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Today I tidied up the primary power wiring (battery-alternator-cutoff switches), which required a couple changes now that the Miata fuse block is gone and the starter and alternator are on the opposite side. All of the primary wire is 2 or 4 gauge welding wire. Also ran the primary power wire for the PDM.
Please remember to add terminal covers to the back of that cut-off switch. In the unlikely event that they somehow touch something, you'll be doing some welding.
Everything is still in progress, so that will get done eventually... although it would probably take the firewall getting pushed back that far for them to contact anything. LOL
More primary power wiring today... got all the heavy stuff done, including the EPS which came with a harness long enough to stretch bumper to bumper. Also made backplates for the gauge hood. The dash has programmable warnings, but I wanted some thing brighter to get attention immediately so I added red/blue LED lights that I'll set up to flash if a warning activates. And I guess I forgot to take pictures while I was working, so all you get is a shot with the dash in to check clearances and wiring routing. The white wire sticking out is the EPS control box power lead which will go to the PDM and isn't tucked in yet.
And both cutoff switches got terminal covers for all the connections....
The dash has 5 programmable colored LEDs, the keypad is 12 programmable colored LEDs, and the entire dash screen itself is programmable, you can literally have a huge red screen, white letters that say “DANGER TO MANIFOLD!!” If you’re a ricer at heart like me.
also, you can wire a clutch switch, and a neutral switch, and program the starter to not work unless you’re in neutral and clutch out, sort of negating the need for the label.
I have a bad (good?) habit of keeping my attention outside the car, and tend to not look at gauges often enough, so the more flashy things going on the better if something is wrong. I do intend to make full use of the programmable warnings, the extra lights are just to help catch my peripheral vision.
On my now-defunct racecar I used a trailer clearance light (I think) as a warning light ..,. if that lights up and you miss it, it doesn't matter because you are already dead. Warning light mounted to binnacle
Last edited by Gee Emm; 04-14-2024 at 05:20 PM.
Reason: clarity
Yeah, I've seen the LEDs on the older displays like the Racepak you have, one even seized an engine failure after a driver failed to see the blinking light for low oil pressure.
However the newer AIM screens are impressively bright. Once OP gets it turned on and a few alarms programmed, you can "force" a channel value, such as water temp at ~230 or oil pressure at 0. Put your helmet on, stare up at the sky, and I'd be amazed if you didn't see that in your peripheral. OP (and Gee Emm) has the added benefit of Link's amazing safety features, limiting RPM or cutting fuel/spark entirely for any given parameter. Mobius on here can attest, my settings on his Link caused him to look down at his gauges when RPM limit suddenly dropped. His coolant temp was rising due to inadequate ducting.
I'll stop preaching AIM's amazingness, especially since everyone seems to find something they don't like about their products, just sharing my experience.
Thanks for that hint Curly, my Link is in my dual duty car (MSM - racecar long gone), I'm using the stock MSM cluster and not planning for anything like the AiM dash in my future. I need to look more closely at what the tuner has set up for those safeties, the Mobius example certainly caught my attention! I have a Powertune dash, which I was planning to use in the centre console displaying gauges, it has a feature to flash warnings on-screen but no LEDs so I am not sure how effective that will be. Regardless, the ECU-based safeties seem like the real solution, even if they only work in the background.
I too must preach the way of letting the ECU tell you when something is about to hit the fan. I rarely look at the gauges on track, but a firm fuel or spark cut sure makes you look down at the dash. I've had it alert me of low oil pressure and fuel pressure out of whack before. Hell, it has caught me a few times trying to rev out with a cold engine too. 10/10
More primary power wiring today... got all the heavy stuff done, including the EPS which came with a harness long enough to stretch bumper to bumper. Also made backplates for the gauge hood. The dash has programmable warnings, but I wanted some thing brighter to get attention immediately so I added red/blue LED lights that I'll set up to flash if a warning activates. And I guess I forgot to take pictures while I was working, so all you get is a shot with the dash in to check clearances and wiring routing. The white wire sticking out is the EPS control box power lead which will go to the PDM and isn't tucked in yet.
And both cutoff switches got terminal covers for all the connections....
This is looking great! I'm jelly (and out of peanut butter) of the dash and AIM setup in general.
I'll definitely be looking into some safety nets in the ECU... anything you can do that can protect the car from the driver without driver input is a good idea.
My world right now...
Thanks to Curly, I'm off to a good start, but this stuff never goes as quickly as you'd like it to...
Got most of the wiring done. I'm still waiting on a few connectors and a few parts for some last minute add-ons that my tuner suggested. I also need to finish up the CAN wiring for a couple of buses, but need to research a bit as I think I need termination resistors in a couple of them. I have enough done to fire up the PDM and start checking outputs (as soon as I get it configured), and the wiring to the bulkhead connector is done so I can start on the engine harness.
It's still a mess, but will get cleaned up when everything is done and function checked. Nothing more irritating than having to pull a wrapped harness apart to find a continuity break.
Finished most of the underhood wiring today. Just need to wire up the coils and fuel pressure sender and it will be done in front of the firewall. Not loomed up yet, but I want to wait until everything is tested in case I need to address any issues.
Progress and frustration today. Finished all of the engine wiring. All that's left is the CAN connection between the PDM and the ECU, and a few peripherals. Plan for today was to fire up the PDM, upload the configuration and check power outputs. Then I was going to finish up the last of the wiring, start testing the ECU and hopefully fire the car tomorrow. Everything went well with the PDM, got the configuration loaded and got it fired up.
Unfortunately the 12 switch panel that controls everything wasn't working. After talking with AiM, and doing some diagnoses over the phone, they attempted to fix it over an internet connection through my laptop. Didn't work... The switch panel is now on it's way to AiM for repair or replacement... FedEx overnight. Since that panel pretty much controls everything, I'm stuck until I get it back.
With your laptop hooked up, you can right click on live measures, and "force" a channel value, or in your case, keypad value, to turn things on/off without the keypad.
With your laptop hooked up, you can right click on live measures, and "force" a channel value, or in your case, keypad value, to turn things on/off without the keypad.
Thank you! I will look into that to be able to continue working while I'm waiting for the keypad.
Quick update, got a call from AiM yesterday, and they found the switchpad to be defective and shipped out a replacement that should be here today.
AiM doesn't have the greatest reputation for customer service, but so far they've been great for me. Their documentation on the other hand, is pretty lacking...
Big thanks to curly for helping me sort out the fuel pump prime logic with the PDM.
More progress today, and more frustration.
Filled the fluids, including the trans, which requires removing the mid-pipe. Fortunately, I planned ahead for this.
These 'fluid extractors' are the best thing since sliced bread for trans and diff fills. Much better than the pumps that leak all over everything. Trans is filled with Motorcraft synthetic 'unicorn tears'.
Plugged in the laptop and got the LINK up and running, and talking with the PDM over CAN. New keypad is working properly.
And that's when the frustration started. I thought the AiM documentation was poor, but the LINK is even worse. At least AiM had a .pdf I could print.... the LINK user manual is all in the form of a Help file on the laptop, which is cumbersome to access and read while you're trying to use the laptop to see what's going on, and the information isn't always very clear or helpful. It's making the learning curve much steeper than it needs to be. Tuner Studio for MS was a lot easier to figure out from a first time user perspective.
I did manage to verify most of my sensors, got the fuel pressure set, and did a cranking test. I'm not getting crank or cam position signal, so I'll be delving into that tomorrow.
04-11-2024, 03:37 PM
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I do intend to make full use of the programmable warnings, the extra lights are just to help catch my peripheral vision.
