March 2025
27Mar
Radical wiring (again)
Last night I managed to get the air compressor to run for the first time; it was providing a 12V feed to the relay via the pressure switch, so when the air pressure is low the pump is started. The relays were wired with a 12V feed and expecting a low signal (0v) to operate, so for the air compressor relay only, I've swapped the 12V feed for an earth, and now the pump runs and is under the control of the pressure switch.I wired in the 3 way DTM plugs on to the 12V NPN speed sensors, and couldnt get them to work. There didnt appear to be any supply voltage. I found a wire in the loom, labelled "Sensor power" which I traced back to the plugs, and sure enough it made a circuit. The question then was what voltage do we provide them with. The S100 needs a 5V pk-pk signal from the wheel speed sensors, and when I tried supplying 5V, none of the sensors detected motion from the wheels. Hmm, could they require 12V? Would that harm the inputs on the ECU? I asked Alex Chard (DTA) and he confirmed that running the sensors at 12V, and providing 12V to the wheel speed sensors, wouldn't be an issue. So I will wire the feed wire up to 12V and the ECU will hopefully be able to see the rotation of the wheels.
We then ran the engine for a few seconds, to check that the electric water pump was running under ECU control (it was) and that it was pumping water in the correct direction (it was). One last job was to fit the rain light, but when I was stripping the insulation back from the 12V wire to the light, the wire pulled out from the potting compound in the back of the light unit. When I got home I removed the potting compound from around the wires, and soldered two new wires on, and I just need to add some epoxy or black sikaflex back to the hole I made to ensure that the connections are water proof.
The final job was to check the paddles work, now we had air pressure, and configure the ECU for the 1-N-2-3-4-5-6 gear sequence from the bike box. That was quite easy, and then we struggled to find where the gear position voltages are set, for every gear. It wasnt in sensor linearisation, instead it was in Shift Cut. Once that was programmed in, the ECU showed the correct gear on the dashboard :D
25Mar
Repairs nearing completion
Last night I repaired the broken corner on the front bodywork where the nose cone attaches to the body. I mixed some resin to bond the pieces togeteher, but as ever, its too cold for it to cure in the quoted 60 minutes, so I'll give it 24 hours and see what its like tonight. I also fitted the aero section back in to the intercooler side pod, which for some reason I'd never refitted after swapping to the larger intercooler. It fits well, just needs a slight trim along one edge, so I'll get that done and refit the cowling tonight.The Plex dashboard is on its way from Greece. I am expecting it to replace the ECUMaster CAN switch board that sits on the back of the steering wheel, and relays the paddles and rotary switch positions back to the ECU. The Plex has plenty of digital and analogue inputs, and should be able to present the switch status rapidly enough for the ecu not to miss a paddle switch change. I'll set the polling frequency to the same as how it's setup in the CAN switch board.
24Mar
DTM plugs ordered
I've had to order another set of DTM connectors for the Radical SR3 wiring loom, with 20AWG pins, to connect to the four leads that take the signals from the wheel speed sensors to the ECU. They should be with me for Thursday, hopefully sooner so I can complete the job one evening after work.The link to the Youtube short showing the engine running is here
22Mar
The Hyabusa Engine runs
Another trip over to work on the Radical today, and after swapping the fuse box for a version with 12 fuses, then loading the calibration which I'd modifed using the cal supplied by Alex Chard of DTA, we filled the dry sump tank with oil, and with the spark plugs removed and injectors unplugged, primed the system until it produced 1.5bar of oil pressure on the key; we then went for an engine run, and with some manual throttle, it started on the first push of the button and ticked over smoothly. Oil pressure was 6bar, and there were no issues.I then wired in the rectifier output (with 25A inline fuse) across the battery, so it would charge the battery when the engine was running. I also wired in a switch on the dashboard to cut the power to the ignition circuit, which allows the engine to be stopped without losing power to the ECU. I wired in the air compressor too, so ready to be tested. The IGN switch tested out ok on the next run, as did the charging circuitry.
I'm very happy its worked so well, and all I need to do next is to wire in the wheel speed sensors, and make some more changes to the dashboard to hook up the few remaining switches which are used for launch and traction control. I need to check the water pump runs too, as thats on Aux6 and it wasnt enabled by default as the previous owner of the ECU didnt run an electric pump. Its a shame the ECU doesnt drive the pump using PWM, as it will be on all the time, rather than running at a slower rate when the engine is ticking over.
This is the scope output from the DTA SWIN software, showing the pulses received from the magnetic crank sensor, with the engine spun over on the starter motor. Nice and clean.
18Mar
Lambda connected
I wired in the Innovate LC2 wideband controller tonight, and used the Yellow (Analogue output 1) wire to pin 19 on the ECU. This is the wideband output. The ECU was then configured to use the Innovate LM1 sensor, and it showed a rising AFR which topped out at Lambda 1.5, which is quite normal when the engine isnt running. I also wired in a launch control button, which for some reason the ECU couldnt see, so I need to investigate where on the ECU the pin goes back to to work out why its not being seen. We are changing the fuse box from a 6 fuse to a 12 fuse version, as we've already run out of fuses for the different circuits. I've ordered a 12 way rotary switch and 470R resistors, so I can build a traction control switch for the front panel. If the parts arrive tomorrow I'll build it up for fitting on Saturday.17Mar
DTA map updated
The ECU in the Radical came from a car running a 2.0 Zetec, so the ignition and fuel tables all needed modifying. Alex from DTA kindly provided a map for a Gen 1 Busa, so I copied over the fuel and ignition tables last night, and set the number of teeth on the crank sensor wheel to 24 with 2 missing. I've also setup the Lambda parameters to use the Innovate LM1/LC1, and setup things like the RPM range (0-10500), Engine Start Fuelling tables, etc, and I've turned off sequential injection and sequential ignition until we have got the engine running, and then they'll be tried.16Mar
Another day of wiring on the Radical
On Saturday I connected up all the relays to the DTA ECU on the Radical SR3, and the ECU can now control the radiator fan, water and fuel pumps. We performed tests on all the outputs and everything worked fine. I rescaled the water temp sensor to Suzuki K5 and it now reads the correct temperature. I ran in to difficulties figuring out the wiring to the 5 wire Bosch LSU4.9 Lambda, so I left it alone, and checking today with Alex at DTAFast, it transpires we have bought a wideband sensor, and the DTA S100 doesnt work with wideband (I should have remembered as I had an S80 on the Fiesta with the LC1 wideband controller) so we've had to order the Innovate LC2 wideband controller, which will drive the five wire wideband sensor, and provide the ECU with a linear signal showing the Oxygen content of the exhaust. The older 4 wire narrow band sensors only provide a lean/rich signal, so thats a good reason for going for the wideband version. Another issue was the connector on the new engine oil temperature sensor, which was meant to be a mini-timer but was a totally different oval/rounded 2 pin connector, so thats going back and will be swapped for the mini-timer version. So all thats left to do is to connect the lambda, and run wires from the switches on the dashboard to the inputs on the ECU for the launch control, traction control and wet/dry map settings, as well as a switch for the rain light. I ran a pair of wires to the microswitch we're fitting on the clutch pedal, which will allow first or reverse to be selected as long as the clutch pedal is depressed first. Oh and the wheel speed sensors need plumbing in, which is another very straight forward job.When we went to fit the 73mm printed wheel speed sensor rings to the output cups, we realised we couldnt slide them on because there is a raised lip/section to the end of the cups, which would have required a larger diameter than 73mm to slide them over. So we cut both the rings using a thin blade hack saw, slid them on, and used sikaflex to bond the rings on securely. In the mean time I have redesigned the rings to allow them to be slid over the end of the cup, and then locked in position using an M2.5mm x 5mm socket head screw.
I've sent off the bezel and two different front panels for 3D printing, as well as the Mk2 73mm rings, delivery should be in two weeks time. Meanwhile, there is still no sign of the seat from Triple M, or the fresh Pirelli tyres, and my first event at Blyton is on April 13th...
14Mar
Plex steering wheel bezel re-designed... again...
I've made the bezel more versatile by allowing for the front switch panel to be interchangeable. This will allow me to change the switch layout and print a small panel which will then fit in to the front of the bezel. I think now I have finished the design, finally, unless I suddenly think of anything else.
13Mar
Plex steering wheel bezel re-designed...
I found a 5 way hat switch that I'm going to use instead of the three buttons, for navigating the screens on the Plex dash. This will allow Up, Down and Back navigation, and when the switch is pressed down, that will provide the Select signal. I've redrawn the panel that fits in the front of the bezel, and I may print it seperately to the bezel, which will allow me to replace the panel if I decide to redesign it for additional switches.
10Mar
Plex steering wheel bezel designed...
This took a few hours to put together. The bezel attaches to the Plex SDM-330 which itself is bolted to the steering wheel. I'm on the lookout for a rugged hat switch to allow me to replace the three buttons that operate the display options. My son's Walksnail FPV head set has the very thing, on the side, which allows the menus to be navigated, and options selected by pushing the button down. Thats exactly what I need, and I'm now on the hunt for one.
This is how it should look fitted to the wheel. Excuse the crappy drawing of the wheel, the real thing is far more attractive LOL
9Mar
Day 3 of wiring on the Radical
On Saturday I continued with the wiring on the Radical. I added an air temperature sensor, gearbox oil temperature, and wired in the water pump, radiator fan, and the fuel pump. I also swapped the pins around for the fuel injectors to match the same firing order as the COP's. I powered the dashboard up too, to see if the CAN data from the ECU was being received, and it was :DThe relay block is now fixed in place, and I ran out of locking 6.3mm spade terminals which prevented me from connecting up the fan and both pumps, but that should be completed next weekend. For some reason the Busa engine coolant temp sensor is reading 87C at ambient, but I think that could be down to the sensor scaling, so I'll see if the sensor is working and try to recalibrate the ECU for it.
I ran the engine today for the first time since it was switched off in June after the crash. I needn't have worried. First push of the button and it started. No horrible noises, no drama, and very little smoke from the exhaust. I ran it for 15 minutes to let everything warm up. The link to a Youtube short of her running is here VIDEO
1Mar
Day 2 of wiring on the Radical
On Saturday I spent another day working on the wiring loom on the Radical. I now have the 3 wire cam sensor connected to the DTA S100 ECU, as well as the fuel pressure sensor, and the gear position sensor. I also swapped the connections over for the COPs, so they fire in the correct order.The BUSA Gen2 engine has a firing order of 1243, so
COP1 goes to Pin 10
COP2 goes to Pin 18
COP3 goes to Pin 26
COP4 goes to Pin 1
Not forgetting that Cylinder 1 is at the same end of the engine as the CAM Sensor.
I found some fatigued wires inside the ECU connectors too, the analogue 5V connection split in to four wires, to provide 5V to four sensors, and the crimp that brought all the wires together was frayed, so I remade the connection, and added another four more wires for expansion; the same thing was done to the sensor ground wire, so I remade that connection and added four more wires.
This coming Saturday we'll be connecting up all the outputs using a relay block, which has four 12V 30A relays fitted already. I'll be connecting up the Fuel Pump, Water Pump, and the Radiator Fan. As well as the Dashboard, Steering Wheel paddles, and anything else thats left.
I've also designed a 30 dowel 73mm speed sensor ring for the car, which is away for printing.
