Kingers Garage

[kinger]

Rebuilt a really old android tablet from 2012 a note 10.1 with a new rom for Android 9 pie just to get this to work and start to play with it a little bit.  I like you can build your dash then export it for the final device you want to use. 




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[kinger]

My MaxxECU Pro just showed up!  2 boxes with one just being for the wiring!  I got the pro premium.  Now I am working on my pinouts to depin the GM connector and repin with new terminals and fit into the Maxx connectors.  Super excited!  I made some maxx vids on my YT and the Boolean controls you get is really really nice compared to my Motec hundred series.  What a quality ECU seems like a steal for $3200 with a full unterminated wiring harness ( @digitalsolo  haha)

Picts and vids to come.  Also working on getting the LS7 mated to the 8HP and getting the Maxx firmware flashed to the 8HP!  Can't friggen wait!

[shainiac]

I'm curious why you ponied up for the Premium if you're planning on repinning your old harness? Those flying leads aren't cheap and you can get the connectors and pins off Digikey for about $100.
I also bought the Pro Premium and was very happy with the quality. The dual O2 direct to the ECU is nice also. No voltage drop to compensate like when using an AEM gauge and 0-5V output.
The wire is all TXL, so it's not the thinnest, but it's nice stuff.

IF you plan on repinning your factory harness, be warned. The Molex CMC connectors are a pain. Exidous will disagree because he has the fancy crimper for them, but any generic crimper won't be great and makes the pin insertion and depinning suck.

It really is a nice ECU and great bang for the buck.
I got a chance to ride in a friends '85 Ford LTD with a turbo 5.3L and 8HP on Maxx. It drove as nice or better out of the box with very little tuning than my DCT does after I've sunk quite a bit of time into it.
The only annoyance with the 8HP is needing the flash tool to update the firmware as they make improvements. I may still go 8HP in the future once I knock out other projects. They seem to hold more power stock vs. stock, and have a tighter gear spread with the extra gear.

[digitalsolo]

I'm very interested in seeing what you think of the Maxx.

I like the 8HP as well.  If I could have put one in place of the TR6060 in transaxle format easily, I'd have strongly considered one.

[MPbdy]

Super excited for updates 😁

[kinger]

I'm curious why you ponied up for the Premium if you're planning on repinning your old harness? Those flying leads aren't cheap and you can get the connectors and pins off Digikey for about $100.
I also bought the Pro Premium and was very happy with the quality. The dual O2 direct to the ECU is nice also. No voltage drop to compensate like when using an AEM gauge and 0-5V output.
The wire is all TXL, so it's not the thinnest, but it's nice stuff.

IF you plan on repinning your factory harness, be warned. The Molex CMC connectors are a pain. Exidous will disagree because he has the fancy crimper for them, but any generic crimper won't be great and makes the pin insertion and depinning suck.

It really is a nice ECU and great bang for the buck.
I got a chance to ride in a friends '85 Ford LTD with a turbo 5.3L and 8HP on Maxx. It drove as nice or better out of the box with very little tuning than my DCT does after I've sunk quite a bit of time into it.
The only annoyance with the 8HP is needing the flash tool to update the firmware as they make improvements. I may still go 8HP in the future once I knock out other projects. They seem to hold more power stock vs. stock, and have a tighter gear spread with the extra gear.

That's a good question.  In the end I am lazy and my time is limited so I wanted to be able to have a wire already crimped, and installed for speed.  De-pinning the 50 or so wires I need for the engine was faster for me then to run all new wires and I will do them one at a time to not screw anything up.  @halfspec  did such a good wiring job I didn't want to hack it up.  Its all perfect cut to length, and labeled.  If it was a junk yard find, buy the terminated harness for sure.  In the end I will be able to sit in one spot inside the car (pass seat out and nice foam bleacher seat for my back lol) and wire up basically the entire engine.  From there I have room to leave all the other misc wires lay out of site.  When ever my brain wants to add something say like adjustable height suspension based on speed, grab the wires and run those.  It was about a plus $850 but that includes two new LSU 4.9 sensors which I think are around $130-150 each.  So that helped me justify it.

I will look into the special tool.  KSV looms has been slow to respond.

Agreed on the flash tool, although I bought the Maxx 8HP harness for it and the BMW shifter and there is a OBD2 port on supposedly for future updates, maybe we can get to some sort of more accessible flashing process down the road. 

Blake - so far the Maxx is better at the software end of things then Motec but I am hoping its as reliable on the hardware side.  I haven't heard of Maxx being buggy or glitchy if so I think I will run Maxx on virtually everything going forward.  It will beat my Motec at everything and be 1/3 of the price.  The mini is a massive bargain even just to use as a CAN BUS interface as its only function.  I so badly wish they would but a BT chip in it so you could run mDash on smaller cyl projects. 

Really looking forward to the 8HP its just what the car needs.  Glad to hear its decent out of the box! 

Thanks to @shainiac  and @Exidous  for helping me make the call.  I never even considered them before. 



 

[Exidous]

:-)

Ya, the sport is as cheap as you can go for BT. Still enough io for a 6cyl. Could always be used as a low power PDM.

The things you can do with MDash are rather impressive. They have a new app developer and they made huge strides in their first update after being hired. I'd bet basic tuning won't be far off.

BT switches are great. I use my phone as a security device. Car won't start without my phone paired.

[kinger]

BT switches are great. I use my phone as a security device. Car won't start without my phone paired.

Ok spill the beans LOL

How can you tell the pro when its paired or are you running mdash only on your phone?

My guess would be set up the BT switch with the "prevent engine start" command. Then what??

[shainiac]

You can use Internal Outputs to trigger a virtual switch with multiple conditional inputs. The output could be used as the trigger for any output, like starter solenoid to start the car. For example you could create "Starter Signal Output" that would trigger on IF it sees the signal from the ignition switch AND BT Switch1 >0. Without the Bluetooth paired and the switch enabled in the app.

[kinger]

You can use Internal Outputs to trigger a virtual switch with multiple conditional inputs. The output could be used as the trigger for any output, like starter solenoid to start the car. For example you could create "Starter Signal Output" that would trigger on IF it sees the signal from the ignition switch AND BT Switch1 >0. Without the Bluetooth paired and the switch enabled in the app.

There is a BT status indicator and I think that is what Exidous was originally thinking about.  I get the idea, I could just have a BT switch and it would start normally then if I got in a shady area I would turn that on, call it something benign on the dash and no one would be able to figure out how to start it, even hot wiring it wouldn't work.  I wouldn't want that for every day normal use but it may make sense to have the option. 
I do want to make it able to be remote started from under the car when I have to check the 8HP level its very specific to temp and it needs to be running.  Right now my ignition is all outside of the ECU I would have to connect to max somehow. 

Fun stuff the options are amazing. 

[Exidous]

Ya, I use the BT connection status. The only downside, it's not fast. I wanted to use an UWB (Ultra wideband) receiver for the same thing but couldn't find one. The UWB is what the newest cars use. Phones starting about 3-5 years ago added them in. My S23+ has it.

[MPbdy]

Would I be able to re-pin a Holley harness? Is it saving some money or just time? Isn’t there a ton of wiring you need to add still like for the new sensors and I/O?

[shainiac]

You definitely could repin it. You'd spend about $200 in just new connectors and probably $2-300 in wire and loom if you built your own harness vs. reusing the Holley. The Holley stuff mostly just covers Connector 1 on the Maxx. You'll have to add all your extras to the harness, like DBW, any extra sensors, etc. Connectors 2,3,4 on the Maxx are kinda overkill and you probably won't use half of it, but there'll still be plenty that needs added to the harness.

If you haven't already bought it, I'd get the MaxxECU Molex CMC depinning tools. They're little aluminum pucks with 2 steel pins that release the locks on the wire terminal to remove unnecessary wires from the harness. Kinda spendy for what they are, but there's no good alternative.

[kinger]

If you haven't already bought it, I'd get the MaxxECU Molex CMC depinning tools. They're little aluminum pucks with 2 steel pins that release the locks on the wire terminal to remove unnecessary wires from the harness. Kinda spendy for what they are, but there's no good alternative.

I did buy the small one.  I am hoping I won't have to depin any large ones.  Have you found a good source for a crimp tool?  The one I found was $150 for the tool and $500 for the die 

[kinger]

Would I be able to re-pin a Holley harness? Is it saving some money or just time? Isn’t there a ton of wiring you need to add still like for the new sensors and I/O?

What are you aiming to do?  Switch from Holley to Maxx?