January 2021
29Jan
50 days to go
Its 50 days until the first sprint of the year, and the opening round to the 2021 British Sprint Championship, The Great Western Sprint at Castle Combe. With the current lockdown, and the coronavirus still not under control in the UK, I doubt Motorsport UK will issue any permits for events running in March. So although I have my fingers crossed, I doubt it will run. If entries do open, I will 100% enter the event, but its not looking likely at the moment.24Jan
X10 wiring is complete
I've finished the new X10 loom off, having had to wait for heatshrink and a few DT connector parts from Ebay. I've replaced the connectors on the front sensors, with 3 way DT connectors, having again figured out the wiring. For some reason the XS608B sensors have brown, blue and black wires.Brown +12V
Blue 0V
Black Signal
Anyway with that out of the way I moved to the Geartronics Pneumatic actuator block, which now also has a 3 way DT connector fitted. The wiring to the two solenoids is far simpler, with a 12V feed from the X10 power supply, and a pair of wires that connect the solenoids to a pair of outputs on the X10.
With that done, I then wired up two looms to connect the front and rear damper pots to the X10, these both use 4 way DT connectors.
So I'm all ready to swap the two looms over. It was freezing cold in the garage on Saturday so I'll wait for this cold snap to go before starting on the work.
This is the section in the ECU where the four dampers can be setup, once the analogue inputs from the X10 have been assigned to the four channels.
I'm also wiring the Alternator to be under the control of the ECU. This will allow the ECU to turn the alternator off when starting, and when the engine is running flat out, to save a few horsepower. The alternator needs a 12V signal on the IG line, to enable it, so the X10 pin needs a pull-up resistor to provide the 12V. There are a fair number of ways of controlling the alternator. For example I can switch it off when rpm is above 6000rpm, when throttle is open 100%, and also only allow it to be turned off if the battery voltage is above a set level. Lots of parameters to play with.
17Jan
Exhaust CAM sensor wiring
An explanation as to how I wired in the exhaust cam sensor, more for my benefit really. In LifeCAL, I unassigned AN#09 (C1-39) and AN#12 (C1-10) from the front wheel speed inputs. I assigned AN#09 to Input : Cam (Exhaust 1 Variable Valve Timing), and with the vvt1ExRaw gauge displayed in LifeCAL, with the engine turning over I can see the signal trace move as the camshaft rotates. Before it would detect movement however, I had to change Sensors > Defined Sensors and Trip Setups > Camshaft Position > Variable Valve Timing Sensor Exhaust 1 > Sensor Type to Thermistor (It was 5V).The sensor needed power from the 5V Sensor supply, so I had to use the spare Sensor 5V supply that was in the Deutsch 6 pin DT "Spare Inputs" connector, which feeds the two brake pressure sensors, and the steering wheel angle sensor.
Once I'd established that the sensor was configured correctly in the ECU, the next job was to program the ECU to operate the Exhaust Camshaft Ti-VCT solenoid, which is wired in to the rain-light output that used to go to the big LED rain light at the end of the gearbox. This is accomplished by setting the Output : Variable Valve Timing 1 Exhaust A to use Fuel #08 : (C1-49)
12Jan
X10 progress
More progress with the X10 loom. I bought an indent crimp tool (Part #7533) from Laser for the Deutsch crimps, and it does an admirable job given it only costs £30 off eBay. I'm waiting for some more connectors which are in the post, and then I can swap it out for the one on the car. For the Knock Warning LED I'm going to use a 12V LED indicator that I last used on my dashboard in the Fiesta. I'll fit it to the cockpit once I've wired it up and proved that it works.
The connectors are for the front and rear suspension potentiometers, front and rear wheel speed sensors, calibration switches, pneumatic solenoids, knock warning lamp, and helmet gear-change buzzer.
05Jan
X10 re-wiring
The X10 connector is now built. I simply need to swap it over with the one on the car, and run additional wires in to the suspension pots.
04Jan