Gripless

Learned that wire isn’t always copper anymore. for a project I got some 3.5mm audio cables to cut in half to make the wiring have nice quick change sensors.. Since I needed 30+ cables I ordered so that looked like thick cable but they were cotton braid over tiny wire. Turned out the wire was copper coated aluminium and is absolutely s*** to solder. Wire is not even thick enough to have insulation on each wire just enamel coating. For the car projects all the wire I use has braided shielded which seems to only come in oxygen free copper OFC. The braid helps prevent electrical noise but more importantly prevents damage when pulled through the back of the dash etc.

Managed to flash a microcontroller module in a generic test rig I brought with spring loaded sides. It worked fine except that you need to time the grounding of the boot pin and reset at the same time. The board has a button to do that automatically but the first flash timing doesn’t match. After the first flash though the automatic button works consistently. Flashed another blank module that was already soldered to my pcb and its far from ideal too. The 4 pin for power, ground, send and receive connector was great initially when pin header was soldered in for prototyping. For assembly into a case it can’t have the header fitted. I ordered a spring loaded 4 pin pad to deal with this and clipped it on with a clothes peg. But the fast timing on first flash it needs the ground wire and power to be connected after the serial starts. I split power and ground out and it works ok now. So once the pcb is final I’ll likely need to make a test rig pcb that lines up with all the serial and power points. That will have pogo pin so you just place the real pcb on top with a little pressure it’ll connect. Otherwise it wastes 2-5 minutes trying to get it connected and flashed. It will also reduce cost allowing the led that indicate different voltages to be left off each pcb and only fitted to the test rig. After flashing I left the pcb running in wifi setup mode for hours. The heat from the voltage regulator was the highest as expected. It was still only warm and efficiently spreading heat into the pcb via the large copper pad and holes that were added for exactly that purpose. I retested again the next day and max regulator temp was 42.4c and 24c room temp. Microcontroller was 41c with wifi idle. Wifi takes 300mA max where no wifi drops as low as 40mA so this should be the maximum power use. Worked more on another pcb design for a different canbus project. Between design and selection or parts it takes a lot of time. Seems making sure there will always be stock when you don’t use basic parts is important. Adding little extras to the pcb to allow flexibility will hopefully be worthwhile. Been trying to find my spare steer wheel controls as I can’t remember what the button inside where. They feel like silicon pads and not switches. So that could be a nice quick project to have a board made up with nice micro switches.

So many little things still need work. While not needed for functionality I’m making a testing portal over wifi for testing the connections to canbus and led display etc. This will allow both initial testing and end users to check the device is fully functional and test any repairs or changes they make. There are many variations in how RPM is encoded in canbus messages and they will need to be added as options in settings and the above test portal. Mounting is another area that has to be tested as so far it’s been black foam tape. There are 2 places for a mount either using alloy riv-nuts or square nuts fixed with resin. The riv-nuts need with only 2 of the 4 petals so they all need cutting before installing which is slow and they take up a lot of space. The other option is square nuts that are glued in place and I have used them in the past with god results. The other advantage is that it leaves enough space for a layer of protection so if a longer bolt is used it will have some cushioning before it hits the electronics. Most of the testing side came from a way to reduce cost by using a more traditional tube case with a smaller number of LEDs.

Forgot to note that ordered pcb in different colours to see what the difference is. Each colour flows differently and has a minimum width between component pads it can flow, with green being best. I tried white and blue this time as the text colour is white on green and blue, but black on the white board. The black text is not as thick or clear as white. The white text is close on both but still best on green. Worked out option to add a buzzer to play annoying tone when shift light is flashing. Overall little progress, spent a few days doing custom apple HomeKit projects for environment monitoring. This was an early project that was put on hold as the person who wanted it had to make a bunch of choices. It has some value for automotive where the car when it arrives home connects to apple homekit and sends data. Depending on the car it could be milage and fuel use or just last battery voltage and temps. Realised I need a better test rig as laptop and stack of usb canbus dongles isn’t the best. So made some initial plans for a stand-alone canbus network similar to the below but with SD card for adding real logs. Plus web portal to setup the canubus IDs for the buttons for lights, gears and pedals to emulate along with a rpm and speed estimate. It will have a obd2 plug with 12v power so it is easy to test devices. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005009344611851.html Have some work for custom canbus gauge cluster upgrades for older Subarus that have no obd2 or canbus but run aftermarket ecus. All stealth or OEM+ look inside the stock cluster.

Just ice the inter cooler for the power run on the dyno. It’s just a piece of paper, it doesn’t show gearing or real performance anyway.

If they want a real solution it’s not based on anything they have said. It’s all in the contracts, repair costs are covered by the contractor for the first year. These already exist for some infrastructure along with very strict times when work can be done eg only low traffic times, often at night. Lower the cost of roads rather than bill users. Ban luxury good from road transport, low use high status items are not allowed on road transport and must be sent via train. Supercars just add 10% duty on import for roads. Hybrids and electric weigh more than petrol cars so I’m not sure how complex their maths is to make anything balance out. The other part is if people are to pay the same or less how does that increase the income. Even if it is to cover the development costs which being software and/or hardware will be many millions of dollars. plus isn’t there going to be more of an imbalance with local roads in cities not getting money. Isn’t Auckland the only city that gets income from road tax now? let’s also throw in Auckland has more congestion now than before 1)ride share apps have studies showing they increase city traffic and congestion by 13%. Add to that the 3 lanes roads that are now 1 lane for bus or cycle lanes that are pretty much unused.

https://www.wrxforums.com/threads/sti-r180-swap-information-on-conversion-hybrid-axles.18754/page-2?post_id=267481#post-267481 L = 1 R = 2 So in the image they are correct, Left is left and right is right.

Well that’s kind of true, but massively underestimated and twisted. location services is for google and apple to use. Eg find my AirTags etc. If you call emergency services they can get your GPS location sent from your phone by the operating system. That was set as the default in NZ many years ago. Fall detection etc uses this system to get help if you don’t cancel it. Plus if you have Bluetooth on, even if not connected either phone or stereo they broadcast their ID. Some shops, busses and signage have for years and years recorded the ID and signal strength they see and report back to a central system. They can track your travel through a city, or in-store, they watch what isles etc you walk down to see the flow of customers. Signage ones are mostly adverts or those info displays which track the time you spend looking at them to see what ads or specials attack the most attention. This similarly goes for wifi, your phone sends out requests every minute if not connected to a known network. They cycle through your saved or known list to see if they are nearby. This was what the karma wifi attack used. Not to mention that all phone phone networks have your location in real-time and can and do sell or give access to anyone they want. Google also does this for traffic congestion on maps. So tech is already in every pocket to ticket you real-time if you are speeding, only thing stopping it is figuring out who the driver is at the time. if you have a phone or any Bluetooth device you are already tracked by most tech companies. Let’s not forget the free LoRA messaging devices. If it transmits it is trackable. If you aren’t paying for a product… You are the product. Welcome to the last 20 years of tech companies. If you want a good conspiracy theory, why did the headphone jack get removed? All phone are thick enough for one… it’s so you are more likely to have Bluetooth on so they can sell data for ads. PS for reasons, this is all made up and I have no knowledge or involvement.

Well that took far longer than expected. Prototype 4 fitted into the case with the LEDs and buttons and closed fully. So that’s a win. I ordered new prototype 9 boards and another selection of components which took a few weeks. Procrastinated a few weeks, plus life things. Assembled the first one over weekend but it didn’t work. managed today to find a small shirt or solder under a diode, and that the main mosfet on the input was faulty. Not caused by the short. these have the reverse voltage protection and LEDs to show the voltages are good. Should put it in a case and test this week. Also a board for the 1.44” screen board and parts arrived. Assembled that and initial tests have power supply section working ok. Have to connect it up to the screen etc this week and test the canbus part. It has a small issue with the mounting holes being being under a mm out but the holes are 2mm so that’s a lot. A file will solve that so first 10 or 20 that arrived will have oval holes. So DCCD displays should be a thing soon. And the microcontroller isn’t locked down so anyone can make it display whatever they like. Thinking of bringing them all to Flatnats for people to try and get feedback. Plus may have some race cars to test them lined up.

It’s also modified autos drop more in value. Most people know that autos are weak and their life is shortened by more power unless you do some serious parts replacement inside them. So if you are only keeping the car for a few years don’t worry about the ecu or new turbo. make sure you have really good tires for the trackday so you can carry more speed through the corners, much more helpful than a bit of extra power.

lol only reason to put devices in cars is to have some private company make profit selling them. NZ already has number Plate scanners on toll roads so as long as you registered it auto pays. They also like them as they act as speed cameras as well. They read entry and exit of the toll so can see your average speed over a known distance.

Shh before they add more tax for hours on outboards.

That’s how I read it. WoF and registration would be the periodic checks. Basic net zero. Taxes saved on petrol for wasted in general taxes that have now paid for consulting and the wof software company to start creating updates. As usual some MP friends or business made money out of it.

You’re just going to waste money with needing a number. For stock turbo just use the stock ecu and downpipe. Whatever you get from the tune is either enough or you need to start with a new turbo and add $10k to the budget. Peak power is also a waste of time a 280hp twinscroll will beat a 300hp single scroll as it makes more power sooner. Take away the 10-15% extra loss from automatic and lower diff ratios, you’d be faster in a stock manual than 300hp auto.

Why not just flash the stock ecu to use map and not maf with something MerpMod. Then you can tune without those limitations.

You can always go back to multimeter while driving and have someone watch the values.

I found this https://xcceleration.com/pinouts/Subaru pinouts/ECU Pinouts BC5 BG5a WRX (4 plug) - Single Swap.pdf and looks like adding wires for TPMs and it’s ground is needed. Possible the pins or wire is damaged or a joint cracked that won’t show up when the car isn’t moving. I was thinking alternatively you may not have an electrical issue. Maybe you have a split in a vacuum or boost line that opens up and stuffs up the idle.You could get the same with worn spark leads when they get hot. Anything that drops revs outside where the ecu target is and throws an error. So a leak when the ecu is trying to idle down would throw an error for idle control as that’s what it is doing. It can’t predict air leaks. Have you checked and replaced the throttle butterfly closes fully? I’d also remove the ecu case and check the capacitors for leaks.

Well it could be: for the automatic ecu, just on the body loom. used as alternative for idle switch a brake switch Are there any wires in your ecu that should be unpopulated compared to the diagram? That may not be an exact match. Look for ones that match that plugs colours first. Have you checked and replaced any of those small vacuum lines?

Just remember your car is likely only 175wkw now so 210wkw is a noticeable gain. My manual 2L was only 185wkw stock tuned with rebuild engine. Most coolers work fine but, Ive always used the tube and fin single pass type coolers. like this https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006803498379.html Just find a size big enough that you can P clamp to the lower rad support and maybe the center or side supports. They are low density fins so don’t block much flow so more air goes through them rather than around. Plus they have the lowest restriction to flow for the gearbox pump. The pipes are reasonably thick so don’t get hole as often from stones or rubbish hitting them. I always put in sideways with inlet at the bottom and the out at top so the bubbles bleed out upwards and nothing gets caught in the loops. Just remember a cheap set of 17” wheels and secondhand semislicks will likely make more difference on track than those power upgrades. I always get motul 660 brake fluid as late braking can push temps very high with smaller brakes.

I don’t care much for brand named silicone parts as they are likely all the same factory or just more money for the name. You’ll need a trans cooler with the new radiator as the stock one has the cooler built into it. Just get one with built in barbs, don’t waste money on fittings etc. a forester one maybe two would be an option. For the sump get a factory one modified. After that RCM has a rubber fitting to stop dents blocking the pickup. There is also a baffle plate that sits between the sump and block that just bolts in with the modified sump or stock one. https://rogerclarkmotorsport.co.uk/products/rcm-oil-pickup-anti-surge-adaptor https://rogerclarkmotorsport.co.uk/products/rcm-oil-sump-pan-baffle-plate for NZ sales try https://jmms.co.nz ClubSub did a large group buy a few years ago.

Just do the silicone intake, intercooler and downpipe with tune. As long as you don’t have a uppipe cat. The main things for trackday are good tires and brake fluid. The only other thing is sump baffling and AoS or catch can. Otherwise get a drop in (tomei etc) or stock modified turbo. After that it’s really 90% less bang for buck.

As long as you have two air paths one low and one high then there isn’t enough vacuum to lift water. Maybe if you drove into a flood at high speed you’d get water up to the air box, but you’d have massive front damage hitting 20-30cm deep water at speed. for downpipe just make sure it works with the auto, pretty sure the case is larger or sticks out in different places.

Have you looked at PCBway etc to get them done in alloy?

Mostly what Andy said. No point in going for a tune outside your area unless you are getting lots of other work done to make big power. Plus tweaks for drivability don’t involve more travel. FYI aren’t verticooler are wrx plastic intake only, not the alloy sti one. The plastic intake makes the throttle sit lower. I was told not to do the cooling mod as while it cools better it’s just more failure than the plugged hole. Cold air intake is a looks mod., just remove the resonator underneath the factory. Then run a pipe from the bottom hole where the resonator was to by the front fog light. is there any point to uppipe and headers for a single scroll auto? My factory twin scroll was making all the boost it could with downpipe alone. It just could flow enough at higher rpm for more the 15-17psi.

Basic software testing is now working. Finally found out one of the wired pins for transmission was not usable. No idea why it’s not marked as any special pin and acceptable for use with canbus controller. It just doesn’t work. Wired another pin and everything just started working ok. Now have a few more tests for the hardware to figure out the resistance values for the pins that control the canbus listen-only and shutdown. You need to balance their internal resistance that wants to make the chip active and transmit the default, vs the external resistors I added to make it shutdown and passive at power up. You need to make the resistance as high as possible to the shutdown passive state as possible that you can overcome with the microcontroller. Tonight will make pcb changes to swap the pin that caused issues to the next closest and add some more places for resistors to both to power and ground. That way swapping resistors can be done on the board as needed. It also allows the canbus controller chip to be a different model that has different need to resistance high or low. PS figured out some of the download issue were the voltage regulator on the serial port adaptors I have. Using usb supplied 5v through the regulator on the pcb works ok. Guessing they can’t supply enough current as they are cheap and under speced.