So, I've been out of town the past few weekends for martial arts stuff, but that's settling down, so back to progress on the Aston.
First up, my new, new microcontroller for the dash/etc. came in. It's just a faster version of the Teensy, which was "version 2" of the hardware. Good news is it's super compact. I assembled the CAN transceiver, voltage controller and wired it all into my CAN harness. I need to update the modules in my code again to work with the newest version (this one is 600 mhz vs. 150 mhz and has a bunch more capability), but the core of the code should stay the same. I did get to verify that the tachometer works properly with the (v2) controller in place, but temp doesn't. I know my temp output, so it must be what I'm reading from the GM side. Easy enough to fix. I need to get speedometer working too.
On the "half-shafts fell off" side, I ordered a C5 Z06 halfshaft to look at what the tulip side looks like, but it's shorter (the tulip that seats into the diff), so that's no help. I do want to see what it looks like internally though, I'll tear it apart this weekend. I have another C6 Z06 half-shaft en route now. My plan right now is as follows:
1. Clean up the inner tulip and assemble without inner boot
2. Remove coilover from suspension, and install half-shaft
3. Cycle suspension and measure movement of inner tulip
I suspect it just gets a tiny bit too far out in certain positions (aka my axle shafts are slightly too short). If so, I have a "plan B" that isn't "buy new 1500 dollar shafts". Time will tell if it's stupid or not, haha. Plan B is to cut the last inch off my spare donor "tulip" and weld it to the existing tulip. That will certainly weaken the very edge of the tulip, but it really only needs to provide a little more "throw" for the inner tripod under certain circumstances and would never be putting full load in the welded/added area (since 2/3 tripod bearings would always be in the "original" part of the tulip).
I'll see how the suspension movement impacts location though, and will go from there. Worst case scenario there is another option with a company that makes custom inner stubs that bolt on Porsche CVs and might work for a customized setup, but we'll worry about that when we get there. I can also shift the drivetrain forward 1/4", which might help a TINY bit, but won't likely solve the whole issue.
Unrelated I'm putting together parts to rebuild the harness for the engine with a mil-spec setup, so that will probably be another winter project.
