Project-Zero: Hiding my wonky dash light mounting hole crime.

Project-Zero: Fitting the AIM MSX & pilot lights in the carbon fibre dash .

Spent a little bit of time after work last night offering up the AIM MXS dash to the carbon fibre dashboard. Also, the dash lights. (Was going to do something fancy for those, turns out I didn't care enough and just set them straight into the dash.)  To make sure that holes were [mostly] in the right place I drew up a couple of templates with Fusion 360 and kicked them out on my Ender3 Printer. (I mostly use my 3D printer to knock out single use tooling, like this.)

I'm happy enough with the end result of the work even though it's a bit of a horror show where I cut out the 2" rounds to fit the back protrusion of the dashboard. Doesn't matter, tho, that's covered by the dash itself.  And one of the dash lights is slight offset which will forever be a tiny annoyance.

Project-Zero: Emerald K6 Configuration Stuff

Ran into some issues trying to finally get the engine to turn over that turned out to be an ECU configuration problem that was partially user error and partially some questionable choices made by Emerald M3D on how they package and sell their ECUs.

The Issue

When attempting to crank the engine over it wouldn't catch or run.  Probing with a multimeter revealed that fuel rail and coils weren't getting power, ECU logs also suggested that the ECU wasn't getting power to its second 12V in, either.  

The Problem

While it was pretty clear that the issue was that the ECU wasn't triggering the Main Relay to supply the injectors, ignition, or the ECU with battery volts, figuring out why was a bigger pain in the butt than it should have been.  I traced the Main relay back to pin 14 on the ECU which all of the documentation I could find on the K6 ECU lists as supplying +8v for sensors, not switching ground.  Weird but workable...except that the GBS harness is wired for the ECU to switch pin 14 to ground, not to supply 8v. 

I thought I might have to rewire the chassis harness to so the Main Relay would be triggered by a positive source from the ECU or that I might need to move the ECU pin to a different port.  But I couldn't find any option at all in the configuration software to actually set where the main relay is triggered from.  The documentation seemed to suggest that it would be triggered from Pin 4 as long as Pin 4 wasn't configured as an ignition driver but offered no alternatives.  And pin 4 on my setup is an ignition driver.

To make what could be a very long story short, I got in touch with Emerald and quickly discovered two problems:

• I had the wrong version of Emerald's ECU software installed.
• I downloaded the config software from Emerald's web site, I don't own any computers with  DVD drives that could have read/loaded the software that was in the included DVD drive.
• I made the incorrect assumption that would be be the most complete, up-to-date version. It was not.
• Some K6 ECUs require bespoke software versions, my K6 VVT was not 100% compatible with the software version on their website.
• Emerald's documentation is is kinda crap.
• The K6 documentation lists pin 14 as a +8v sensor. Emerald's support rep told me that pin 14 on the K6 VVT ECU is actually a configurable spare output.
• Every single bit of documentation for the K6 ECU on both their website and on the DVD included with the ECU fails to actually correctly capture and convey all of the actual inputs and outputs of the ECU that I was shipped.

The Solution

• Installed the correct version of the software.
• Emerald's support emailed me the correct version of the configuration software for my specific ECU.
• Seriously, who creates bespoke versions of configuration software like that?!?!
• Set Pin 14 to control the main relay.
• Changed the Main Relay trigger from Pin 4 to Pin 14.
• Verified that the VVT solenoid had was configured to trigger on Pin 3 instead of Pin 17. (Old issue I found while sorting out the wiring harness.)

The Take Away

I was bitten by the very reasonable assumption that the software available on Emerald's site would be the most current version and would be able to configure all versions of the K6 ECU that they ship to customers.  Shipping bespoke versions of software for specific versions of an ECU is kinda crap.  I have to be careful now not to lose the installer.  It's also very likely because of the bespoke nature of both the ECU and the configuration software that there will NEVER be firmware or software updates for my specific K6 ECU or the configuration software needed to make it work.

It also means that when I take the car in to be tuned I'm going to have to make sure that my tuner has the special, bespoke version of the tuning software on his laptop.

Those aren't show-stopping issues but they are annoying.

However, the car stared right up and just ran after finally getting the ECU outputs correctly matching the reality of the chassis and engine harness configuration so that's not annoying.

In the future I may change the car over to a different ECU, maybe Megasquirt or Haltech, but for now I'm gonna go with what I got 'cause it runs.

Project-Zero: Fluids are filled.

 It's been a bit of time since I've made an update here and it's time to do some brain dumping, starting with some fluids.

The car is now presently full of fluids. Let's talk about them.

• Engine Oil
• Motorcraft 5W-20 full synthetic - No point in using anything more exotic, special, or expensive on the car right now.
• Transmission fluid
• Redline MTL Gear Oil - 75W-80 GL-4 gear oil, pretty much the only thing that I use in my Miata transmissions.
• Gear Oil
• Royal Purple Max Gear - 75w-90. I needed 75W-90 for the differential and this is what Winchester Auto had in stock. I would have preferred Redline but in a pandemic, beggars can't be choosers.
• Coolant
• Distilled Water & [water wetter] - I live in California, there's no real need to run anti-freeze.  Distilled water and some anti-corrosive additives are good.
• Brake Fluid
• Generic DOT-4 - Again, nothing special right now.  High enough temp resistance and fairly inexpensive.  I really don't like the idea of leaking Ate or Motul all over the garage while hunting down leaks.  I can bleed it all out later, if needed.

Project-Zero: Flasher Relay Redux

 The LED flasher that I bought was garbage, I updated my previous post with that information.  I've replaced it with a more expensive electronic flasher that shouldn't suffer from the terrible electro mechanical issues the one I first bought has.

The new LED Flasher (FL3-RED-K) is a three pin flasher but the GBS Zero's flasher socket will need to be re-pinned. The short story is that the GBS is pinned for ISO relays, FL3-RED-K relay that I purchased is pinned as a JSO relay. Research into that what you will but the following diagram should help on that.

Basically, looking at the back of the Relay Socket everything needs to rotate one tab clockwise.

Project-Zero: Oil Pressure Switch Problems

I have learned through trial and error that the oil pressure switch use in the Ford Fusion that my engine came from is not compatible with the way that the GBS us wired up.

UPDATE: I chose Solution 1 however that introduced another issue that required me to swap out the switch connector housing. Making a long story short, you want a WVE Vehicle Electronics 1P1883 connector pig-tail kit. De-pin/swap connectors or cut and splice, whichever method floats your boat. (I de-pinned 'cause that's how I roll.)

The Problem

The Ford switch from the fusion is wired to be normally open, meaning that when it sees no oil pressure the switch is open and the GBS Zero's indicator light will be off. When there is oil pressure the switch will close and illuminate the warning light. Neither of the conditions is desirable.

The Solution

Find an oil pressure switch thats normally closed. I present three options here.

1. Standard Motor Products PS299 - Inexpensive, should fit in the ATR oil filter housing without needing to us any adapters, appears to have the same dimensions as the Ford Fusion's pressure sensor, just NC instead of NO. Yay!
2. MOTORCRAFT SW5029 - Inexpensive, used in millions of Ford cars. Should fit in the ATR oil filter housing.
3. ACDelco 8020 - Opens at 5psi, inexpensive, used on millions of cars since the 1960's. Doesn't fit in the ATR oil filter housing because hexagonal body is just a bit too large. You would need to mount this in a remote location.

Project-Zero: Warning Indicators

The Short Story

I'm going to go with the Summit Technologies HAWK Array rather than rolling my own. It's less expensive and would look better than what I would build for my own usage.

NOTE: This is a lie, I wound up rolling my own anyway.

The Less Short Story

For the purpose of testing my car's electrics I built a prototype indicator array. It half worked. I sunk all of the LED cathodes to a common chassis ground because I made bad assumptions. 

What indicators sink to what, briefly.

• Discrete Source, Common Sink
• Right Turn
• Left Turn
• High Beam
• Common Source, Discrete Sink
• Oil Pressure
• Alternator
• Brake

分りません!

Reading it that way is a little confusing if you've not fully grasped that some things within the car are ground switched. I had the boys down in R&D whip up this janky diagram to help better illustrate the point. (Brown lines are ground/sinks)

How does the HAWK Array work in this configuration?

The HAWK indicator array is already wired up with exactly these indicators lamps with exactly this configuration of sources and sinks. It's like it was purpose built for British kit cars. (It was purpose built for British kit cars.)

What the other stuff about bulbs, watts, and field exciter circuits?

Depending, I may need to build a circuit that will excite the alternator so that it'll produce power at idle. It's a fairly simple circuit, especially if you're using an incandescent bulb. If you're using an LED, well, they offer little forward resistance so they might not excite the alternator and you need to bridge a resistor that will simulate the load of a 2-4 watt bulb. (@12V)  I might need to do this with the HAWK array, but I'm not 100% sure on that right now.