The Red Green Machine

[ManiacLachy]

195kw is a nice bit of poke, should feel great when you're back on the road.

[greenMachine]

195kw is a nice bit of poke, should feel great when you're back on the road.

Lachy, it is a blast

Only worry is how much longer I keep my license ...

The car has been transformed since its last visit to Mania. The main difference is in user-friendliness, the light-switch clutch remains, but a new clutch m/c has transformed the feel. It is now consistent in feel and throw, gone are the bunny starts and stalls at uphill lights.

I am currently in beautiful downtown Coolamon, on grandie-minding duty, but as soon as I get back next week I start work on installing the Powertune dash, and the bonnet vents. Other items include re-doing the radiator ducting, re-installing the oil cooler, and some internal heat shielding inside the engine bay.

Happy days!

[greenMachine]

In other news, the Autronic is out (evidently, there is a FS advert here for it and the pnp patch harness), and a Link G4x pnp is in. This installs in the stock ecu box, and plugs right in to the stock connectors.

There was A good deal going on a Powertune touchscreen dash, so I picked up one of those too. It plugs into an auxiliary socket on the Link board, and I have analogue inputs for oil temp and pressure, and coolant pressure. Thinking about gearbox temp too.

I plan on setting it up in the double DIN centre console location, showing gauge faces, and retaining the stock dash.

[greenMachine]

I have been asked elsewhere to post some thoughts on the Autronic vs the Link G4x pnp, why I swapped, and my thoughts on the tuning software.

The answer is a bit 'it's complicated'.

First up, my local tuner quit the game, he was a gun on them, and I couldn't find another one locally. I used Mania to tune it after the rebuild, but relying on a tuner 3 hours away was not part of my game plan. At that time I decided to move to something new. Subsequently, late in the process I found that someone who tuned my first Haltech (E8!) in the racecar had set up near me, and did Autronics, but by then I was pretty committed to a change. He also does Links, so I was covered either way.

I looked at Haltech, they still have issues with the alternator and would need a patch harness so costly, but the upside was capability and availability of tuners. Link pnp, was attractive price-wise, capable as the Haltech (maybe more so), and can be tuned locally, hit the trifecta. Mania did the tune with the install, but I can have it updated here.

As far as I was concerned, there was no functional issue with the SM4 Autronic. There was a problem with communicating with the AiM SoloDL2, but that was an AiM problem, specifically the attitude and lack of help from the Australian dealer (caveat emptor in spades ). There was/is a bug in the aircon, but that seems to be an aircon issue, not ecu (the Link hasn't fixed it, nor was I expecting it to). I think the tuning may be a little different in how it is structured, but as far as I can tell it is pretty sophisticated and capable. Only drawback I can see is that it communicates by serial, no CAN. For tuning that is no issue, but hooking up dashes etc that can complicate things.

If you want an ecu to run the car, the Autronic will do it standing on its head. It ran mine without any work-arounds or the like.

OTOH, if you want to integrate with a CAN-only dash and a PDM (or any CAN-only devices), it may not be the right choice.

I am not a DIY tuner, so I am not well placed to comment on its suitability for that type of user. I have been told the software is more akin to how a trained mechanic approaches the tuning task, but I am not one of those either!! Only comment I will make is that given the number of professional tuners who won't do MS tunes, someone familiar with MS might, repeat might, find them quite different and consequently more 'difficult'. But that is speculation on my part. (As you will guess, this comment reflects the original was posted on Mt.net )

Happy to discuss!

[greenMachine]

Funny thing, I was feeling the gearshift was 'different' lately, just odd, not like I remembered. I have the tall angled MR shifter, and it wasn't looking the same, feeling the same. It used to be angled towards the steering wheel, but now it wasn't, just fore-and-aft.

It bugged me, as I didn't change it, the box hasn't been out of the car in yonks, the engine upgrade was done pulling it out the bonnet and (I think) put it back the same way.

So I think some dude in Mania thought it was 'wrong' and so fixed it, or else just put it back the way 'normal' people have them. Fortunately the 'un-fix' is simple, and now done. All I have to do is re-learn where 'falls to hand' is, couple of times today it wasn't where I thought it was

Would that all the world's troubles were so easily solved ...

[greenMachine]

Rego time again

Decided that the CEL light was probably not going to impress the tester, as it flashed away under his nose. Pulled out the laptop, logged into the Link, cleared the codes, both relating to CLT. Started the car up, dreading that the fault reappears, but no, let it idle and warm up, still no errors. I'll take it in on Tuesday, I'm leaving the laptop hooked up in case I need to do another code delete before I front the tester.

In another development, I took it in to Roadways in Belco, and talked to them about getting the noise under control. They sold me on installing a 2.5in version of what I have, they reckon it won't cost power, and it certainly cut the noise back. How much of that is the reduction in bore, and how much is new packing, is unknown, but it works. The new one uses the same flange and mounting points, so a quick swap will be the go for track activity. The old 3in one might have been noisy, but I doubt it broke 95db, and maybe not even 85db. Even so, a moveable clamp-on deflector will be in order, adjustable depending on the location of the noisemeter.

Was going to take it into town today, but there is a mud patch on the council road (ours is holding up well - so far!) and I couldn't bring myself to subject the car to that, so Boring got the job.

[PaulF]

I have the tall angled MR shifter, and it wasn't looking the same, feeling the same. It used to be angled towards the steering wheel, but now it wasn't, just fore-and-aft...

So I think some dude in Mania thought it was 'wrong' and so fixed it, or else just put it back the way 'normal' people have them.

For what it's worth, I'd call yours the "normal" way - the whole point of the angle is to get it closer to the wheel!

[greenMachine]

I'd call yours the "normal" way - the whole point of the angle is to get it closer to the wheel!

[greenMachine]

Some pretty serious cold weather here, and the cold start tune just wasn't up to it - slow/no start, backfiring, turning on the starter, firing but like dry humping just wasn't the real thing. Long story short, David from Mania remoted in, and while I pulled and cleaned the plugs he tweaked the cold start tables. Earlier I had replaced the CLT and the cam sensors. Plugs in, turned the key and it caught first turn. Colour me .

Yesterday local chapter had a run to Goulburn, the little ville where I grew up. Car started immediately and ran faultlessly

Tomorrow I will take it in for the rego check, via a car wash so they see it gets lots of TLC

[Nevyn72]

Tomorrow I will take it in for the rego check, via a car wash so they see it gets lots of TLC

Took mine in for it's rego check a couple of days ago, after first giving it a bit of a bath, let's just say there was dust, lots of dust.

Apparently I've done 572km in the last year according to the odometer...

[greenMachine]

Tomorrow I will take it in for the rego check, via a car wash so they see it gets lots of TLC

Win! . Passed with no advisories.

Need to get the Barge ready for its rego check now, needs new shocks and I have to track down an oil leak and fix it, I think it is the rocker cover gasket, but so much junk there.

[greenMachine]

Took the barge down to WTAC to say 'Hi' to Magpie. His car is looking very schmik with one of Lightyear's fabulous fastback hardtops and a new paint job (wrap). Obviously worked, as he knocking big chunks off his times!! Way to go Magpie!!

Got sh1ts watching him go out there and have fun while I was stuck spectating, so went and talked to the Link stand about DBW. They referred me to an entrant who was a dealer, and had done conversions He seemed have the answers, but was distracted by being in the middle of debugging a car, so I need to do some research and see if it is as simple as it looks.

[greenMachine]

Yars, it does! Well, sort of. New TB, new throttle pedal, the ECU needs a minor mod (an additional set of ports attached to the motherboard), and presumably some setup time in the software. I will also need a set of buttons or something to control it - I wonder if I can use/adapt the contol stalk from the cruise in the original GM, it is still lying around somewhere.

I think the hardest part will be mounting the TB to the IM. A lot of the new IMs are plastic, so cutting the end off a junkyard DBW IM to replace my flattop's flange, may not be simple. OTOH, a piece of aluminium scrap, a drill and a hole saw, and hey presto a weldable flange.

As soon as the Powertune dash is in and working, this will be my next project.

[The American]

I thought I saw someone had made an adapter for a Bosch motorsport DBW throttle to the mx5 manifold?

Al from the skid factory likes a particular Subaru DBW pedal because it’s easier to modify and mount…

[greenMachine]

Yeah, there is a Brit firm that does that, $200 or so landed for the NC electronic TB adapter. Haven't contacted them about availability, and where VAT fits (or not, as the case may be). I'd probably have to risk the GST at our border, though they may have that covered. Haven't (yet) seen anyone doing a Bosch adapter.

DIY plate, and sacrifice a flattop for the exercise, appeals if only because it opens up an unconstrained TB choice, from a cheapy junkyard TB to a new OEM TB or the off-the-shelf Bosch unit. Same Brit firm does an adapter for the NC pedal too, and KPower has an adapter for (presumably) a Honda pedal.

I need to spend some quality time with Steve who I talked to at WTAC, get more detail on what MX5s he has done the retofit and what he used, and what else he knows works - not going to pioneer stuff. Two elements - the Link ecu end (ecu mod, software updates/programming, TB and pedal compatibility), and the MX5 physical interface (TB and pedal).

Is that Skid Factory preference for MX5s?