia to Germany if I bought the new wheel here.

The wheel arrived yesterday and I picked it up from the Post Office today.
Those Germans sure are efficient, I bought the wheel August 25th and it arrived September 08. I suspect they have one of every type already in stock and sell you the stock wheel and refurbish yours as their new stock.

Apologies for the photos below, they were taken this evening and the flash really contrasts the colours.

Here's my original custom wheel, the grey perforated inserts match my doorcard trim, gear shift boot, handbrake boot and leather on my seats.
The wheel just felt too "bony" after DD the SP23 so I wanted to something about it and I've always wanted a flat-bottomed wheel to make entry/exit easier:



Here's what the two wheels look like next to each other on my kitchen floor - the square tile grout gives some perspective:


- unfortunately the flat-bottomed wheel is only 8mm shorter; at least it's ALL at the bottom of the wheel

I tried a photo directly above the centre of two wheels one on top of the other, wheel face to wheel face, to show that the original wheel was "longer", but you couldn't really see the original wheel underneath the new wheel,

The next 2 photos show how the flat-bottom has been achieved.
* Top photo is the original wheel
* Bottom photo is the new wheel
* Green circles show braces connecting rim to hub (interestingly the original wheel used thicker flat braces whereas the newer one has thinner round braces)
* Yellow circles indicate the differences in braces; the original wheel used the same brace as the horizontal braces whereas the new wheel has a very thin rod connecting it)




- whoops, that circle on the right should have been green
It seems that the bottom of the T-hub has been shortened.

Installed:



It looks great and feels chunky (in a good way).

Will I notice the extra 8mm of leg clearance?
Probably not, but it is there so it will be slightly easier to enter/exit.


Originally posted by Okibi, Thu Sep 08, 2016 2:01 am[

Looking at the photos on their website I had doubted they were any shorter so glad it is, pity only 8mm.

I wish damd made a replacement wheel for the NB but it would probably be out of my budget anyway.

Looking forward to reading what it's like to drive with.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Thu Sep 08, 2016 8:26 am[

Was the only change in dimensions at the 6 o'clock radius? No change at 12, 3 or 9? My thinking is that if you lost 8mm from the 6 o'clock only, then that's pretty good. Imagine if that was all the way around, you'd have gone from 370mm to 355mm, and that's a nice sized wheel. I think you'll notice it more than you might think. And especially with your slightly lower seating position thanks to the Elise seats.

While I'd still prefer an overall smaller wheel, I think this is the best that's likely to be available. Are you happy with the thickness of the grip now?


Originally posted by bruce, Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:11 am[

If the wheel got smaller u would not b able to see the gauges.
Even from the ad photos there was hardly any reduction in the bottom spoke.

Buy an NA, then u can go nuts with the steering wheel.


Originally posted by KevGoat, Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:36 am[

Just looking at the two images showing the brackets, if you look at the whole center structure it is nearly all different, not just those brackets circled. I wonder if it's actually a difference between the wheel structure between manufacture years rather than something IL changed in making this wheel?




Edit:...actually after some more research I believe it's the difference in structure between the NB8A wheel and the 8B series wheels.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Thu Sep 08, 2016 10:50 am[

KevGoat, you may be right. I have a spare wheel and it has the "arms" like Lokiel's refurb wheel. Don't know what my stock one looks like though.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:24 am[

The centre hub is completely different to the refurbished one I had in there before; not sure how this compares to the OEM MSM/SE wheel since I sold that a while ago with my MSM/SE seats. It seems that the only similarities are the centre hole and that the airbag mount holes are in the same spot.

The new one I received has "MADE IN ITALY" stamped on it (you can just make it out in the centre hub close-up, it's at about 2 o'clock from the left green circle) whereas the older one didn't.

The side-by-side comparison shot actually shows best where material was removed, the central spoke was shortened in the base section.

Lachy is right in that the lower Lotus seats provided the more noticeable room under the steering wheel.

When the wheels were laid on each other face-to-face, the only difference was on the bottom so only the 6 o'clock section changed which is good since the gauges aren't obscured by the wheel (as bruce noted - I'd hate not to be able to read the gauges because the wheel obscured them).

I did a simulation drive in the garage last night, complete with simulated "Brmmm, Brmmm" noises, and the wheel feels "just right" so if nothing else, it's eliminated that "steering wheel feels too bony" feel.

This weekend I really need to get around to installing the GM LSx CNPS but I'll probably end up "running-in" the new steering wheel instead.


Originally posted by KevGoat, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:27 am[

Well, I was a bit concerned about strength and legalities when I first saw the comparison images. But being unchanged structurally from the factory item apart from re-foam and trim, it has the added benefit of no safety/insurance/approval issues if it ever came down to it. Always a plus


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:32 am[

Lachy is right in that the lower Lotus seats provided the more noticeable room under the steering wheel.

What I meant was that the room little you gain from the wheel + the room you gain from the seat = a greater fit than you'd get from either alone and makes for a great fit.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:44 am[

Well, I was a bit concerned about strength and legalities when I first saw the comparison images. But being unchanged structurally from the factory item apart from re-foam and trim, it has the added benefit of no safety/insurance/approval issues if it ever came down to it. Always a plus

I think they've cut out that central/vertical spoke and replaced it with a thin/shorter rod to provide some semblance of structural stability there but the two original horizontal spokes, are still in place.
ie. It's now weaker at 6 o'clock than it was before but you'd need "gorilla strength" to prove it.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:47 am[

I'm not convinced. It's all a bit academic anyway, but here's a shot of a 10AE wheel, the 6 o'clock spoke looks like yours - thin and weak in comparison to 3 & 9.





Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Sep 08, 2016 11:59 am[

Thanks for that shot, it's the same hub as my new one and shows that IL Motorsports DIDN'T modify that vertical spoke (replacing the thick spoke with a thin rod) so it IS structurally the same as an original wheel.


Originally posted by MattR, Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:35 pm[

The wheel would have been originally manufactured to have the "weaker" spoke at the 6 o'clock position to bend a lot easier in a crash when your knees and thighs go hitting the wheel as your extremities are thrown around in the seat as you are barely held in by a 3 point seat belt.

So I would hazard a guess that they shorten the bottom spoke by about 8mm and then reform the original wheel frame to be flat, yet still not overly distorted for the rest of the shape of the rim.

One the best wheels I ever had was a red suede 350mm diameter Luisi wheel that I used on an old ZG fairlane and then as my track wheel for my old NA. If I didn't have power steering in the old Ford there was no way you could use it.

I now use a 360mm diameter Personal suede wheel for my race cars and have become quite adept at swapping over steering wheels very quickly. The "right" wheel can make a huge difference to how comfortable a car is to drive quickly.

And I would not recommend a suede wheel for road use, the oil in your hands will stuff the suede completely in a couple of years. For a track car where you wear gloves they are awesome, and feels so much better than leather, pleather or PVC.


Originally posted by luzinit, Wed Sep 14, 2016 1:27 am[

Loving the latest updates - steering wheel and megasquirt ECU.
I remember changing the stock bus driver steering wheel in my old EK civic to a factory Momo one from a Type R and the difference was amazing, felt like the car handled better from better driving feel... hahaha :lol

I've been re-reading a few other SE threads tonight, such as Roadrunners and the want for a ECU is high right now! What did you end up doing with your old Adaptronic? Don't suppose you feel like selling it?

cheers,
Tony


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Sep 14, 2016 10:58 am[

:
I've been re-reading a few other SE threads tonight, such as Roadrunners and the want for a ECU is high right now! What did you end up doing with your old Adaptronic? Don't suppose you feel like selling it?
:

Nevyn72 called dibs on it when he first heard I had the MS3-Pro.
I wanted to hang onto it until I was more fluent in the MS3 and TunerStudio, just in case I couldn't get the car running myself (I tend to be overly cautions).
I'll let you know if he no longer wants it since I'm ready to sell now.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:07 am[

Nevyn has dibs on half the cars on this forum


Originally posted by speed, Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:42 am[

Nevyn has dibs on half the cars on this forum

LMFAO
I've been pushing him to get an ECU and turbo


Originally posted by Nevyn72, Wed Sep 14, 2016 1:57 pm[

Nevyn has dibs on half the cars on this forum

Not really, just some of the best bitz.....

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:31 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Thu Sep 15, 2016 11:01 pm[

Yesterday the TSE downpipe finally arrived - here's the full TSE EFR6258 accessories:




The water and oil lines arrived a couple of months ago. I got them shipped separately to avoid import duty since the downpipe probably came close on its own.

I've organised to have the upper section of the downpipe ceramic coated like the manifold - it's ~A$100 so I'd rather do it now rather than later which would be a big hassle (if I don't do it now it'll always bug me).


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Fri Sep 16, 2016 7:53 am[




Originally posted by Lokiel, Sat Sep 24, 2016 9:13 pm[

Well I'll be damned!

Spent a lot of today dicking about with my GM D514A coils to get them working.

NitroDann sent me a MS map with settings that he's used for these plugs and gave me a few things to try.

I was worried that I'd fried my D514A coils in previous efforts to get them running so bought a brand new set of 6 off eBay (sold for a turbo V6 Maloo) and they arrived during the week.

With the OEM coils the engine has no problems starting and I've actually dr ven Gina the last 2 weekends [b]Magpie[/b].

With the D514As I use different injectors (Iridium BKR7EIX-11), DIY leads and add my DIY harnesses (2 of them, wasted spark, 1&4 coils connected to the OEM 1&4 plug, 2&3 connected to the OEM 2&3 plug):




I triple-checked everything with a multimeter and the wiring was correct.

In the past I've always tested injectors by testing them one-by-one lying on the rocker cover and verifying that they spark when cranking.
All old and new coils sparked but the engine would not fire.
I figured that the engine was well and truly flooded after this so took a break and did some Googling on the issue.

One of the things I'd never bothered with on the MS was running the "Output Test Mode - Inj/Spk" Coil Test - I knew that the injectors sparked so the coils MUST be working!
SInce I'd run out of ideas, I ran the Coil Test and was surprised that the "Coil A" test actually fired coils 2&3 and "Coil B" test fired coils 1&4 - opposite to what I expected.

I switched over the OEM plugs connected to my DIY harness and she fired up right away!!!

[b][b]WHY THE HELL DID THAT WORK AND WHY IS IT THE OTHER WAY ROUND ON THE OEM COILS???[/b][/b]

Seriously, if anyone can answer this, please let me know.

If timk is reading this, he's probably thinking "[b]Didn't I tell you to try this when you first installed them?[/b]".
I wasn't game enough to try it back then, it made no sense connecting them opposite to what worked with the OEM coils.


Interestingly with the new coils, I'm idling richer so know what I'll be doing tomorrow.


Originally posted by speed, Sat Sep 24, 2016 10:41 pm[

Think you mean spark plugs rather than injectors. Glad you're up and running though


Originally posted by Lokiel, Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:43 pm[

Think you mean spark plugs rather than injectors. Glad you're up and running though

Yeah, long frustrating day


Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 25, 2016 9:56 pm[

I installed the GM Coil Near Plugs (CNPs) bracket today and re-tuned the car (Idle and brief drive).
Yesterday it was just sitting on the intake manifold.

Since I need to get the new TSE manifold and downpipe installed soon, I left the front strut brace off, one less thing for the installer to deal with (and I wont have to worry if it'll get knocked about - I've painted it too many times already). It'll give me a chance to drive the car without it to evaluate if there is any difference with or without the brace.



I had to shorten the two leads on the left.



You can see the aluminium shim I had to add under the bracket to give me enough clearance to unplug the rear harness.
I used longer Titanium bolts than the OEM bolts to mount the bracket since I've now added 6mm of thickness (bracket + shim).
On this side of the bracket I've used nylock nuts to mount the coils to the bracket via a threaded rod.



On this side of the bracket I used acorn nuts with Red Loctite






This photo shows clearly how the two rear ignition leads are routed.

The bracket is surprisingly solid, you can put your hand across the CNPs mount and rock the whole car.

Maybe it's my imagination, but the car seems to start more willingly with these coils.


Originally posted by Magpie, Sun Sep 25, 2016 10:01 pm[

Even if it does not get out much the attention to detail is inspiring!


Originally posted by speed, Sun Sep 25, 2016 11:17 pm[

Agree with Mark. The detail is amazing. Also consistent with the effort and detail you put into your posts.
Looks like you also painted your air box. You really have had a busy weekend


Originally posted by Magpie, Mon Sep 26, 2016 5:05 am[

From memory the air box is not painted rather chemically stained! Which I would love to do to my air box.


Originally posted by speed, Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:20 am[

Ah that's right. Must be the lighting in the pic.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:57 am[

The radiator overflow tank was anodised and stained black (same as the CNPs brackets), the cold air box is painted in Wrinkle Black (done a long time ago).

I finished the air box lid with an acrylic topcoat to help prevent paint flaking and it has an uneven sheen. I could give it a couple more coats of acrylic and sand it to achieve an even finish but I'll need to re-make the air box when I intsall the TSE manifold since it mounts the turbo higher so haven't bothered.

The anodised coolant tank really makes the painted cold air box look ordinary though and I plan to anodise + stain black the new cold air box I make.

[b]WARNING:[/b] DON'T try and anodise your thermostat housing!
I've painted mine Wrinkle Black but thought it would look better anodised so bought another one and proceeded to anodise it.
The acid batch initially "fizzed-up" normally when applying the current but after 15 minutes it stopped and the thermostat housing looked brown.
I kept anodising it for the approximate correct length of time, boiled it in black dye, then boiled it in the colour fastener but it still came out dark brown.
The thermostat housing seems to be made of something other than aluminium and has an aluminium/metallic coating on it which was removed during the anodising process.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:32 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Sep 26, 2016 6:34 pm[

Sold the Adaptronic ECU to luzinit and mailed it off today

I learned a lot from the Adaptronic ECU and wish the MS3 Pro was as tiny since it made installation so much easier.


Originally posted by beavis, Mon Sep 26, 2016 8:21 pm[

Physical size is far overshadowed by the sheer power of the MS3Pro


Originally posted by Lokiel, Fri Sep 30, 2016 9:59 pm[

WELL IT'S CONFIRMED, I'M A BLOODY IDIOT!

On several sites, including MT.net, nobody has answered my query on why swapping the OEM injector harness connectors worked to get my D514A CNPs running so I had a look at the ignition system manual for the car.

Here's the Ignition coil setup on a 2004 MSM/SE:



The OEM Ignition Harness' longer Connector (the left Connector labelled "1" above) powers Coils 2&3 and the shorter Connector (the right Connector labelled "1" above) powers coils 1&4.

For some reason, I thought the longer connector was powering coils 1&4 and the shorter one coils 2&3 so had them connected the wrong way around for the D514A coils.

If I'd paid ANY attention when I re-installed the OEM coils after failing to install the CNPs the first time, I should have picked this up!




Originally posted by timk, Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:09 pm[

Doh! At least you can move on now...

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:32 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Oct 17, 2016 11:57 pm[

As part of my MS3-Pro upgrade, I can get rid of all the PLX Devices sensor modules and the LCD in the OEM coolant gauge that I was using to display AFR, Oil Temperature, Oil Pressure and Water Temperature and replace it with a display that is populated by the MS3-Pro.

I found some cheap 128x64 1.3" OLED I2C displays on eBay that are perfect for this; OLEDs are easier to read in the open than LCDs and they fit in the OEM cluster's fuel and coolant gauge slots.

I'm using an Arduino DUE for this since it supports CANRX and CANTX pins so can read MS3-Pro CAN broadcast messages (I've configured the MS3-Pro to broadcast its Simplified Dash Broadcasting CAN information).
I also needed to include a CAN Bus transceiver chip too to actually read from a real CAN bus - that's not built into the DUE (damned half-arsed implementations!).



I bought one white and one blue OLED to see what they look like - will probably use 2 Blue OLEDS since the rest of the cluster is blue-lit.
The CANH and CANL wires in the bottom right hook up to the MS3-Pro's CANH and CANL wires.




These displays have two I2C addresses so that they can have different data displayed on them - ideally they'd have a switch to toggle between them but I guess that would have made them a teeny bit more expensive.
There's a 0 ohm resistor soldered from the address pad to the 0x78 address pin.
To use the other 0x7A address, I cut the 0 ohm resistor and soldered the address pad to the 0x7A address pin (way too small for me to unsolder and resolder the resistor).



Next up I need to wire the Fuel Gauge signal into the Arduino and replace the displayed "Speed" data with "Fuel" data - the fuel level is NOT included in the CAN broadcast data

I also plan to add a 10Hz GPS and accelerometer to the Arduino and feed that back to the MS3-Pro via the CAN Bus.


Originally posted by Magpie, Tue Oct 18, 2016 9:17 am[

Look at a yaw sensor as well as the accelerometer.

So are you selling the PLX stuff? After chatting to a race engineer at WTAC make sure you look at the software that you will be using to view your data, he agreed that the Racepak stuff was 'crap'.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Oct 18, 2016 10:17 am[

I still have the PLX Devices display module and LCD in the car (not powered) and will put all the PLX Devices stuff up for sale when I pull them out of the car.

Good idea with the yaw sensor.

I suspect that the "Racepack stuff" merely reports/logs a very limited set of CAN information it receives which is a small subset of the information available on the ECU. The MS3-Pro's Simplified Dash Broadcasting CAN information doesn't include much more than what I'm displaying on the gauges above.

For data logging, I can use an existing MS app or write my own (still planning on porting AdapTrackIt to the MS).


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Tue Oct 18, 2016 10:28 am[

I'm a little confused about how MS, TinyIOX and Arduino all fit together and communicate.

Is it something like:
Stock harness sensors --> MS
Additional sensors --> TinyIOX --> MS
MS sensor data (stock and additional) --> Arduino
Arduino --> OLED displays

Or does the Arduino also communicate back to MS?

And talking about AdapTrackIt, how would it differ from MSDroid. I never got to familar with TrackIt previously, but I've done a little playing around with MSDroid, they seem to occupy the same role?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:04 am[

Configuration looks like this:

OEM Harness
|
MS3-Pro (has one of the CAN Bus terminating resistors)
|
CAN-BUS (2 twisted wires, CANH and CANL) -> Arduino -> OLED displays
|
TinyIOx (has the other CAN Bus terminating resistor - an on-board dip-switch can disable this if "somebody else" is providing this)

The TinyIOx board has been configured to broadcast the AFR on the CAN Bus.
The MS3-Pro has been configured to read the AFR from the CAN Bus.

The MS3-Pro has been configured to broadcast its Simplified Dash Broadcasting CAN information on the CAN Bus.
The Arduino simply listens on the CAN Bus for the MS3-Pro's Simplified Dash Broadcasting CAN Bus messages and updates the displayed data at a fixed rate.

Now that I'm thinking more about it, I should connect the fuel level signal to the TinyIOx board and configure it to broadcast the Fuel Level too.
The Arduino could then listen for these fuel level messages too on the CAN Bus.

I haven't looked at MSDroid but suspect it is similar to AdapTrackIt - if they are similar enough I mightn't bother and use the time to make a Haltech version instead.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:07 am[

Thanks mate, that clears it up somewhat. Still a lot of it goes over my head, but now I have a better idea of what is going over my head


Originally posted by Magpie, Tue Oct 18, 2016 12:15 pm[

I suspect that the "Racepack stuff" merely reports/logs a very limited set of CAN information it receives which is a small subset of the information available on the ECU.

Actually the IQ3 logging dash can display up to 28 bits of information over 4 pages and log up to 32 channels of data. The limitation is in the software, it simply sucks, whereas the Motec i2 pro looked absolutely brilliant. The race engineer then over a few days proceeded to ask me questions about the Racepak 'stuff', in a light hearted way.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:33 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Nov 20, 2016 11:43 pm[

The last couple of weeks I've been trying to figure out how to mount the OLED displays securely in the instrument cluster.
After visiting Bunnings, Jaycar, Repco, Supercheap, Autobarn and Repco and trying several options I concluded that the best way to mount them was on top of the existing gauges.

Not wanting to destroy my own OEM gauges, I bought a cluster from MX5 Plus and pulled the fuel and coolant gauges apart.



I bought some 3mm red acrylic from Jaycar for the base, 2mm screws to mount the OLEDs to the base, and some nylon nuts to act as spacers:


A - OEM mount holes
B - nylon nuts located over 2mm tapped holes for OLED gauge mounting (subsequently glued them in place with craft glue)
C - allows connection to OLED's 4x1 pins from underneath
D - OEM screws to mount base to OEM base (I needed to shorten these by 3mm)
E - hole to allow the OEM needle spindle to remain in place (the OEM gauges are still fully functional - I didn't need to buy that spare cluster)

Both gauges installed:



With the fascia installed, you can see the OLED gauge's circuit boards:



To mask these, I went to Office Works and bought a black plastic binder to mask out the circuit board.
For extra sex appeal, I bought an iPhone smoked-black silicone case and cut it into two circles for the gauge lenses - when they're off the gauges look black:



I thought that 4 lines per gauge may be too hard to read so I updated the software and added a hardware button.
Pressing the button allows me to cycle through the following display configurations:
1. 3 lines per display
2. 4 lines per display
3. display peak values (4 lines)

Holding the button down for at least one second clears the peak displays.
I plan to mount the button to the right of the side-view mirrors switch.

3-line display:



4-line display:





Peak display (right gauge looks the same as the 4-line display):



I'd hoped to have this installed in the car this weekend but I re-did my power window switch too since the front clips holding it in place have broken off and it wasn't sitting in place.

There's an additional single 4x1pin plug coming from the top of the cluster now that powers both OLEDs and provides them with data from the Arduino.


Originally posted by Okibi, Mon Nov 21, 2016 12:19 am[

Looks good


Originally posted by StanTheMan, Mon Nov 21, 2016 5:48 am[

Very tidy


Originally posted by KevGoat, Mon Nov 21, 2016 6:53 am[

Nicely done!

Posted via Tapatalk on Samsung S7


Originally posted by smy0003, Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:18 am[

This is beyond cool. The creativity and execution here is top notch!


Originally posted by Magpie, Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:29 am[

Very nice. Will they be easy to see with the roof down?


Originally posted by speed, Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:32 am[

Another vote for being very neat and creative.
Do the readouts flash or is there some sort of alarm for excessive temp or low fuel?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Nov 21, 2016 10:41 am[

Thanks for the comments guys, I've dicked around with various gauge solutions in the past and haven't been happy with any of them (illegal A-Pillar gauge mounts, centre console gauge mounts that require you to take your eyes off the road to see them, gauges mounted in air vents).

The PLX Devices display was one of the better ones but really way too costly, too many components and way too difficult to install (if you only connect the OBDII and gauge, it's OK but at one time I had AFR, oil pressure and oil temperature wired in and those 3 additions needed extra modules which had to be wired in and powered). The multi-line display was really the only display I ever used with it and since I could only read white text on a black background with the roof down during the day, all other colours and digital displays it was capable of were useless.

The Android AdapTrackIt app I wrote was designed to replace the instrument cluster completely but I still like the old-school real gauges.

Very nice. Will they be easy to see with the roof down?

I haven't tested with the smoked lense cover on but I did test the OLEDs outdoors in bright sunlight when it was all assembled on the breadboard and the display was clearly visible - OLED displays tend to be better than LCD displays for this (with the PLX display, I could only just read white test on a black background when there was sunlight on the gauge and it did suffer glare).

Another vote for being very neat and creative.
Do the readouts flash or is there some sort of alarm for excessive temp or low fuel?
:

The Low-Fuel LED is still connected so that'll work for fuel.
I'll add an asterisk (or something) next to the label to flag if one of the values goes above its maximum value (the Peak readout can show me how high it went). One of the advantages of DIY solutions, especially software solutions, is that you can add this stuff easily.


Originally posted by beavis, Mon Nov 21, 2016 1:33 pm[

Love it. What did you do to interface the fuel level into the Arduino?


Originally posted by bruce, Mon Nov 21, 2016 3:55 pm[

I'm sure this will all get changed soon. Your car is evolving.


Originally posted by timk, Mon Nov 21, 2016 6:59 pm[

This thread needs more skid vids.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:34 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Nov 21, 2016 8:44 pm[

Love it. What did you do to interface the fuel level into the Arduino?

I've missed a few things, this post will answer your question.

Here's the cluster wiring for the gauges (4-core ribbon):



The OEM harness provides a 0-5V input for the fuel level.
Using the OEM gauge, I measured the Empty, quarter-full, half-full, three-quarter-full and full voltage values which mapped to those in my tech manual and used these to translate 0-100% fuel level.

The Arduino DUE can only tolerate 3.3V analog inputs so I have a voltage divider chip that drops the 5V fuel-level input to 3.3V.
The voltage divider chip needs a 5V reference voltage, 3.3 reference voltage and GND.
The 5V reference voltage, fuel level sensor voltage and GND can all come from the MS3-Pro so I connected these pins to 3 unused socket pins on the MS3-Pro:





I then had to translate the 5-volt values to the corresponding 3.3-volt values to get the correct fuel level.


I also wanted USB I/O since the physical serial interface is bulky.
The MS3-Pro has USB headers for this so I hooked them up, using a cable through a new hole in the case.
There's not enough room to mount a flush USB socket so the cable-through-hole was necessary:




I'm really annoyed at myself for not drilling the hole further across, there's more room there too.
There's a rubber grommit in the hole and zip-ties either side, preventing the cable from sliding in and out.
I still haven't figured out where I'll mount the USB socket.


Originally posted by MINX, Tue Nov 22, 2016 9:27 am[

Very nice. Will they be easy to see with the roof down?

Depends whether the garage door is open or closed!
(Sorry Simon)


Originally posted by beavis, Tue Nov 22, 2016 1:41 pm[

Ah very good. Where you say "OEM harness provides a 0-5V input for the fuel level"... being 0-5v, I presume your fuel level signal is coming from the cluster?
Reason I ask is, I ran a wire direct from the fuel level sender, which I understand is a 0-12v signal. This goes through a voltage divider as a 0-5v into my MS3.

I also did something similar with the USB, but I notched a spot for the connector to live in the case:
http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=58668&start=180#p874734


Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Nov 22, 2016 4:45 pm[

Ah very good. Where you say "OEM harness provides a 0-5V input for the fuel level"... being 0-5v, I presume your fuel level signal is coming from the cluster?
Reason I ask is, I ran a wire direct from the fuel level sender, which I understand is a 0-12v signal. This goes through a voltage divider as a 0-5v into my MS3.

I also did something similar with the USB, but I notched a spot for the connector to live in the case:
http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=58668&start=180#p874734

I'm surprised that the fuel-level sender is a 0-12V signal, most senders are 0-5V - easy enough to measure it when full and empty though.

The OEM ECU harness has a 0-5V signal for the fuel level.
The OEM Fuel gauge has 3 inputs, Ignition(12-14V), GND and Signal(0-5V).

If a voltage divider from the fuel sender is required, it occurs before it gets to the gauge or ECU harness since both "max out" at 5V.

The "engine control system.pdf" document at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3YbfB30DxW0bEdwS0xSNGVXMzA on page 43 shows PCM Terminal 4AD is the Fuel Level signal voltage and it's 0-5V.
The values shown in this document are consistent with what I measured on my gauge (I had 2 power supplies connected to a common GND, one was set to 13V and connected to the gauge's Ignition terminal; the other power supply was connected to the gauge's Signal terminal and tested from 0-5V).


Originally posted by beavis, Wed Nov 23, 2016 2:53 pm[

Hmm, I am 99% confident it was a 12v signal at the sensor.
My understanding was the cluster did some form of regulation of the speed signal from the gearbox before it goes to the ECU, so perhaps the cluster also does some manipulation of the fuel level also?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:51 am[

Spent most of my free time this weekend soldering all the components onto an Arduino shield, soldering the pin headers onto it, connecting them up and and making all the required cables.
This type of work is best done in short bursts over a few days since it's incredibly boring and slow-going since you need to test every connection and don't want to screw up by rushing it.



A 4-pin header to instrument cluster (5V, GND, SDA, SCL)
B 2-pin header to MS3-Pro CAN bus (CAN Low, CAN High)
C 4-pin header for CAN Tx, CAN Rx, SDA, SCL from Arduino DUE board
D 2-pin header for OLED pushbutton
E 3-pin header for Fuel level input (5V, GND, Signal wired from MS3-Pro)
F Arduino DUE CAN Rx and Tx pins
G Arduino DUE SDA and SCL pins (needed to control OLED displays)
H CAN bus transceiver chip
I Voltage converter chip (5V -> 3.3V, needed since Arduino DUE's maximum signal input is 3.3V)

90% of the wiring is on the underside of the board!

To make life easier for myself, I removed the 5V pin connecting the shield to the Arduino and connected the 3.3V input to the shield's 5V rail, providing multiple 3.3V connections for the 2 chips and 2 OLEDs (you can see this in the photo below, it's the 3.3-5V bridge directly below the "x" in the "Axis" label, just above the horizontal yellow GND rail).

The space to the right is allowance for when I install the 3-axis accelerometer:



Mounting the accelerometer here means that I'll need to mount the Arduino parallel to the road so I'll have to mount it in the glovebox - wasn't sure where I'd mount it until now.

Here's all the spaghetti in the passenger's footwell at the moment:


That REALLY long white cable is the 4-core shielded cable to the OLEDs. I bought a 3m length and can shorten it by half now that I know where I'll mount the Adruino.
The green and yellow twisted pair is the wiring to the CAN bus and is twice as long as it needs to be too.

Here's how the 3-line and 4-line displays look with the cluster installed:




With the night-lighting on, I can see some bleeding of backlighting on the sides of the OLEDs so I'll need to block that - black electrical tape would probably work well enough.

The biggest hassle I had was the damned push button, it wasn't working properly so I had to re-do its connections on the shield again.

Here's where I mounted the push button, nice and stealthy:



Overall it's come together quite well but I've realised that on the left gauge (AFR, Battery, Boost, Fuel Level), the only real valid Peak Value is Boost Level. Instead of AFR, Battery or Fuel Level, I think I'll display Speed and RPM maximum values since these are available on the CAN bus from the MS3-Pro.

Interesting notes (but obvious when you think about it):
* When it's colder, AIT, Oil and Water temperature read the same if the car has been sitting idle for at least 12 hours.
* With the stinking hot days we've had recently in Brisbane, even if the car has been sitting idle for at least 12 hours in the garage, at 8pm the oil and water temperature readings are always 2-3 degrees higher than the AIT.


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:37 am[

That is a very cool setup. A lot of tinkering to get it there, but that's what you enjoy and the results speak for themselves. Good work!


Originally posted by Magpie, Mon Nov 28, 2016 8:39 am[

What are the temperature ranges of the sensors? Are they the same brand? What values are they calibrated to display? Unlike air temp, oil/water are unlikely to display in the negative. Honeywell LTP series have a range of -40 to 150 C and response time [T63.2% of 25 C to 85 C step]: stirred silicon oil <15 s; stirred water <15 s; air flow 10 m/s <20 s.

I'm now curious and will look at water my values are. Air intake temp at QR yesterday was around 54 C in the pits


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:38 pm[

What are the temperature ranges of the sensors? Are they the same brand? What values are they calibrated to display? Unlike air temp, oil/water are unlikely to display in the negative. Honeywell LTP series have a range of -40 to 150 C and response time [T63.2% of 25 C to 85 C step]: stirred silicon oil <15 s; stirred water <15 s; air flow 10 m/s <20 s.

The IAT sensor is the common GM Open-Air sensor (mounted in the intercooler's cold-side tank - actual air intake temperature at the filter isn't of much importance on a turbocharged car, it's the temperature entering the manifold, after the turbo and intercooler, that's important).

The Oil Temperature sensor is a Saturn sensor; Saturn is a GM brand and uses the same calibration as other GM coolant/oil sensors (which is the reason I used it - the MS3-Pro TunerStudio software has the GM coolant/oil and air temperature calibrations built into it which can be assigned to a sensor - no need to calibrate them myself).

The Coolant sensor is the stock Mazda NB sensor - I specified the 3-point values for the Mazda NB in the MS3-Pro's TunerStudio to calibrate it.

During these hot days, even with the car sitting still for 12+ hours in the garage, the oil and water heat up slightly during the day and take quite a while to drop to ambient temperature which explains why they read a few degrees higher than the IAT sensor.

When it was colder and the car was left sitting still for 12+ hours in the garage, all sensors read the same so I'm confident they're calibrated OK.

Tonight I updated the Peak Values Left OLED screen to display Peak RPM and Speed instead of AFR and Battery Peaks which aren't much use (need to actually drive the car to get non-zero value for speed so will mount everything properly on the weekend to test it):




Originally posted by Magpie, Tue Nov 29, 2016 7:00 am[

...need to actually drive the car to get non-zero value for speed so will mount everything properly on the weekend to test it):

To dodgy day?


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Wed Nov 30, 2016 3:42 pm[

Hey mate, I've sent you a PM, but it's still sitting in the Outbox. Is your mailbox full?


Originally posted by rascal, Wed Nov 30, 2016 5:07 pm[

Hey mate, I've sent you a PM, but it's still sitting in the Outbox. Is your mailbox full?

Just means he hasn't read it yet.....

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:35 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Dec 21, 2016 12:11 am[

A couple of weekends ago ManiachLachy returned the MSLABS WideBand O2 sensor I'd lent him.
I was originally going to use it until I saw the TinyIOx board which was a much more compact solution and allowed more analog and digital inputs to be added.

I showed him my OLED gauges and he noted that the Fuel reading was 100% but I knew that it should be around 50% based on the OEM gauge reading and the voltage reported at the gauge using a multi-meter.
On my test rig it worked fine, the OEM gauge and new OLED gauge read consistently.

After ManiacLachy left I started tracking down the problem; based on the 100% reading, the fuel gauge sender wasn't connected to the Arduino.

It didn't take long to figure out that the problem was that the ECU's fuel gauge pin, 4AD (Fuel Gauge Sender), didn't have a harness wire connected to it - it should be a Brown/Black wire.
In hindsight I should have suspected this since the Adaptronic's WARI software didn't display the fuel level and it would have been easy to do so if this connection existed.

DON'T ASSUME THAT JUST BECAUSE THE REFERENCE MANUAL SAYS IT'S THERE THAT IT IS THERE!

I guess at one stage in the car's design life it was included but was omitted when they realised that the ECU didn't need it and they didn't update the reference manual.

The earlier MS3-Pro 5V/GND/Fuel-Level-Signal mod was a waste of time - at least I have another 5V/GND source from the MS3-Pro available if I ever need it.

I tapped the instrument cluster's fuel sender wire (Brown/Black) using a Brown/Black wire from an NB harness I'd bought a few weeks before - it's nice to use OEM coloured wires for this stuff.

The original backplate mount I'd used for my Adaptronic ECU worked well so I decided to re-use it.

I housed the Arduino in a plastic box and added headers for it to keep everything all tidily housed.
This box meant that the only way I could mount my Sensor Box was perpendicular to the Arduino box:







Unfortunately with this setup, once I plug in the Sensor Box plugs, there's no room to plug in the Arduino box's connectors - they need to be on the left side, there's no room on the right side since the glovebox only clears the shelf by 4-5mm.

The base of the Arduino box made it easy to attach the Arduino to the bracket's base so I kept it and added another board to connect the OLED displays, pushbutton, fuel sender, 12V, GND and CAN bus wires to.
I prefer not to connect the long wires directly to the Arduino since they may disconnect if the wires are pulled tight.
Adding those clips to the bracket allows the long wires to be held in place and provide strain relief for them.

With that all done, I needed to make a new fascia to house the Innovate Wideband O2 gauge and USB port to the MS3-Pro.

This time I was more prepared and bought myself a standing drill press for Xmas which I've wanted for some time now:


- every DIYer should have one of these, it makes precision drilling simple and is MUCH faster than a hand drill - I SHOULD have bought this years ago!

I also have a nice little brake bender unit:


- MUCH nicer bends than the rubber hammer method I used previously!

The position of the gauge and USB holes were dictated by the height of the sensor box and that I really couldn't use much of the right side because the Arduino and its shield take up most of that space:









Of course this fascia needed to be anodised (you may have spotted the demineralised water bottles in the drill press photo above):


- I figured I may as well add a 2-port USB charging port too on the left.




So after all this work, I tried assembled everything:



Unfortunately I couldn't "find" the Innovate Wideband O2's serial port socket in my Sensor Box - I need to reach behind and underneath the bracket to do this which is a bit awkward.
After about 15 minutes of cursing I pulled everything apart again, including the Sensor Box, and saw this:


Two of the 3 legs of the TinyIOx board's serial socket had sheared off completely!

F U C K ! ! !

... more to come tomorrow (time for bed now)


Originally posted by timk, Wed Dec 21, 2016 12:21 am[

I have an SMD rework gun you can use if you want to fix that.

By the way I think this thread needs more skids, less fiddling.


Originally posted by Okibi, Wed Dec 21, 2016 12:29 am[

The joys of DIY, looking great, hope it doesn't take much to resolder back on and put back together.


Originally posted by speed, Wed Dec 21, 2016 8:13 am[

The new housing looks fantastic!
Professional work as always.

You've become so familiar with anodising that you could probably do it in your sleep now


Originally posted by Magpie, Wed Dec 21, 2016 9:48 am[

Have you seen this http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/uLCD_220RD_AR/?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:47 am[

Have you seen this http://www.4dsystems.com.au/product/uLCD_220RD_AR/?

No I hadn't.
I wouldn't have bought it anyway though since my PLX Devices LCD screen was too hard to read during the day and I found that I only used the 4-line mode in black and white for readability.
This is why I chose monochrome OLED displays, easy to read and I can make them display what I want.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Dec 21, 2016 11:41 am[

I posted a warning regarding the TinyIOx board at http://www.miataturbo.net/ecus-tuning-54/tinyiox-86419/

The socket is only mounted, via solder, to 3 pads on the surface of the board - it SHOULD be mounted via pins that pass through the board and soldered on the underside or the socket epoxied to the board.
Those 2 vertical holes you see between the solder pads are merely locating slots, the port's underside has 2 posts that slot into them - they do NOT fasten the port to the board!

I loved this board but it's not suitable for vehicle use since vibrations will eventually tear those pads off the board no matter how secure you make the plug.

aidandj, the thread's originator, responded that this happened to his too - thanks for the "heads-up" Bud! - NOT!

Since I had the MSLABS WideBand O2 unit, I decided to use it and re-made the sensor board:



This time, instead of a chaining resistors in series for the Oil Temperature's 2490 Ohms pull-up resistor, I used a trim-pot (the "blue thing") - much more accurate and compact.
The car's morning Air Temperature and Oil Temperatures are now the same; with the chained resistors they were 1 degree apart since the resistance wasn't exactly 2490 Ohms.

This arrangement meant I would have to figure out where to finally mount the MSLABS box, probably next to the ECU in the passenger footwell, something I wanted to avoid.

After making the board above, the MT.net forum suggested epoxying the serial port to the board so I did this, soldered the leg to the remaining pad, one leg to a GND wire and the other leg to a solder point on its right that was connected to the chip's serial pin.

I made another board with all sensor and MS3 connectors facing the rear and attached the TinyIOx board to it, along with a secure mount for the serial jack:



The MS3-Pro detected the TinyIOx CAN bus but was not reporting AFR values - GRRRRRR!!!

After probing with the multi-meter, I found that the last leg I soldered was grounded too so there was more damage to the board's traces than I'd hoped.

I bought 2 of these boards so I epoxied the other one and tried that - this time the MS3-Pro couldn't even see its CAN bus - double F U C K ! ! !

My only option now was the MSLABS Wideband module, or analog input from the MTX-L gauge (YUCKO - digital rulez!).

While the mounting bracket was still mounted in the glovebox, I felt behind it and realised that there was enough room to mount the MSLABS box behind it but not much more, so how was I to mount it there?

Z I P T I E S !




Oh yeah, I'm brilliant!

So now it's FINALLY all mounted tidily in the glovebox, everything works and I only have to mount the ECU in the footwell.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Dec 21, 2016 12:00 pm[

The new housing looks fantastic!
Professional work as always.

You've become so familiar with anodising that you could probably do it in your sleep now
:

If I wasn't over this project I'd re-make the fascia since the gauge can be lower now that I don't have the sensor box restriction.
I can read the gauge if I want from the driver seat with the glovebox open so I doubt I'll ever do it.

Anodising looks so good compared to raw aluminim or paint and its much hardier.

It takes me around 6 hours for pieces this size and you really need to be at home the whole time to watch it - at least you can do other things while waiting around.

You have to be very careful to degrease every surface of the object before you start and never touch the surface with your fingers.

I also found that you must not let water pool on the surfaces when you take it out of the anodising solution, rinse it down and transfer it to the sealing solution.

The top of this fascia (which you can't see) has some patches on it where this happened.
To avoid pooling, use a light misting spray to clean off the anodising solution, keep the piece held at an angle while doing this so all water runs off one corner gently.


Originally posted by Snowmotion, Wed Dec 21, 2016 2:30 pm[

I Love this write up but it is way past my electrical skill. I feel so lost reading this.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:36 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Jan 10, 2017 11:18 pm[

Over the Xmas break I mounted my MS3-Pro properly in the passenger's footwell under the kickplate using a DIY bracket made from galvanised iron.
It went so smoothly and quickly I didn't even take the time to take photos (I usually do this between breaks).

I don't use my Pioneer Double-DIN head unit much in my MX5 and mostly used it on long drives to listen to podcasts or music.

After installing an Eonon Android head unit in my SP23 and really liking its versatility, I decided to install an Android head unit in Gina.

My only issue with the SP23's Android unit is its screen resolution, 800x480(WVGA), which isn't enough when you have Apps with buttons on them or clutter the screen with icons.

You can get 1024x600 units now so I ordered a Pumpkin Double-DIN unit, similar to this one from Joying:



I got it prior to Xmas and spent 3 days trying to install the bastard in Gina and here are the problems with it:

1. The unit comes with NO mounting hardware - so I bought a generic Double-DIN cage.

2. Double-DIN units are heavy and name-brand manufacturers include a rubberised mounting pin on the back that slides into a slot in the cavity's rear vertical brace to help support the unit.
This wasn't included but there was a threaded hole in the rear at approximately the right spot so I made a mounting pin from a 5mm Allen bolt, several nuts and multiple layers of heatshrink "heatshrunk".

3. The plastic fascia that comes with the unit looks cheap and looks like it's been sitting in the sun for years - it's NOT black.
The fascia is far too wide and a little tall too so you need to trim it a lot, way too much on the sides though because it becomes too thin. I have several fascias from other units but none fit over the unit due to the next problem:

4. The front plastic bezel attaches to the outside of the metal housing so protrudes on all sides.
This means that the unit CANNOT be mounted in the generic cage because the plastic bezel stops it sliding far enough forward, meaning that the unit sticks out way too far. Good luck with trying to make your own custom solution too because the plastic bezel is so wide that there's no room on the sides so you can't get any extracting tools in to get it out again if you have snap-lock tabs. There is quite a bit of vertical space though.

Since there is no room on the sides, I made a top and bottom shelf out of 2mm aluminium with small lips on the front to hook onto the fascia and joined them with a square-angled u-brace that was mounted to the cavity's rear brace and included a hole for the mounting pin to pass through, The unit slid in and sat well but protruded a little too far for my liking but that was going to be as good as it gets. I still had NO idea how I was going to secure it in place, custom locking tabs onto the top and bottom shelf were going to be my only option.






Some of the rear cables plug in close to that rear vertical cavity brace so I connected them and slid the unit in for a test fit - unfortunately they prevented the unit from going all the way. Most of the offending wiring was audio and since I only have from speakers and an amp in my car, I cut off all the unwanted wires from the plug and STILL had the same problem - the socket is hitting the rear brace so can't go in fully.

I'd spent a few days on this trying to figure out how to make it work but at this point I realised it was impossible and put the Pioneer unit back in.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 12:16 am[

After a few days, I'd cooled down over the Double-DIN Android fiasco and got on eBay to see what else was available and found this 1024x600 Joying Single-DIN unit:



The screen is detachable, has multiple vertical mounting points and is shallower than most Double-DIN units so I figured I should be able to fit it - somehow.
The unit has a single-DIN mounting cage which latches onto the OEM fascia.
Unfortunately because of this, the detachable screen sticks out too far, I wanted it flush with the fascia.

Luckily the screen fits inside the NB's Double-DIN cavity so I figured I should be able to come up with something:

DIY mounting braces:


- that rear 3mm aluminium bracket is an absolute bitch to get in since those OEM side vertical braces have rolled edges and the brace fits flush against the recessed flat centre section.

Head Unit bracket:


- getting the angle correct was time-consuming, the unit needs to be solidly mounted to get it right
- the unit must be inserted sideways into the cavity, then rotated into place

Here's how the brackets connect:


- getting the depth correct was time-consuming, once again, the unit needs to be solidly mounted to get it right
- I used Allen bolts since they were the only 5mm bolts I had on hand




To tighten those three Allen bolts when the single-DIN unit was in place, I needed to mod a spare Allen key to shorten it:


- I've got heaps of these from various kits in the past, glad I didn't just throw them out.

Side view with the screen attached:



Front view, no bezel:


- I really like this look so might just mask the unsightly gaps behind the screen (ie. a DIY bezel behind the screen)

Front view with bezel:



I spent a lot of time figuring out where to mount the GPS unit.
On my SP23 there's a hidden flat shelf above the centre console, underneath the dashboard that seems just made to place a GPS unit.
There's nothing like this in an NB so I toyed with the idea of placing it on the rear parcel shelf or mounted on the dashboard as far forward as possible, near the driver's A-pillar.
Didn't like any of these options so pulled apart the instrument cluster to feel if there was any space under the dashboard (there's none on the passenger side with the airbag in the way).
The best place I could actually access was on top of the right centre air vent tunnel - picture the rounded instrument cluster hood, it's forward of the hood at about the 10 o'clock position.
I used velcro to mount the GPS on top of the air vent tunnel - if you don't think that's strong enough I say BOLLOCKS! Trying to get the GPS unit positioned correctly was a pain in the arse in that cramped space, every time the velcro surfaces touched they'd lock tight and I'd have to get them apart again.
I found using an old credit card between the velcro surfaces worked well, once the GPS was in about the right spot, I slid the credit card out.
That GPS unit isn't going anywhere.

Still not sure about where to put the microphone - very useful for Andoid voice commands.
The A-Pillar seems to be the most common place but that would look odd since it looks like a small round foam ball - like a "booger".


Originally posted by Roadrunner, Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:28 am[

For the microphone, I routed mine up and over the steering column and poked it out in the cluster surround near the Odo reset button. Used a bit of black double sided tape to hold in place.
Seems to be ok there but there people I speak to do complain there is a bit of wind noise. Where ever the ND has its mic is the spot to put it. I've spoken to the wife when she's been at 110kph on the freeway roof down and its like she's in a quiet room. Maybe also the ND mic is a far better quality unit than my Pioneer one.

How does the screen go for glare with the roof down? Looks great btw!


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Wed Jan 11, 2017 8:33 am[

Your ingenuity know no bounds! However, you've convinced me to give up on the idea of an Android unit for the time being. Far too hard and fiddly for me.


Originally posted by Snowmotion, Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:14 am[

I mounted my remote mic for hands free on top of the steering column cover towards the edge closest to the instrument cluster. people can hear me perfectly with the top down so seems pretty good.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:42 am[

I mounted my remote mic for hands free on top of the steering column cover towards the edge closest to the instrument cluster. people can hear me perfectly with the top down so seems pretty good.

Thanks for that verification - I was concerned about wind noise on the A-pillar which was another concern.


Originally posted by Magpie, Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:58 am[

Nice fabrication skills, I seem to recall that you purchased a bench bender. Will the car be exposed to any UV rays in 2017


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:00 am[

For the microphone, I routed mine up and over the steering column and poked it out in the cluster surround near the Odo reset button. Used a bit of black double sided tape to hold in place.
Seems to be ok there but there people I speak to do complain there is a bit of wind noise. Where ever the ND has its mic is the spot to put it. I've spoken to the wife when she's been at 110kph on the freeway roof down and its like she's in a quiet room. Maybe also the ND mic is a far better quality unit than my Pioneer one.

How does the screen go for glare with the roof down? Looks great btw!

Thanks for the info.

Believe it or not, I haven't even fired the unit up yet!

After my previous failed attempt at fitting the Double-DIN Android unit, I didn't want to waste any time "dicking around" with the new unit if I couldn't even fit it (rage level was at EXTREME when I gave up on the Double-DIN unit after spending so much time trying to fit it - was close to smashing it to pieces with a hammer).

I do expect glare to be an issue though, even the best Android phones can be hard to read in the sun - this is a Chinese screen so it can't compare to them.
I may try making a hood if the glare is too bad - will need to be acrylic though and NOT aluminium for safety reasons.

I have my blue OLED instrument cluster gauges now so the important stuff can be read there - the Android unit will be used mostly for its GPS and to control MS3-Pro logging (I wont be trying to read the MS3-Pro data from it, that's on the OLED gauges).


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:10 am[

Nice fabrication skills, I seem to recall that you purchased a bench bender. Will the car be exposed to any UV rays in 2017

That's the plan.

I've got all the TSE turbo+manifold+downpipe bits now. I was waiting on a shim for the TSE downpipe since they found that the initial downpipes leaked and needed it - this arrived in November.

I have one of the original EFR6258 turbos which was sand-cast.
Unfortunately this means it was very rough and that the recommended manifold->turbo Stage 8 fasteners couldn't be used on it.
MX5 Plus used Nissan locking tabs on it but I'd prefer the Stage 8 fasteners since they've been track-proven and I should never need to worry about them.
The newer turbos are no longer sand-cast so are finished better and will accomodate the Stage 8 fasteners so I've ordered the exhaust housing which will arrive in 3-4 weeks (I hope - damn the Xmas shutdown period!)

I also had to look at the newly occurring airbag flashing light and the ABS flashing light (which used to occur once in a while but occurs all the time now).

The airbag flash code was for the steering wheel's airbag and I diagnosed it down to the clockspring thanks to the workshop reference manual.
I bought a 2nd hand one on eBay but while waiting for it I pulled out my original clockspring and did all the connectivity tests which were fine.
I re-installed it, aligned it correctly, torqued the steering wheel up to spec and the fault disappeared.
I guess when I installed the new steering wheel that I paid no attention to aligning the clockspring correctly or over-torqued the steering wheel.

The ABS flash code is for the front left sensor so I ordered a new one which I'm still waiting for.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 10:44 am[

:
However, you've convinced me to give up on the idea of an Android unit for the time being. Far too hard and fiddly for me.

This took way too long and I would recommend finding a wrecked NB's front dash and removing the side panels so that you can get at the rear and sides when working out the positioning and angles required for the brackets. I spent a lot of time on my knees, holding my body in un-natural positions while working in the cramped cavity.

I think there's a market for this bracket, it could just be made in 2 pieces of laser-cut aluminium, one for the brace and another for the Single-DIN unit.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 1:00 pm[

"
Where ever the ND has its mic is the spot to put it. I've spoken to the wife when she's been at 110kph on the freeway roof down and its like she's in a quiet room. Maybe also the ND mic is a far better quality unit than my Pioneer one.
:

This thread shows the ND solution; unfortunately it's not simply a microphone positioning issue: https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?p=7613910&highlight=microphone#post7613910




Originally posted by bruce, Wed Jan 11, 2017 9:46 pm[

You've gotta cover/mask that JOYING badge.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:37 pm[

You've gotta cover/mask that JOYING badge.

LOL = it's under the glass so not easy to do.

On the other hand, it works as a built-in theft-deterrent system - who'd try and steal a Chinese head unit made by some company called Joying?
It's definitely not name-brand so any re-sale value is minimal.


Originally posted by Magpie, Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:14 am[

They would have to steal it from your garage as its not as if it is left alone (or even allowed) outside


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Thu Jan 12, 2017 7:48 am[

They would have to steal it from your garage as its not as if it is left alone (or even allowed) outside

It's low hanging fruit, but I laugh everytime!

I thought the same thing about the massive "JOYING", when the first product shots were posted, but once it was installed it didn't look quite so in your face. Keen to see it running MSDroid or ShadowDash.


Originally posted by Magpie, Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:07 am[

I cannot resist it

However, in all seriousness Lokiel's build, like Pham's the attention to detail is amazing. Plus Lokiel is prepared to share what worked and more importantly what did not.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:37 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:08 am[

The following posts document what I've been doing over the last few weeks with the Android Head Unit.
I'll split them into several posts to make it easier to write-up and focus on one topic.

Unfortunately it's been stinking hot+humid in Brisbane so progress is MUCH slower than usual since I only spent a few hours a day on it (in cooler times I can work from sun-up to way past sun-down on the car to finish a job).

AMPLIFIER/SPEAKER ISSUES

When I initially connected the Joying head unit, all I got from the speakers was a high pitched whine.
The JVC amp's LED was not lit so I checked its 25 amp fuse which was OK.
The multimeter showed that it was drawing power.
I pulled out the amplifier and tested it on the bench with the same result on the bench speakers - DODGY AMPLIFIER!

Supercheap were having a sale on 2-channel amplifiers and had a Kenwood KAC-PS527 and Pioneer GM-A3602 available.
The Pioneer amplifier was cheaper and it was also narrower than my JVC amplifier so I knew it could fit in the driver-side tunnel to the boot.
Unfortunately the Pioneer unit was also longer

Here's the cavity where the amplifier is mounted, in the driver-side tunnel leading to the boot.



Here's the two amplifiers side-by-side (the Pioneer is mounted on 2 MDF bases, the bottom one is the original JVC's bottom MDF base that includes a rubber footing and cut-outs to clear the angled brace and OEM wiring):





Once the amplifer was wired up, I had sound - WooHoo:



After playing around with the head unit's sound balancing, I realised that the passenger side speaker wasn't working at all - the tweeter was OK though.
After removing the door trim I could see that the speaker's leads had pulled out, probably due to the wire getting caught in the power window mechanics. I re-routed and connected the wire and secured it using zip-ties so that it wasn't loose and wouldn't happen again.

Now I had full sound which sounded pretty good to my untrained ears, no worse than what I remembered with the Pioneer unit!


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:35 am[

REVERSING CAMERA

When I installed my Android EONON head unit in my SP23, I also installed a reversing camera which I find useful (I think that the audible reversing sensors are more effective though for reversing).

I purchased 2 types of reversing camera for this, one was a small camera that can be mounted anywhere and the other is mounted in a numberplate bracket:



I used the small one on the SP23, which I actually mounted on the numberplate so that I didn't have to drill holes into the car.
No matter where you mount this small unit, it looks odd because it sticks out.

The other unit was not designed for our numperplates so does not fit (not wide enough and too deep)!

Since I had this "other" camera, the interior trim was out and the head unit wiring wasn't tidied up, I figured that I may as well fit it otherwise I may kick myself later on for not doing so.
If nothing else, the wiring will be in place if I decide to replace it with a unit that incorporates a camera and audible reversing sensors.

To mount the camera I did the following:
1. Cut-down original bracket
2. Drilled 2x6mm matching holes into numberplate
3. Filed flat the heads of 2xM6 bolts (to eliminate the raised lettering)
4. Filed-down 2xM6 nuts to about half their original depth (so that bracket can sit as flat as possible on car)
5. Cut-down the 2xM6 bolts (so that when the bracket was mounted to the numberplate, they wouldn't extend beyond the nut)
6. Painted the M6 bolt heads black (so that you can't see them in the bracket)
7. Attached the bracket to the numberplate using blue loctite on the M6 nuts.
8. Threaded the camera's power and video leads into the boot
9. Screwed on the numberplate










The camera's power+GND and "Reverse trigger" were wired to the driver-side reversing light.
The camera's video and reverse-trigger were routed down the driver-side tunnel from the boot, behind the driver's seat and along the transmission tunnel to the head unit.
The "Reverse trigger" was connected to the Android unit's "BACK" lead.


* that Innovate MTX-L cable is SO long, and thick, that I had to do a U-turn down and up the transmission tunnel into the glovebox to "consume" it (I really should have cut it down to size)
* the Joying USB Type-A female lead shown will be housed in the transmission console, the other in the glovebox so it can easily be connected to the MS3-Pro

Here's a bad shot of the reversing camera in action, activated when putting the car in reverse gear (taken at dusk):


* The solid yellow reversing indicator lines are generated by the camera and don't require the head unit to have "come up" yet
* The coloured reversing indicator lines are generated when the head unit is "up" (these can be turned on/off in the configuration settings)

In the shot above, you can see the silicone hose I used to "plug" the 8mm gap between the display and HVAC fascia.
It's wedged in there firmly and makes the screen firmer (barely moves when pressed hard).
Without it there, you could just see the alumnium mounting bracket underneath.

You can also just see the thinner-slitted silicone hose I used to mask the "natty" inside side edges of the cavity.
The edges have notches and holes along them and were quite scuffed which you could see.
The bottom left edge of the hose has twisted anti-clockwise, exposing the hidden edge so I'll need to twist it back or use slightly thicker hose (it's a much smaller diameter than the one along the bottom).


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:35 pm[

MICROPHONE

After suggestions regarding the best position for the microphone, I mounted it on top of the steering "clamshell", just behind the left indicator stalk where it wont be subject to wind noise, is almost directly in front of me and has minimal obstruction of the instrument cluster.

The microphone came with a clip that has a horseshoe clip for the microphone and spring-clip to attach to your shirt.
The spring clip has a flat section so I attached some double-sided tape to it, stuck it on the "clamshell" and clicked-in the microphone.

The microphone sits too high for my taste, it obscures the ABS warning light (also hides the "HOLD" warning light that I've NEVER seen come on and is not mentioned in the Owner's Manual - after some research it turns out that it's only for automatics; "selecting hold drops the transmission by 1 gear ratio and holds it until the button is disengaged or the engine nears a stall speed"):



I'll keep my eyes open for a plastic microphone horsehoe bracket that allows me to sit it lower on the "clamshell" (preferably one that I can just drill a hole into the clamshell and snap-locks into this hole).

Navigation with Google Maps and voice-operated "OK Google, Navigate to <ADDRESS>" commands is very slick, I HATED having to enter address details via touchscreen keyboards, it seemed to take ages.

The "OK Google" voice interface can do a LOT more than just GPS navigation, you can schedule events, "write" notes, find information and lots more - impressive stuff!


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:37 pm[

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:37 pm

JASS PERFORMANCE POWER WINDOW SWITCHES

My DIY vintage power window switches were mounted on top of an OEM power window housing that was modded to allow the DIY fascia to fit flush with the console.
The OEM power window housing has two flexible tabs on the front that click-lock into place when installed.
Unfortunately these tabs weren't really designed for multiple install/uninstalls and, being hard plastic, tend to break eventually when compressed to remove them.
When both are broken, the power window switch unit wont lock in place and pop out when moving the switches.

Jass Performance sell these units (see http://www.jassperformance.com/shop/mazda-mx5/cockpit/mk2-5-el-windows-panel-with-vintage-toggle-el-windows-switches.html) so I bought one and fitted it:



I had a few issues with this unit:
1. It doesn't sit flush like my DIY unit did (the front edge dips down - Revlimiter's switches to the same thing too)
2. I fabbed 2 of my own aluminium mounting brackets (underneath the console) since I didn't think much of the mounting solution (basically a twist-lock bracket underneath the console)
3. When I connected my harness to the unit's socket, the left and right windows were reversed (so I redid my harness to fix this)
4. The only way to get this unit out is to remove the entire transmission console.

The Joying head unit has 2 female Type-A USB ports so I routed one into the centre console and the other into the glovebox (for easy connection to the MS3-Pro's USB port mounted there).


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 12:59 pm[

SHADOW DASH (MegaSquirt)

I bought+installed the Android Shadow Dash App on the Joying Head Unit:

Joying Head Unit connected to MS3-Pro's USB port (mounted in glovebox):


- I've ordered a Male Type-A to Male Type-B adapter so that the extra cable isn't need

Default Shadow Dash displays running on the unit (configured to display units in km/h and Celsius):









For me, the 3rd and 4th screens will probably be the most useful since the first 2 just show data that's already visible in my instrument cluster.

Now I need to learn how to create my own custom Shadow Dash screens.

The main use of this App for me is simply to start/stop logging Megasquirt data without needing a PC.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Mon Jan 23, 2017 1:58 pm[

Head Unit Display Customisation

Time to "Sex-Up" the default Android displays.

Gina should have a Gina Lollobrigida bootscreen and wallpaper, preferably with a blue theme to match the lighting.

Unfortunately the resolution of the display is 1024x600 which isn't a common image format size so finding images that actually worked and looked OK was hard and required DIY work.

I found one blue-themed image that was close, resized/cropped it to 1024x600 and tried to use the Joying configuration utility, CarMediaSetup, to set it as the wallpaper.
This utility is CRAP for setting wallpapers that have the correct image dimensions, it pops up a square bounding box within the image that can be moved about to select a part of the image to use as the wallpaper.
You can't even resize this box to make it encompass the whole screen.
When selected, the image is cropped to the square selection box and is centred as the wallpaper, scaled proportionally so that it fills the screen width.
This probably works well for original images larger than the screen but not for screen-sized or smaller images.

You can also set the wallpaper via the standard Android Gallery App so I used that.

Default Home screen:



The Boot screen was a bit harder.

I wanted something different to the wallpaper so created one from a couple of black and white images.
To get the blue theme I used GIMP, a powerful free alternative to Photoshop.
Unfortunately I don't use GIMP much and tend to forget everything between uses so it takes a while to "get the hang of it again" - luckily the internet is on hand, especially with GIMP because it's quite powerful, has "a bazillion" features and usually 3 or 4 ways of achieving any desired result.

Next issue was "How the hell do I set the Boot screen?".

The Joying's configuration App, CarMediaSetup, allows you to select a boot screen from its stored manufacturer images (eg. Mazda, Ford, BMW).
If you scroll through the screens of manufacturers to the end, you eventually come to a cryptic screen that mentions something about custom images - it's cryptic because it's in "Chinglish" (ie. uses English words but makes little sense).

After RTF "Chinglish" on-board manual, reading the "Chinglish" custom image screen again and searching on the web (lot's of help on this, unfortunately mostly from Joying in "Chinglish" that's even worse than the App's), I figured out what they were trying to say:

[b]To define a custom boot screen image, create a "mycar" folder in the root folder of your SD card or USB stick and copy your image file(s) into the "mycar" folder.
[/b]
When the SD card or USB stick is inserted in the unit, the images in the "mycar" folder are shown in CarMediaSetup's custom boot screen page and can be selected as the boot screen.

Here's my new custom boot screen:



Interesting thing I found out today:
On the Joying head unit, the fixed "soft-buttons" on the left aren't illuminated until you turn the headlights ON.
They're easier to see even in the day if they're lit up:


When you turn OFF the headlights, these remain illuminated until you remove the key or turn it OFF.

If you leave the lights ON and turn off the key, these LEDS remain lit, even if you then turn OFF lights - that's going to bite me one day with a flat battery (need to ensure that lights are OFF before removing the key).

Updates complete (for now).

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:38 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Feb 26, 2017 9:06 pm[

I've never really been happy with my leather gear shift gaiter and chrome gear shift plate and ring, the ring is quite small and constricts the gaiter too much - leather gaiters should look soft with generous amounts of leather:



I've always been fond of the Cobra-style round rubber boot, it fits the retro look I want, so I ordered one and a matching chrome ring.
I bought a 2nd-hand OEM fascia plate from MX5-Plus and made a mounting plate from aluminium to mount the ring and boot to:


The ring is meant to be mounted with the bolts in the compass-point positions but the East/West bolts are too wide for the DIY plate so I rotated the ring 45* to fit. Getting this "right" was pretty hard given the odd shape of the DIY plate. The top edge was the only straight reference I had to work from.
I have a few metal hole saws but none the correct size so I used a nibbler and round files to "freehand" one - not spending $50+ for this single job. "Free-handing" round holes sucks, it takes forever and always looks crap. At least no-one will see it when finished.

The original chrome plate I had bolted into the OEM fascia at 6 points so I was going to do the same thing.
There's plenty of room at the top of the OEM fascia for this but VERY little at the bottom where it's very thin/narrow.
Additionally, those bottom bolts need to be right at the bottom edge which I didn't like aesthetically:



I needed another solution.

Flipping the console, I saw that I could use a couple of aluminium braces on the underside that the Cobra ring bolts could fasten to:


The two top locating bolts I drilled into the OEM fascia and DIY plate stop it moving forward and backwards and the two braces hold everything firmly in place (using nylock nuts).

Here's the DIY plate and Cobra ring+boot mounted:


(top two locating bolts not inserted)

Obviously that raw aluminium finish on the plate can't remain and paint isn't an option since it looks crappy when it starts chipping, so I used a metal scourer to give it a brushed finish and ...






I still haven't found a really good method of doing an obvious brushed finish, it is brushed but you can't see it unless you're up close and have decent lighting. Wire wheels on a drill produce a too smooth finish - metal scourers are the best I've found so far but don't cut deep enough.




All components mounted:







And installed:







MUCH BETTER!


Originally posted by The American, Sun Feb 26, 2017 10:24 pm[

That does look very neat!


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:06 am[

That is awesome! I love it. The black anodised plate looks great, and the cobra shift boot is perfect.


Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Feb 28, 2017 8:15 pm[

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm really happy with the result and got what I consider to be the ultimate approval from Revlimiter himself at CR.net (see Post#3 at http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/21-interior-sponsored-rev9-autosport/241865-nb-inspired-revlimiters-cobra-gear-shift-ring-boot.html">http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/21-int%20...%20-boot.html</a>))" class="postlink">http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/21-interior-sponsored-rev9-autosport/241865-nb-inspired-revlimiters-cobra-gear-shift-ring-boot.html">http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/21-int%20...%20-boot.html</a>)</a>).


Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Wed Mar 01, 2017 7:50 am[

Something that bugs me about it, and maybe you have plans for it, but the transition from the anodised plate to the stereo surround just doesn't flow now. I was thinking of wrapping my shifter surround and stereo surround in a black brushed look vinyl, obviously a proper metal plate is much nicer but it would be hard to get an aluminium stereo surround to anodise.

But that cobra ring/shifter.... So nice! And praise from Adam!


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Mar 01, 2017 9:45 am[

Agree about the radio/HVAC fascia.

With the chrome shift plate I had previously, the SE's black-pitted silver fascia looked OK.
With the new brushed-black plate, it looks wrong.

At one time I had a chrome fascia that simply glued onto the OEM fascia.
It looked OK but every time I needed to do a mod that required me to remove the fascia, it would need re-glueing since sections would un-stick when I pulled it out.
To do it properly meant pulling the chrome fascia off completely, stripping the old glue off both the plate and OEM fascia and re-glueing it.
That got old quick so I wont be doing an anodised aluminium version of it - the surround has some very long+narrow/thin sections too, making it difficult to cut and shape without bending the aluminum.

If I could find a brushed-black vinyl wrap I'd consider it but I don't know how long they hold up without peeling back (probably not a problem if the "rear tabs" are long enough) - I'm not keen on anything that needs rework or constant attention.

I think I'll just replace it with an OEM black one (should have one around somewhere).

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:39 pm

Originally posted by ManiacLachy, Wed Mar 01, 2017 11:48 am[

I'm sure you'll come to a solution that works ;)

More importantly ... when's the TSE manifold and DP going on?


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Mar 01, 2017 2:42 pm[

:
More importantly ... when's the TSE manifold and DP going on?

Still got a few bits I'm waiting on.

1. EFR6258 exhaust housing with ceramic coating - my EFR6258 was an early model and the exhaust housing is sand-cast which meant that the Stage 8 manifold fasteners that most use will NOT fit due to the rough casting. The new castings are much better and will accommodate the Stage 8 fasteners. I want to use a tried&tested means of securing the turbo and teh Stage 8 fasteners are race-proven.

2. I have a TSE Dual Core Race Radiator sitting in my garage. I then needed to order a top radiator hose since the OEM one wont reach and decided to buy a couple of TSE Radiator Caps with sacrificial anodes. The radiator caps are taking forever to come in stock

3. After upgrading the MS firmwware to the latest version, the MSLabs CAN Wideband Module is not sending AFR data to the MS3Pro. I tried reverting to the original firmware but that didn't rectify it. Since Dann had issues too with it when I lent it to you, I assume that it's flaky and ordered another one from TSE. To save on S&H I asked Andrew to ship it with the other parts.


Originally posted by NMX516, Sun Mar 26, 2017 10:44 pm[

I've been away. Is this car on the road yet Lokiel?! Or more importantly, has it been on the track in anger yet?


Originally posted by Gladiator, Mon Mar 27, 2017 10:35 am[

Agree about the radio/HVAC fascia.

With the chrome shift plate I had previously, the SE's black-pitted silver fascia looked OK.
With the new brushed-black plate, it looks wrong.

At one time I had a chrome fascia that simply glued onto the OEM fascia.
It looked OK but every time I needed to do a mod that required me to remove the fascia, it would need re-glueing since sections would un-stick when I pulled it out.
To do it properly meant pulling the chrome fascia off completely, stripping the old glue off both the plate and OEM fascia and re-glueing it.
That got old quick so I wont be doing an anodised aluminium version of it - the surround has some very long+narrow/thin sections too, making it difficult to cut and shape without bending the aluminum.

If I could find a brushed-black vinyl wrap I'd consider it but I don't know how long they hold up without peeling back (probably not a problem if the "rear tabs" are long enough) - I'm not keen on anything that needs rework or constant attention.

I think I'll just replace it with an OEM black one (should have one around somewhere).

What about hydrographic film. My cluster hood, tombstone & console are done in hydrographic carbon fibre. Looks great & seems to be permanent. Many different patterns/colours are available.

[Lokiel]

Originally posted by Lokiel, Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:40 pm

Originally posted by Lokiel, Tue Mar 28, 2017 12:41 am[

I've been away. Is this car on the road yet Lokiel?! Or more importantly, has it been on the track in anger yet?

Unfortunately not really, clutch is slipping, wastegate binds and I'm waiting for a new exhaust housing for my EFR6258 turbo.

I've already got the TSE manifold, water and oil lines and the downpipe and would like to fit it using Stage8 fasteners+inconel studs+resbond since it'a a track-proven mounting solution for the turbo to the manifold.
My EFR6258 used the original sand-casting molds so the exhaust housing wont accomodate the Stage8 fasteners.
Currently I'm using Nissan fasteners on the stud nuts but I'd rather do it right and forget about it.

I also have a TSE radiator that I want to fit before getting someone to install the turbo, manifold and downpipe (requires welding the downpipe to my existing setup, a skill-set I don't have - nor the equipment).
I also want to simplify the lower radiator hose routing, have it run diagonally down behind the A/C compressor and straight to the radiator barb (currently the radiator hose winds upward, around and down to the radiator barb, presumedly to accomodate LHD cars - it can be simplified on RHS cars).
This will require modification to the water outlet barb so I'd like to install the TSE radiator beforehand to ensure that the barb gets modified correctly for the TSE radiator (the TSE radiator barb runs diagonally downward rather than straight back like the OEM radiator which will affect the hose orientation).

I've got all the components now for the TSE radiator, including correct upper and lower radiator hoses, but have been spending most of my time developing MSTrackIt, a Megasquirt ECU version of the Adaptronic Android AdapTrackIt App I wrote.

The App is close to completion, and I'm working on the Bluetooth interface at the moment (currently uses USB serial interface to the MegaSquirt ECU).
ManiacLachy has been beta-testing it for me and providing feedback.
He was the one who suggested adding traditional Analog gauges, Bluetooth and locking the App's orientation (his Android phone mount allows the phone to bounce about a bit and occasionally while driving would temporarily fit between Landscape and Portrait modes).

All gauges, apart from the main RPMand speed gauges are selectable/configurable (RPM range and RPM high threshold are configurable).

Landscape mode

Default Display Mode:


Notes:
* Cool MX5 NB icons
* All colours are configurable
* The 6 minor gauges are configurable (gauge type depends on the data available, minimum, maximum, low warning and high warning thresholds are configurable)
* The empty box is the "gear box" and is populated with the gear number if the MS gearing and wheel diameter have been defined.
* The following analog gauges show the minimum and maximum values I configured for each gauge, as well as low warning thresholds (shown as yellow arcs on the analog gauges) and high warning thresholds (shown as red arcs).
* The horizontal gauge bars are only "filled" when the gauge value is above the minimum threshold (eg. The Oil Temperature minimum value was configured as 0* so the horizontal gauge has a percentage fill of its minimum..maximum range. CLT was defined with a range 40..120*; since it's value is actually 28*, the bar is "empty").
* When the high warning threshold has been reached, the horizontal gauge will include an indicator to flag the fact that the high threshold has been "hit" - this indicator remains until cleared via the App or the App is restarted
* If configured in MegaSquirt, or via the App, Shift Warning lights are displayed (see the AdapTrackIt document for this functionality at http://lokiel.weebly.com/android-adaptrackit-app.html)
* The gauge bar colours depend on whether the gauge value lies in the low threshold, normal or high threshold range (colours are configurable)
* Not shown, since the engine wasn't running when I took these screenshots, RPM is displayed as an arc along the tacho and changes to red when the RPM high threshold is reached.

2x3 Analog gauge mode (ignore the purple circle thingy, it was generated by another running App)


Notes:
* The gauge needle colours depend on whether the gauge value lies in the low threshold, normal or high threshold range (colours are configurable)
* When the high warning threshold has been reached, the gauge will include an indicator to flag the fact that the high threshold has been "hit" - this indicator remains until cleared via the App or the App is restarted

1x3 Analog mode:



Quick buttons (displayed and active temporarily when screen is tapped):



Portrait Mode

Default display mode:



3x2 Analog Mode:



3x1 Analog Mode:



Quick buttons (displayed and active temporarily when screen is tapped):



Once I've completed the Bluetooth functionality, I intend to roll these changes into the AdapTrackIt app.


Originally posted by NMX516, Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:44 pm[

Well, you've certainly been busy Lokiel!! Keep up the good work

...and it seems as though you're enjoying the car in at least some way. Do you miss driving it?


Originally posted by bootz, Tue Mar 28, 2017 9:47 pm[

I think that he enjoys fiddling with it more than driving. Not that there is anything wrong with that.


Originally posted by The American, Tue Mar 28, 2017 10:04 pm[

Every time this thread bumps, I'm in to see if there's a working EFR and 350hp. One day!


Originally posted by Lokiel, Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:14 am[

I think that he enjoys fiddling with it more than driving. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Not completely true, I love driving the car which is why I've ploughed so much money and effort into it.

After spending a LOT of money on the initial EFR6258 install and engine rebuild, then finding binding issues with the wastegate valve, which made the car dangerous to drive aggressively, I lost a LOT of motivation.

I decided to wait for the TSE track-proven EFR6258 solution which I knew was going to take a long time to "arrive" - it had already been in development for over 2 years before I got NitroDann to make my manifold/exhaust and had no ETA.

The TSE manifold, downpipe, Stage8 fastening hardware, oil and water lines arrived last year and I ordered a new exhaust housing for the EFR6258 to accommodate the Stage8 fasteners.
MT.net mentioned that EFR6258s have been hard to source in recent months so I assume that the exhaust housing is in the same boat and I just have to be patient (I'm REALLY good at that now )

Releasing the Android MSTrackit App has priority now since it's "almost there", fitting the TSE radiator, updating the AdapTrackIt App come next.
Once I've fitted the TSE radiator I can start thinking about when/where to install the TSE turbo "kit" since it requires welding the downpipe to my existing exhaust.
I need the slipping clutch looked at too.
I'm still undecided where to outsource the turbo installment and clutch to, MX5 Plus is local but they don't tune MegaSquirts, NitroDann is a "One-Stop-Shop", something that cannot be valued enough (just ask davekmoore), but he's a LONG way away and I don't want to drive that far with a dodgy clutch - would need to "truck" the car to him


Originally posted by Magpie, Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:49 am[

We will host a special Dodgy Day in Brisbane when Gina is considered to be 'finished'