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This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.

Latest progress on the Gooster

11 Sep 2012, 8:35pm
No, I haven't - if you don't mind sending it over I'll give it a go, as the one I have is definitely dead. If it wasn't stuck on the intake boot, it'd be pushing up the daisies...

:)
23 Sep 2012, 3:32pm
Well, there's the problem...





Same issue on both ECUs - traces not so much damaged as completely burnt away. So that's both of those for the bin.

Guess I'll have to clean up and splice in the motronic 1.3 gear I have. Joy.
23 Sep 2012, 4:27pm
Ooooh, that looks nasty.
Have you been able to locate the short causing that?
23 Sep 2012, 4:39pm
I have a funny feeling that the short was self inflicted, as I was following a procedure for tuning motronic 1.0 that I found on E30Zone.

It calls for shorting all three pins of the ICV plug together to tell the ECU not to mess with the mixture setting whilst the various bypass screws are being adjusted. I don't think that this does what the original author of the article believed it does - I believe that in doing this it causes an overload, causing this lovely mess. This area must carry the ICV signals, as both ICVs I have work - but not when plugged in.

The moral of the story is, don't short these pins together!
24 Sep 2012, 8:40am
Hmm, surely if you short anything together with power still applied then the result will be a failure of that component. The bigger the voltage the bigger the explosion.

I know its easy to say that after the event.

I have admiration for you boys with the things you will tackle.
24 Sep 2012, 10:06am
GreatOldOne wrote:

It calls for shorting all three pins of the ICV plug together to tell the ECU not to mess with the mixture setting whilst the various bypass screws are being adjusted. I don't think that this does what the original author of the article believed it does - I believe that in doing this it causes an overload, causing this lovely mess. This area must carry the ICV signals, as both ICVs I have work - but not when plugged in.

The moral of the story is, don't short these pins together!


Well at least it's good to know the root cause. Searching for an intermittent short or open circuit in a wiring loom can be a nightmare.:rant:

I think swapping to the Motronic 1.3 may solve all your problems in one go and I imagine the ECU's are more plentiful for this version.:wink:

...peter
24 Sep 2012, 12:34pm
Yes - I may need some reminders on what is needed and what isn't in the engine loom. I've already noticed that 1.3 has a permenant live to the ecu. 1.0 doesn't.
13 Nov 2012, 12:04am
Fantastic work going on there.

I don't think I would cope with all this modern stuff, looks like you need a degree in absolutely everything.

Great to see what can be achieved though :eusa_clap:

John
28 Nov 2012, 3:01pm
Jason,

Did I miss something? What happened again?

John
28 Nov 2012, 4:16pm
No John - I was punning on the McLaren cartoon I linked to. Professor M's catch phrase is 'Oh no, It's happened again' ;)

I was referring to my Magpie shiny acquisition tendencies.
28 Nov 2012, 6:33pm
Oo shiney :D nice addition to the engine bay!
28 Nov 2012, 7:58pm
That should look really nice and I like the idea of a 'sight' tube as this always appears to me to be the issue with ali header tanks.
I'm intrigued to see what you have planned to use.
28 Nov 2012, 9:48pm
The sight glass will be two of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120969626217?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Linked with either an acrylic, polycarbonate or borosilicate tube, depending on what I find. Polycarbonate is looking to be as rare as hens teeth in 8mm OD, and I'm waiting to here back from a glass stockists about the borosilicate. I need to know how tough it'll be, and wether it would withstand being pushed into the connectors.

Acrylic is the easiest find - loads of places do it. But I'm not sure if it will withstand the temps involved. I've got a piece on order, and I'll cut a bit and test it in some boiling water to see if it does anything.

I could be worrying about nothing - I've never seen engine temps past 88c, and the fluid in the header tank is cooler than that in the main circuit

I also plan on making a little plate that will sit behind the glass held in place by the pipe fittings, which will have a max fill line scribed on it.
28 Nov 2012, 11:33pm
GreatOldOne wrote:
The sight glass will be two of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120969626217?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Linked with either an acrylic, polycarbonate or borosilicate tube, depending on what I find. Polycarbonate is looking to be as rare as hens teeth in 8mm OD, and I'm waiting to here back from a glass stockists about the borosilicate. I need to know how tough it'll be, and wether it would withstand being pushed into the connectors.

Acrylic is the easiest find - loads of places do it. But I'm not sure if it will withstand the temps involved. I've got a piece on order, and I'll cut a bit and test it in some boiling water to see if it does anything.

I could be worrying about nothing - I've never seen engine temps past 88c, and the fluid in the header tank is cooler than that in the main circuit

I also plan on making a little plate that will sit behind the glass held in place by the pipe fittings, which will have a max fill line scribed on it.



hmmm....nice fittings. Whatever you choose also needs to withstand the pressure as well but at 8mm OD I guess it's going to be fairly strong.
If you solve the problem you could have a very marketable product since I've not see a header tank with a sight tube!
29 Nov 2012, 9:19am
You, sir, are evil. And you know it. ;)
29 Nov 2012, 12:16pm
GreatOldOne wrote:
You, sir, are evil. And you know it. ;)


:lol: (and I don't mean "lots of love"!!)
9 Dec 2012, 8:06pm
Yet another winter project... :)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181034951450?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

+

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140890641358?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

= more fun in the garage! :)

I am seriously impressed with Racelogic. It's a second hand unit, but the amount and quality of the support I've had from them you'd think It was brand new, purchased direct. They're sending me a set of new connectors so I can re- wire the loom, and the programming interface cable so I can tweak the TC parameters.

Fitting looks like it'll be a doodle - the difficult part is putting the adjuster somewhere where I can make adjustments easily, but not have it look out of place. My initial thoughts are under the handbrake on the tunnel, with a nice engraved plate with the parameters on it.

:)
9 Dec 2012, 8:34pm
looks like a fun project, look forward to hearing what it's like when fitted :)
11 Dec 2012, 12:51pm
Spot the difference:





Next up for the polshing mops? The air intake manifold / plenum. :D :cool:
11 Dec 2012, 1:33pm
Probably about the best thing to do when it's this cold.

BTW You missed a bit :lol:

Robin