2G 2G DSM Fueltech FT550 Conversion

A few people have asked me questions about my project of converting my 2G over to a Fueltech FT550 so I figured I'd document it here seeing as I never did a build journal.

For starters I've been running the car on ECMLink since about 2009, it's been great, super user friendly but I've decided the car will be a dedicated drag car now so I want to upgrade the electrical of the car to better suite the mechanical upgrades it already has. I also decided to eliminate ALL the OEM wiring from the car and start over from scratch, this is due to the fact that over the last couple years, electrical gremlins are becoming more and more common with the car and are not going to remedy themselves due to the age and stresses the wiring system has been through. Not only that but there is actually a tremendous weight savings possible by doing away with wiring that is no longer required for a drag car.

So to start off with, at the end of 2022 I picked up a Fueltech FT550, a FT Nano wideband and FT strain gauge. I wanted to get the FT CAN switch panel as well but the price was stretching my budget over the limit as well and they were on backorder. No big deal, I can simply make my own panel.

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One of my first tasks was to figure out how I was going to mount this thing, seeing as the screen IS the ECU and the heart of the operation. So I went to Solidworks and starting designing up a mount to fit into the 2g cluster with the help of my 3D printer. Luckily Fueltech provides downloadable 3D models of all their products to make designing mounts around them much easier. This is what I came up with:

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First test print, I basically cut the factory bezel in half and glued a temporary cardboard backing to it to do a test fit for placement on the car:

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And installed into the car:

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Powered on via USB (yes you can just plug in the USB to power up the ECU itself), I think the placement worked out perfect:

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Now that I was happy, so I ordered up some materials to complete the cluster and sat this part aside for the time being.

 

[jdxnc]

The next step was to pull out my trusty ol' ECMLink and send it off to a new home for someone else to enjoy it

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And with that, start removing pretty much ALL the factory wiring

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There is SO much wiring in these cars, this is just the dash wiring.

Next was to yank the engine wiring harness:

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The pile keeps growing...don't worry, I will weigh it all when it is all out.

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Still have the front harness along with the fuse box to go as well as the rear harness.

During this time I started to receive some of the brand new connectors I ordered, we're going ALL new, not reusing anything.

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With the Fueltech I got the unterminated universal A/B harness. I started a new tune in the FT Manager software which allowed me to setup and assign all my inputs and outputs so I could start labeling everything and plan routing. The wires are all numbers and some have specific functions but essentially all whites/blue/yellow can be set to whatever you need. After a new hours with my label printer I had things planned out

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[jdxnc]

Now with the inputs/outputs figured out, it's on to building my fuse/relay panel, for that I bought a 12" x 24" piece of 1/4" thick ABS plastic sheet, this will also serve as the backing for the ECU and switch panel. I believe the piece I cut for the relay panel was 12x14, leaving plenty for the rest of the items I wanted. I planned it out to use existing studs on the firewall for easy and secure mounting:

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With placement figured out I brought it back in the house and starting figuring out placement of components, note at first I had a large 80A continuous duty solenoid as the main power switch but later removed it as it was giving me issues during testing. I used a pair of Big Dog fuse blocks from Leash Electronics for my fuse blocks and decided to wire my own relay sockets so I wasn't limited to the wiring size and colors given in pre-wired relay sockets. I ordered genuine Bosch relays but these were on backorder for about a month so I mocked things up with some cheapo relays. I included a 12 pin Deutsch connector to interface with my switch panel I would be building:

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Getting the inputs side wired up with 20ga:

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Test fit in the car

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Adding the power feeds to the relays with 12ga and using my little battery pack to do some testing. During this testing I found the 80A solenoid was getting hot and after 5 minutes of on time it would need about 10 minutes of cool down to be able to turn on again, somethings was just not right with it so I made the decision to just eliminate it and go with a manual battery on/off switch.

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Finally added all the 12ga output wires

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I was building the switch panel along with the relay panel, I designed it to fit into the stock radio location using existing holes in the dash to bolt to. I used 19mm red LED aluminum buttons and wired them all up with Deutsch connector to connect up to the relay panel.

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I decided to laser etch the labels on the buttons:

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[jdxnc]

Starting to plan out the harness, putting it in place:

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Seperated all the wires that go to the motor and those that go elsewhere:

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I don't think I got any pics of this process in the bay but it was basically just a mess of wires going to where they should and putting tape on them to set where it branches apart and the rough lengths.

Now the FT harness doesn't include any power/grounds for your sensors other than a single 5v and a single sensor ground, so those need to be added in and branched off and paired with the input/output wires as well as battery grounds and 12v for sensors that require it. FT provides some extremely helpful wiring diagrams that tell you which sensors need which.

I had never really done much wire crimping other than your standard blade and loop connectors so it took a bit but as I went along I got better and better at crimping bare terminals

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Added all the power and grounds to the engine harness, the green tape indicates where the firewall bulkhead will go.

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Still looking like a hot mess but all the power/grounds and placement were set here I believe.

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Now with that done, it was time to add the firewall bulkhead, I chose a 47 pin model, more than I needed but gave me room to add extra injectors, sensors etc later if needed.

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First time doing one of these and overall it went pretty smooth, just be careful to match up the pins in the correct places.

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Next was building a plate to house the firewall bulkhead:

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[jdxnc]

With the Bulkhead complete, I checked every wire in the harness for continuity back to the ECU connectors and everything was good! Now I was comfortable to start covering up the harness in DR-25.

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I created my own labels with a Dymo label printer, stuck them to the cables and carefully covered them with clear heat shrink tubing. You need to do this VERY carefully as the labels are thermal printed so if you get them too hot, they just turn black, I do all my heat shrinking with a hot air gun and if you keep it moving and don't let it sit in one spot, they come out perfect.

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Got all the wires covered in DR-25 as well as the bulkhead 90 degree boot except for the final ends for the coils and injectors as I still need to trim them to length.

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Getting some connectors installed:

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Test fit, thermostat housing was welded up, drilled and re-tapped for SAE threads.

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And finally put the harness back in the bay to test fitment on what I had completed so far, still had injectors and coils to finalize.

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Also made my connections on the inside harness to the relay/fuse panel

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Once plugged in I was able to fire up the ECU and go to the diagnostics page to verify connection to what was plugged in - success!

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[jdxnc]

While I wait for some materials to finalize the engine harness I started to plan my wiring for the wideband sensor, boost controller, headlights and parking lights up front, all of which will pass through the drivers side fender. I managed to squeeze the wideband connector through the interior gromit leading to the fender as well as all other wires needed. For the short term I plan to just continue using my IR solenoid for boost control with simple duty cycle through the FT but in the future I want to purchase the FT dual solenoid controller for closed loop boost control, this also requires a dome pressure sensor so all the wiring needed for this was included in this harness. I passed all these wires through a piece of 1" convoluted tubing in the hopes that if I forgot something it could be much easier to snake something through.

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[jdxnc]

Reserved for update #6

 

[DogWhistle]

Great methodical execution. Would you be willing to share your sources for the connector plugs, wire and pins, etc.?

We are about to embark on this very process for our race car so we are following with interest. Also, some of the connector plugs on our dd DSM have seen better days and could use replacing. Thanks.

 

[jdxnc]

Great methodical execution. Would you be willing to share your sources for the connector plugs, wire and pins, etc.?

We are about to embark on this very process for our race car so we are following with interest. Also, some of the connector plugs on our dd DSM have seen better days and could use replacing. Thanks.

Ohm Racing and KVS Looms have been my primary sources for connectors, AC DC Wire and Supply for all the wire I used.

 

[jdxnc]

Some updates:

Finalized my switch panel by mounting it into the dash and making another blockoff plate for the HVAC vents

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Engine harness is 100% completed, total weight being 1.3lbs!

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Installed into the bay:

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And finally, near all of the internal wiring is in place aside from the main power/ground feeds, clutch/brake switches connected, there's a deutsch connector hanging under the dash for a scramble button. Can't wait to get the dash back in.

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[jdxnc]

Now that it's the off season and things are less hectic I can continue this thread. Obviously everything worked and the car ran this season.

So from where I left off:

I decided to cut off the oem headlight connectors in favor of deutch connectors and got the headlights and parking lights working as well as wired in the OEM rad fan.

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[jdxnc]

I'm was running a Deka mini battery located in the oem SMIC location for a few years but decided to relocate it to inside the car for now, it was already in this aluminum box I built, I just made a couple modifications to mount it to the floor in existing threaded holes and started running the main power and ground wires.

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Main power disconnect installed

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It was at this point I discovered these firewall disconnects, this allows me to unplug the starter cable with just a squeeze. Went and got that installed and changed my main power wire to reflect this change in plan.

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I had to make a small notch in my relay board where it comes through the firewall.

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[jdxnc]

With most of the connections now made and battery cables done I could now put the dash back in for good.

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Turn on the main power disconnect and hit the power button in the dash and we have juice!

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I found a simple Mini-USB panel mount connector that sorta fit the dome light switch hole in the dash and plugged it into the back of the Fueltech for much easier access for plugging in my laptop. I created a small bushing with my 3D printer to make it fit just right.

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[dadjokes69]

What crank trigger are you using? Kiggly 12-1?

 

[jdxnc]

What crank trigger are you using? Kiggly 12-1?

Correct. I have a video on how to set up the sensor:

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[dadjokes69]

Jason, what brand pressure/temp sensors are you running?

 

[biglady112]

Jason, what brand pressure/temp sensors are you running?

Run the FuelTech sensors. Affordable and reliable.

Ordering mine Thursday since it’s the way to go……… the NANO from Fueltech, isn’t required? Something about the 02, originally I have a AEM wideband.

Use the Nano and save an input.

 

[jdxnc]

Run the FuelTech sensors. Affordable and reliable.


Use the Nano and save an input.

I'm running OEM and Lowdollar Motorsports sensors as well as the Nano for wideband. Everything has been rock solid.

 

[biglady112]

In our FuelTech 2G, we are running the stock coolant temp sensor and FuelTech pressure sensors otherwise.

I my own cars(non 4g63 stuff) I am running the GM coolant sensor and a mixture of FuelTech and auto meter sensors on one car (at the time FuelTech was in back order) and all FuelTech sensors on the other cad.

I also run a LowDollar travel sensor for my air shifter(th400) in my race car.

The system is easily adaptable and works well with most things.

 

[jdxnc]

In our FuelTech 2G, we are running the stock coolant temp sensor and FuelTech pressure sensors otherwise.

I my own cars(non 4g63 stuff) I am running the GM coolant sensor and a mixture of FuelTech and auto meter sensors on one car (at the time FuelTech was in back order) and all FuelTech sensors on the other cad.

I also run a LowDollar travel sensor for my air shifter(th400) in my race car.

The system is easily adaptable and works well with most things.

Yup that's the beauty if it, if you have the parameters, you can run it. Our local group is trying to all run the same sensors, coils, etc so in the event one of us has an issue, we're more than likely to have a spare on hand between us.

 

[TheFlashDSM]

Bro, I love this write up!!!!

 

[marcogrignon]

amazing tread, can you post how you calibrated your analog speed sensor on your gt550?

 

[talonalan]

Wow, I can look at this all day!

 

[jdxnc]

amazing tread, can you post how you calibrated your analog speed sensor on your gt550?

I have the oem speed sensor set as rear wheel speed, here's my configuration. Reported speed is very close.

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[Javi4g63]

I have the oem speed sensor set as rear wheel speed, here's my configuration. Reported speed is very

I have the oem speed sensor set as rear wheel speed, here's my configuration. Reported speed is very close.

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transmission speed sensor correct? What are your WSS input settings? Any chance you know the circuit pin out going into the sensor