The Project Pad

love the absolute attention to detail. I want my car built like this haha

VGT closed


Link to video

Link to video

VGT open. you can hear the blubbering/miss at :16

Link to video

Sounds great Derek!!!!!! I love it! Hows that 6spd feel?

Damn! that thing is lookin/soundin mean derek!

extreme90path wrote:Sounds great Derek!!!!!! I love it! Hows that 6spd feel?

the 6spd is VERY nice

a long time ago i thought about a solution for front tire clearances that i finally got the chance to employ. it requires virtually no body work and gives about .5" at the top of the wheel arch, and at least 1" at the front side of the wheel arch, where it really matters because of how the arch curves in and on a wide tire arrangement, almost touches the tire.

this is a cheapo turnbuckle from the hardware store, some 1"x1" alu. angle, and a piece of .250" x3" alu. strap that is whittled out. it sits between the front sit of the fender arch, screw right behind the top bumper retaining clip, and the flat portion is just wedged into the crotch formed by the frame rail and upper fender support sheetmetal. there's a bit of rubber hose on the flat alu. piece to aid in chafe' protection. then just turn the turnbuckle out and lock the locknuts.




Before

After









it does make sliding the bumper on a little bit more difficult, but i think the added wheel space makes it worth it. too bad they didn't come like this from the factory. so many little things back then could have saved us so much trouble now...

xD Oh ya... That looks veeeery nice Derek!

frustration is oozing from my pores now. i'm not a computer genius, but my friend is (IMO), he spent over two hours fiddling with COM port settings, two laptops, i got ahold of nate and we finally got one computer to talk with my ECU. the latest firmware update is in place, went to start it, nothing, no WDBG readings and RPM is wackadoo, which it was perfectly fine before the firmware update. started and drove fine, i didn't touch anything under the hood while we updated the computer end. i'm not seeing anything standing out in front of me that a setting is changed, but perhaps i'm just an idiot.

then unplugged it to go charge the laptop, plug it back in, no dice..... tried numerous COM port setting and nothing.

*sigh* i'm sick of this computer crap. it's frustrating to no end to sit and fight this instead of working on a tune and using brain cells for that :( not to mention it helps to keep from building that trust in the setup.


i need help :(

Device manager should tell you which COM port the dongle assigns to.


Oh and your car is sexy beyond belief in every aspect! Kudos!

Switch the pins on the VR sensor, the two that aren't the shield.

Sam

I know your feelings..

Are you using the same USB port all the time?

Sorry, I don't know if I can be of much more help....you'll get it though, tune it well and then it will run nicely for a long time. That's how my car was, bunch of little things to figure out, but once tuned, it runs perfect.

Sam, why would switching VR pins help his PC communicate?

apavlov13 wrote:Device manager should tell you which COM port the dongle assigns to.


Oh and your car is sexy beyond belief in every aspect! Kudos!

we've been through that dozens of times now. the new firmware gives more port options, but it always says port 3 is present, and the rest are "failed". and we've selected that #3 to be used on both the ECU and the laptop to partial avail.

The new firmware is pickier about the type of VR signal it interprets as a tooth...if the pins are technically backwards, it would work perfectly fine in the old firmware, but not in the new. On top of that, it would read crazy RPM counts at low RPMs or while cranking. One of the A4s I work on did that, that's all i know.

Sam

If you did an firmware update, did you load the set file that 034 provided?

No way in hell it will run without defaulting all the new parameters that your old firmware has scrambled.


Also the new software is a bit smarter on ports, but keep in mind that COM3 and COM4 very often are set to the internal
analog modem, and if the port exists, the new software doesnt tell you "fail" for that port.
This doesnt mean that your USB dongle is at that port, but rather than there is a valid COM port there, obviously the
modem is not going to let you connect to the ECU.

Look at the device manager to know where the USB driver put the port#, sometimes it puts them in the high teens.

D, the garage code. texted it.

if you need the garage laptop its right there where it always is.

Chub asks if you will feed his fish and his froggys

TheArchitect wrote:If you did an firmware update, did you load the set file that 034 provided?

No way in hell it will run without defaulting all the new parameters that your old firmware has scrambled.


Also the new software is a bit smarter on ports, but keep in mind that COM3 and COM4 very often are set to the internal
analog modem, and if the port exists, the new software doesnt tell you "fail" for that port.
This doesnt mean that your USB dongle is at that port, but rather than there is a valid COM port there, obviously the
modem is not going to let you connect to the ECU.

Look at the device manager to know where the USB driver put the port#, sometimes it puts them in the high teens.

ok, i fiddled around with it more until the thing started talking again (took a break this evening), and got the .Set file uploaded. still no start... or do i need to check anything else?

also, do i need to change the pins around for the VR sensor? i'm getting no signal essentially that the engine is turning over. RPM readings are just random, 1k, 4k, 0, etc when i am cranking now.

Might as well give it a try. Sounds like it could be the issue

derracuda wrote:

TheArchitect wrote:If you did an firmware update, did you load the set file that 034 provided?

No way in hell it will run without defaulting all the new parameters that your old firmware has scrambled.


Also the new software is a bit smarter on ports, but keep in mind that COM3 and COM4 very often are set to the internal
analog modem, and if the port exists, the new software doesnt tell you "fail" for that port.
This doesnt mean that your USB dongle is at that port, but rather than there is a valid COM port there, obviously the
modem is not going to let you connect to the ECU.

Look at the device manager to know where the USB driver put the port#, sometimes it puts them in the high teens.

ok, i fiddled around with it more until the thing started talking again (took a break this evening), and got the .Set file uploaded. still no start... or do i need to check anything else?

After any FW update, you should always make sure the ECU output data and all the sensors make sense before trying to start.

newt wrote:

derracuda wrote:also, do i need to change the pins around for the VR sensor? i'm getting no signal essentially that the engine is turning over. RPM readings are just random, 1k, 4k, 0, etc when i am cranking now.

This firmware is more particular about the VR signal. If your sensor is pinned backwards you're not going to get good readings. Give the pin-flip a test and see if that cleans up the triggers. You'll need to re-zero the motor after this as well of course.

Pins were flipped and the car started right up. i tweaked on the ign. maps a bit from some screen shots Jimmy G. sent me, and either his ign. settings fixed it, or the VR wires. but it runs smooth to 7k now


i also am finally getting some logs and things look fairly ok, a little rich, but otherwise ok.

Man I bet that was frustrating.

Glad it wasn't too hard of a fix.

SeStone wrote:Switch the pins on the VR sensor, the two that aren't the shield.

Sam

:cheers: Sam gets another cookie.

Woot!!!!

P
S
I


pretty stinkin' insane.


WG line fell off last night and i hit 25psi. i can't drive the car anymore. i forgot what adrenaline feels like and my body is still recovering. back the workmobile to recover....

I'm jealous! I need to get my fix! ... calling hank...