- Thread starter
- #76
Atuca
Supporting Member
- 1,140
- 292
- Jan 6, 2007
-
Central Valley,
California
In preparation for the sequential's arrival, I finally spent some time cleaning up the engine bay. While it was funny showing billet parts in an engine bay worthy of a "cash-for-clunkers" 90s tv commercial, it is time to get ready to install some engine and transmission parts.
We're a long way from perfect, but the front radiator support will all be cut out soon and there is a good chance the car will likely get soda blasted before paint. The rags used to wipe the car down were soaked red with paint that was easily rubbing off, so it's going to need to be addressed before the final assembly. Before worrying about that though, let's get through the initial assembly
Cleaning a car is not exciting, we've all seen that (and to better effect) so what can I share that IS exciting?
We've acquired our Motec electronics package and mil-spec wiring loom ready to go from Powertune in Australia!
The Motec M150 has the GPRP firmware package, which enables paddle shift control of the sequential and flat foot up and down throttle and ignition cut control. This is what will enable the 20-40ms shifts of the sequential to be possible, without intervention or driver modulation of the throttle position for shifting either way. Since this is an integrated feature of the ECU, there will not be a need for an external gearbox control unit, keeping things tidy while enabling even quicker closed loop shift operation with nothing more than the gear position sensor embedded within the sequential's shift barrel.
The solutions this ECU provides in conjunction with the sequential transmission is every reason this project is even taking place, so we are VERY excited to have this in hand.
In addition to the very advanced ECU, we also procured the top of the line C187 Motec Dash. This is a 7 inch datalogger that captures data at an incredible 1 kilohertz! Compared to the 20-25 hertz of DSMlink, that 1000 samples per second is critical for suspension analysis, and you can do really neat stuff with oil pressure logging at that kind of rate. You can see every hit off the gear pump, then you can look at frequency analysis to see if the belt is slipping and you can see if gears are dying, etc. Stuff that was unimaginable before is stuff race engineers are doing on a regular basis.
I am new to all the features this thing is capable of, but talking to Andrew, who deals with these massive data loads for a living, is bringing me up to speed. The cars we all admire at the top of Time Attack really are running on the ragged edge, and that is only possible with data. Data is King!
What you are looking at here is the Motec Power Distribution Module, which acts in a way not too dissimilar to the fusebox you might find in your DSM, in that it distributes power throughout the car. Except it's very dissimilar in that this box is all your fuses, relays, breakers, and has programmable logic for every single power out. Logging is available for the voltage and current of every output, and fuses are programmable in 1 amp increments. Say you set your radiator fan to 18 amps, and it hits 19? The PDM logs this event, and assuming you program this behavior, resets the breaker, return power to the fan attempting to get it going again. It can do this 100 times a second. I remember a day and time I was trying to track down a parasitic draw on the GSX's battery over night. With a PDM, I could have seen every single circuit and known exactly what was causing it and how much current it was drawing. Electrical shorts are a thing of the past. You could see the exact second a wire sheathing started rubbing off and exposing bare wire against the chassis. You could have the PDM keep the car going the rest of your lap by pulsing power output if it was a non critical interruption, or using the dash alert the driver and limp the car back to the pits. It's truly next level stuff.
This box is actually more simple then the rest, as it is an expansion unit that allows more inputs and outputs to expand on the ECU's internal. This unit currently is just connecting the EGT sensors of the car, and transmits this data back to the ECU and logger via CAN.
This is an actually surprisingly advanced piece of hardware. This programmable keypad has 3 LED outputs for each button along with back lighting for the entire unit. The buttons can also be used either as a toggle or momentary switch, which is handy for differentiating say a push button starter motor vs a toggle switching your fuel pumps on. Best of all? Only has 4 wires: Power/Ground/CAN High/CAN Low. Compared to the old dash, which has 2/3 wires per switch. You can imagine how much cleaner the wire will be in addition (or should I say subtraction) to the weight savings in wire.
Old:
New:
There will be some wiring left for some misc stuff like brake lights and things like fuel injectors and engine loom, but with autosport connectors for ease of installation and removal pre-wired, the final loom should be pretty sweet for years to come.
Hopefully this was informative for those who don't know the Motec product line, as it has been a blast learning about it myself. Can't wait to get this all in the car soon!
We're a long way from perfect, but the front radiator support will all be cut out soon and there is a good chance the car will likely get soda blasted before paint. The rags used to wipe the car down were soaked red with paint that was easily rubbing off, so it's going to need to be addressed before the final assembly. Before worrying about that though, let's get through the initial assembly
Cleaning a car is not exciting, we've all seen that (and to better effect) so what can I share that IS exciting?
We've acquired our Motec electronics package and mil-spec wiring loom ready to go from Powertune in Australia!
The Motec M150 has the GPRP firmware package, which enables paddle shift control of the sequential and flat foot up and down throttle and ignition cut control. This is what will enable the 20-40ms shifts of the sequential to be possible, without intervention or driver modulation of the throttle position for shifting either way. Since this is an integrated feature of the ECU, there will not be a need for an external gearbox control unit, keeping things tidy while enabling even quicker closed loop shift operation with nothing more than the gear position sensor embedded within the sequential's shift barrel.
The solutions this ECU provides in conjunction with the sequential transmission is every reason this project is even taking place, so we are VERY excited to have this in hand.
In addition to the very advanced ECU, we also procured the top of the line C187 Motec Dash. This is a 7 inch datalogger that captures data at an incredible 1 kilohertz! Compared to the 20-25 hertz of DSMlink, that 1000 samples per second is critical for suspension analysis, and you can do really neat stuff with oil pressure logging at that kind of rate. You can see every hit off the gear pump, then you can look at frequency analysis to see if the belt is slipping and you can see if gears are dying, etc. Stuff that was unimaginable before is stuff race engineers are doing on a regular basis.
I am new to all the features this thing is capable of, but talking to Andrew, who deals with these massive data loads for a living, is bringing me up to speed. The cars we all admire at the top of Time Attack really are running on the ragged edge, and that is only possible with data. Data is King!
What you are looking at here is the Motec Power Distribution Module, which acts in a way not too dissimilar to the fusebox you might find in your DSM, in that it distributes power throughout the car. Except it's very dissimilar in that this box is all your fuses, relays, breakers, and has programmable logic for every single power out. Logging is available for the voltage and current of every output, and fuses are programmable in 1 amp increments. Say you set your radiator fan to 18 amps, and it hits 19? The PDM logs this event, and assuming you program this behavior, resets the breaker, return power to the fan attempting to get it going again. It can do this 100 times a second. I remember a day and time I was trying to track down a parasitic draw on the GSX's battery over night. With a PDM, I could have seen every single circuit and known exactly what was causing it and how much current it was drawing. Electrical shorts are a thing of the past. You could see the exact second a wire sheathing started rubbing off and exposing bare wire against the chassis. You could have the PDM keep the car going the rest of your lap by pulsing power output if it was a non critical interruption, or using the dash alert the driver and limp the car back to the pits. It's truly next level stuff.
This box is actually more simple then the rest, as it is an expansion unit that allows more inputs and outputs to expand on the ECU's internal. This unit currently is just connecting the EGT sensors of the car, and transmits this data back to the ECU and logger via CAN.
This is an actually surprisingly advanced piece of hardware. This programmable keypad has 3 LED outputs for each button along with back lighting for the entire unit. The buttons can also be used either as a toggle or momentary switch, which is handy for differentiating say a push button starter motor vs a toggle switching your fuel pumps on. Best of all? Only has 4 wires: Power/Ground/CAN High/CAN Low. Compared to the old dash, which has 2/3 wires per switch. You can imagine how much cleaner the wire will be in addition (or should I say subtraction) to the weight savings in wire.
Old:
New:
There will be some wiring left for some misc stuff like brake lights and things like fuel injectors and engine loom, but with autosport connectors for ease of installation and removal pre-wired, the final loom should be pretty sweet for years to come.
Hopefully this was informative for those who don't know the Motec product line, as it has been a blast learning about it myself. Can't wait to get this all in the car soon!
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