Aston Martin V8 Vantage

[digitalsolo]

Quick video:

[digitalsolo]

Drew up a quick bracket to install the MoTeC M142 in the OEM mounting position.





Printing in PETG now. 

[digitalsolo]

Built a quick bench harness for the M142 and pulled down the base tune to start prepping for my combo.  6 wires for a bench harness, not too bad.   A bench power supply is something I wish I bought a LONG time ago!

[Exidous]

Saw a post in some Aston group about swapping something like a vantage drive line. It had a transverse 8hp iirc.

[Laminar]

Built a quick bench harness for the M142 and pulled down the base tune to start prepping for my combo.  6 wires for a bench harness, not too bad.   A bench power supply is something I wish I bought a LONG time ago!

When I went to bench test my ECU I dug around my boxes and found a wall-wart-type universal power supply that could be switched to 12V/1A. That was enough to get the ECU up and talking. I did get a nice 0-30V/10A benchtop power supply for Christmas that I can use for stuff like this and also maybe some zinc plating?

[digitalsolo]

Yeah, that was my same process for a long time.   Working with lots of electronic circuit stuff, the bench unit becomes helpful quick.  I could also, in theory, weed out my extra wall warts.  I won't, but, ya know, I could. 

I figured out the location for the PDM (bolted to the lid of the OEM fuse box) and main power relay.   Found some nice pretty stainless bolts to use for it all, too.   It was a total of 4 revisions to get a "final" version of the ECU bracket.   My first one had braces that were in the way.  V2 didn't consider vertical clearances.   V3 fixed those, but put it too far toward the wheel liner.   V4 addressed all of those and fits great.  It's a bit more chonky that is has to be, but isn't particularly heavy, so it's fine.

I did find out that my 70* side exit connector seals won't work, which is annoying.  They aim too much toward the fender liner and would need a somewhat aggressive bend to clear.  It looks like going straight down like my previous OEM ECU harness did will work best, so I ordered another set of seals that go that way.   Good news is I needed 2 more seals for my PDM anyway, so I'm only wasting... err, adding spares... 2 seals total.

[cholmes]

Working with lots of electronic circuit stuff, the bench unit becomes helpful quick.  I could also, in theory, weed out my extra wall warts.  I won't, but, ya know, I could.   

Holy crap, this is so me. Gotta keep 'em "just in case!". And yep, a bench top power supply with adjustable current limit is something that sounds "nice to have someday" until you get one, then you wonder how you got along without it.

[digitalsolo]

Spent about 15 hours this weekend working on mounting MoTeC stuff and finishing the harness.

Like all wiring work there is basically nothing to see.  LOL.   I did get the ECU in place on a bracket, and found locations for the PDM, ground buss (I like the big DT ground buss setups as it's cleaner than a bunch of splices) and a big 150 amp relay that will be what turns the PDM on (which will turn the ECU on).   The MoTeC setup doesn't need any battery constant, so I'm running the big relay off the chassis ignition switch to run the MoTeC stuff. Basically the way they recommend it for a racecar.   My PDM -only- runs the engine stuff (no chassis integration) so it keeps the systems fully divorced, power wise.

Hoping to finish the engine harness next week/weekend and start getting the chassis side going.  That's a LOT easier build, at least.

[digitalsolo]

Wiring!  Excitement!

1/4 of the ECU connectors done.  Boy this stuff is tedious.  LOL

[shainiac]

Nice progress, Blake. Have you dug into the Motec software much yet? I'm curious how user-friendly it is.

I've lost track of this project, are you doing a full motorsports-quality harness? Concentric twist, Tefzel, DR-25, Autosport connectors?
I'm excited to see how the DI tuning goes. Sounds like a whole different world from PI fuel tuning.

[digitalsolo]

Nice progress, Blake. Have you dug into the Motec software much yet? I'm curious how user-friendly it is.

I've lost track of this project, are you doing a full motorsports-quality harness? Concentric twist, Tefzel, DR-25, Autosport connectors?
I'm excited to see how the DI tuning goes. Sounds like a whole different world from PI fuel tuning.

1.  I've poked around in it a fair bit.  Layout isn't the most user friendly (not surprised) but it's not bad.  There are a few things that are still a bit confusing (I seem to have two unrelated fueling tables, for example) and building certain kinds of customization is a little complex.   That's all just artifacts of "a dealer/tuner made this firmware so it does things how they think it makes sense" though.  If I really, really want to, I can buy a Dev license for it and make it do anything I want though.  I expect that will probably happen eventually, becuase I like poking at things.

2. It's an almost motorsports harness.  I'm using OEM connectors on the engine, with no subharnesses, and the M142 ECU uses SuperSeal, not autosport stuff.   It is all concentric twist, tefzel, DR25, booted (or SCL) transitions, etc. though.  I also went full ham on shielding so my Crank, Cam, Knock, DBW motor and CAN data cables are all fully shielded which is totally unnecessary but I had the wire, so...

The next thing to dig into once I get the wiring done will be the PDM setup, as it's very different than the others I've used (Hardwire, Haltech and ECUMaster).  It has some learning curve, but you literally write basic code to manage your output behaviors and I'm a HUGE fan of that, conceptually.   I also need to figure out if I can make the programmable CAN outputs on the ECU run my OEM gauges (it -should- work) and if I can use the programmable inputs to pick up wheel speed from the ABS module (again, it -should- work).   Then I could have 4x wheel speed without adding sensors and that will make traction control a lot easier (and that's kinda the whole point of this MoTeC endeavor).

[digitalsolo]

Engine harness is done, minus a couple brackets I need to fabricate to hold some stuff where I want it, and maybe a little shielding here and there.

Chassis harness is in progress.  Boy, this is fun.  Stuff runs ALL over the place and it connects the PDM, E888 (CAN Expander), Wideband, chassis/engine connector, ground block and CAN networks.   So there are lots of different things crossing over between concentric bundles.   Makes it a pain to build and keep track of, for sure.   I'm about 50% done on building the engine bay side... I think.  The E888 and chassis/engine harness connectors are wired up. 

Finishing PDM wires next, then I can sleeve it all in DR25, finish the engine bay side connectors (PDM, wideband, a few sensors, vacuum pump, intercooler pump) and install it.  Once the interior "whip" is run through the firewall I'll figure out exactly where the E888 and CAN busses go, and wire that up.

Once ALL that is done, I need to run a bundle to the transmission, and add a bulkhead to the interior for the new fuel system wiring, then mount/wire the brushless fuel pump controller/relay/fuses in the rear bin storage area.  Then hopefully I can start testing all the sensors/wiring/controls.

I still need to sort out the dash interconnect, CAN messaging to/from the chassis and design/print an adapter for my display screen (going in a dash vent).

My martial arts schedule goes full stupid in a couple weeks, so progress will slow down some, but trying to do "something every day" to keep things moving forward.

[digitalsolo]

ECU in place and wired up;  you can see bits of the bracket I designed/printed.   This is the OEM location and behind the fender liner/out of the elements (mostly):



Wiring/routing.  Not sure why these rotated weird:





Big mess of wires that are slowly transforming into the chassis harness: