Paul Booth

Erm, what about the difference between DTE and DCE connectivity, i.e., the PC is wired and configured for DTE, whereas the RL TC is configured for DCE, as is the Palm docking station? You can't wire DCE to DCE without some form of cross-over. Such cross-over is called a NUL MODEM cable. (Edited by Paul Booth at 11:58 pm on Oct. 2, 2001)

Chris lives in Prees Heath, just South of Whitchurch off the Shrewsbury road. Pete Betts is in Warwickshire, just North of Leamington Spa.

How did you get your Palm V to work with it? I'd like to use my Vx but I haven't looked at the issues yet and being as I am a lazy git and you've already done the leg-work..........

Just an afterthought. If your odo output is shot *but* you use Pete's capped 1:1 output signal, you won't need a new odo as Pete's signal will replace it. So whatever your fault, Pete's speed converter at around £60 will fix your problems.

I'll think you'll find either your converter output is goosed, or your odometer output buffer is, it's one of the two from your description. it's going to cost either £60 or £120 to fix. I'm going to propose a solution which eliminates the current primitive converter straight away, to be 'safe' and it might just be the cheapest option. First take the effing converter off the gearbox (kill the person who did that to you), make the wiring good, very, *very* good and move back up into the car. Buy one of Pete Betts speed converters, one of his NEW speed converters (either wait a week so until he's got the gear change timing for the auto box modification implemented or, if your car's a manual box, you can go with his current version - make sure it's the one with a 1:1 output, he'll know what you mean). They're about £60 I think. I'm not going to propose you do it the way I did as I was unecessarily pedantic about modifying the speedo. Cut the signal wire to the speedo (only to the speedo, do NOT cut the common feed to the speedo *and* odometer). Using the cut ends, feed the converter input with the signal from Sensor No 1 and the 8:5 output to the speedo. Everything else should stay the same for now. Afeter this mod everything should be working normally, i.e., your speedo will read in MPH but your odo will almost certainly now be clocking KM *whatever the KM/MILEs light says*. You will be speed limited to 112MPH and, if you have an auto box the gear changes will probably be smoother. The PPS should feel slightly heavier at mid-range speeds (as it's supposed to). Check for a few test runs that your cruise is either working or not. If this doesn't fix it, your odo output buffer is shot (same happened to mine) and you'll need to buy a new j-spec odo from Abbey Toyota in Redhill (they'll mailorder you a new one for about £60). For the moment, lets's assume everything is hunky dory. You'll now need to mod your odo to clock MILES and remove your 112 MPH speed limit. Pete's new speed converter has (will have) a limit on the 1:1 output signal and if you cut the output signal from the odometer (PINK wire) and feed the ongoing signal with Pete's 1:1 output, it will remove the 112MPH limit *properly* (it doesn't divide the signal, it caps it). Unfortunately, it won't deal with an auto box's need for a shift in 3rd-4th timing at speeds above 120MPH, that will be available in a week or so. I can't remember the resistor swap on the odo, let's get to that point first. If we get to this point and everything is happy, the ECTS ECU S2 signal mod will be a doddle.

Keep it slow and it'll be fine, at least mine was (the author accepts no responsibility for any damage caused by unforseen circumstances and his views should be considered suspect at all times).

[envy] Not having driven a manual, and not having more than 2,000RPM on start (wet roads don't count) myself, I accept that it won't stall [/envy]. However, if you think it's not going to break if you keep snapping the clutch, don't let me hinder you on your merry way. I agree, the clutch will burn out if you use that to control the shock, but I think (last time I bought one) they were a bit cheaper than gearboxes and back axles. It's your car, don't let me stop you breaking anything you want to, that's your inalienable right. :biggrin:

I wonder how many times it will stand that. Would you like to do the destruction testing on our behalf, although it sounds as though you already are

On a manual if you floor it with the RL TC holding the revs at 4,000 and you just dump the clutch, you're likely to break something or stall the engine. My understanding is you have to feed the clutch and the TC ensures you don't over rev. RL's graphs say optimum optimum griup is achieved at 10% slip so that't what you's get, whatever the engine tried to do with the back-end while the car is putting out maximum power. So the RL TC balances the revs and slip but it can't generate extra BHP. On the auto, if you left foot brake, you can't get more than 2,00 RPM with your foot flat down on the loud pedal, so setting the RL TC to limit the RPM to 2,000 is belts and braces. Once the car is rolling and the revs move up into the maximum power area, if you get rear wheel slip the RL TC will control it to 10% (or whatever you've set it to). So you didn't need the extra button setting the RPM to 2,000 as well as the inherent limitation. (Edited by Paul Booth at 2:04 pm on Oct. 1, 2001)

Maybe you should have a talk to my ECTS ECU.

I've been thinking about this since your first post. There doesn't seem to be a standard behaviour profile for a Supra does there. It must be different ECU versions, different diffs, etc. Since I got rid of my 120MPH problem, my car now hits the red line like a wall in every gear except 3rd to 4th above 120MPH. I find myself looking down at the Tacho, worried that it's going to hit 8,000 RPM, then at the last pixel, it changes up. Above 135 MPH, it doesn't accelerate like I'd like. It's a bit sluggish. I'm betting, my diff version, early ECU software, etc. is what gives mine it's own personality; same for you.

Im interested in that you say the launch cannot be fitted to an auto. Is that a technical reason? I planned on left foot braking and having the launch hold the revs at about 2000rpm while I have my foot flat on the floor. What is the reason for the launch not working on an auto? JB Oh you can fit it, but my understanding is that the launch control holds the revs at maximum power, i.e., acts as both a rev limiter and prevents the wheels from spinning more than the optimum for the surface (10% in dry). I also understand that you have to feed the clutch in gradually as the TC can't prevent the engine getting swamped and dropping off peak power. The ECTS ECU (Engine ECU), or torque converter, holds the engine at 2,000 RPM and the RL TC just prevents more than 10% slip once the engine builds up enough revs to break the back end away. So you *have* an inefficient launch control built in. What do you want the extra launch button for?

It was going to be this last weekend but: 1. Couldn't find the control pot. (Wife 'found' it eventually, tidied away, claims she dind't touch it) 2. Was going to combine ripping carpet up with Pete B going down to scope the SLD. His mum was over so he was not allowed to come out and play. Seems silly to take the carpet up twice. Doing it next weekend now.

I just had a nice chat with the nice technical people at Racelogic (really, really nice people). Got the full breakdown on how the control pot behaves, how the software sees the launch control button on an analogue input line, and what you can do with it all. Basically, as I commented earlier, it's just a resistor stack with as many tap point sas you want. If you have an auto gearbox, you can't take advantage of the launch control so that's a redundant button. The adjust knob is black and in a dark car you can't tell at a glance what it's set to. You can take the resistor steps to the extreme, i.e., an infinite series or a "variable resistor" as it's more commonly known Make that pot a slider, mount it in one of the existing button holes, give it a chrome or polished Ali knob and you can see how far across it is at a glance. You also get infinitely variable traction control, if that's of interest to you. I think you're more likely to move it to 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 'full' positions in practice.

Good place to put sensitive electronics in a non-all-weather casing hmm?

Hence my comment "Oh Sh1t!". In theory you *could* mode the Speedo, the odo's not a problem, but I've not heard of it being done. I'd be more inclined to trace the signal back for Sensor No 1. If they'v messed around down there, I'd also check they haven't screwed around witrh Sensor No 2 also. Having restored it to stock, and as you have the HKS SLD, I'd use the fitted divider to modify the speedo *only* (on the flexi-PCB as I did), convert the odo to MPH and fit the HKS SLD. Worst case scenario, your divider is iffy and your Speedo occasionally 'blips'; simple fix and everything else carries on working fine in the meantime. 1. use the

Oh sh1t! Where are you? I hate trying to debug something using someone's subjective descriptions. If you're within pi$$ing distance, I'll give you a hand with it.

See, now I said you'd be sorry..... :biggrin:

Ooh, your gonna be sorry you said that when all those with RL TC read it..... :biggrin:

It prevents it engaging 4th.

Flipping heck!!!! I'm thanking all that's holy I leave mine on after that.

You *could* do it very easily with a derivative of Pete's speed converter. The issue being time and effort. Pete's extremely busy, what with his day job and his own business, so this kind of feature needs to be in demand for him to spend the time on it. I'm only inclined to do something like that if I want one, 'cos I'm busy too and selfish like that :biggrin: I guess you should spend your pennies on an "Improve Your Memory" book.

Wait a week and it'll do the gear mapping too.

Paul, Are you saying that Pete's new converter is as good as the HKS SLD for an auto, or that its best to use both together? The HKS SLD does 2 main things: 1. uses a 1:1 signal for the PPS, Engine/ECTS, so the gear changes and PPS weight are 'as designed' but caps the frequency to just under 112MPH so the Engine ECU never applies the throttle cut. 2. Moves the final gear change, from 3 to 4, when accelerating hard to around 120MPH instead of around 90MPH. It also removes the TRC at speeds in excess of 100MPH. Pete's new speed converter will do everything except the TRC disable above 100MPH. I guess it could do that but the purpose seems vague. So, in other words, if you manually disabled the TRC, Pete's new converter will do everything the HKS SLD does. I'm using the HKS SLD and my gear changes have never been so smooth and the steering feels so much better at mid-range speeds. Pete is currently running a test module with everything except the re-positioned gear-change and he tells me he is experiencing the same improvements. The plan is that he will implement the gear change on his test unit next week.

Who wants to go that fast anyway? I get the heebie jeebies at 140MPH, thank you very much.