DaveR Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 (edited) Wow. Awesome pic Dave. Thanks matey. And thanks again for the diff - without it this pic and so many others wouldn't have been possible!! Edited May 13, 2013 by DaveR Auto-correct related typo (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 I'm about to set off to go back to Whifbitz (c'mon, M25, PLEASE play the game...!) to get my MOT sorted for the year and - arguably more importantly - hopefully get my DASH2 fitted along with the first ever bespoke carbon pod. It all depends on fitment, really, but with any luck after 6 months it will be correct! Pics to follow if successful. Here goes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 Live update time! My dash is currently in pieces with the chaotic bundle of wires exposed (I took a photo but my phone's not letting me upload it...) and Darren's doing his thing with a soldering iron. The carbon pod is a pre-pre-production one which is a tiny bit rough around the edges and not quite perfect yet, but it will suffice as a temporary measure and will of course mean that I don't need to do mental arithmetic to convert km to miles every time I go past a speed camera! Give it a couple of hours and I should be the proud possessor of a very fancy DASH2. Right now I'm in the pub down the road from Whifbitz attempting to make a pint of lemonade last a minimum of 2 hours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjs_82 Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Good to know there is a pub down the road from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooquicktostop Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Lost a few quid in that pub on the fruity waiting for my car a couple of times, you beat me to it on the dash 2 well done Look forward to your thoughts on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 Good to know there is a pub down the road from them. You planning a similar visit then? Lost a few quid in that pub on the fruity waiting for my car a couple of times, you beat me to it on the dash 2 well done Look forward to your thoughts on it Ha ha! I'll bet! I'm just happy about the free wifi... I actually bought and paid for the DASH2 way back in October as part of my single build but elected to wait until the proper carbon part was ready (or "ready-ish" as it is now ) before getting it fitted. There's been a lot more of a delay than I expected but hopefully it'll be worth the wait. I'll let you know if that's the route you're planning on yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxluc Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Thanks matey. And thanks again for the diff - without it this pic and so many others wouldn't have been possible!! You're welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 13, 2013 Author Share Posted May 13, 2013 Jesus that was a long day! The good news is my MOT is passed (standard... ) and my DASH2 is fitted. The bad news is there are teething problems. It's late, so more to follow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Whiffin Posted May 13, 2013 Share Posted May 13, 2013 Some pics of the Dash2 fitted to the "Mark 1" carbon dash pod, what do you think? http://www.garagewhifbitz.co.uk/images/stories/gw_images/forum pics/whifbitzproducts/whifbitzdash2pod.jpg http://www.garagewhifbitz.co.uk/images/stories/gw_images/forum pics/whifbitzproducts/whifbitzdash2pod2.jpg http://www.garagewhifbitz.co.uk/images/stories/gw_images/forum pics/whifbitzproducts/whifbitzdash2pod3.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luxluc Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Very clean Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Whiffin Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Very clean Paul. Yep, one gauge and that's it, no need for any other gauges dotted around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 I've finally got some time to upload some pics (because we all love pics! ), so here are a few I took of my DASH2 unit being fitted the other day: Carnage! Getting there: Maybe it will work now...? Bit better: All looks well and after some fiddling around, most of the functions even work as they're supposed to. However, as I alluded to in this post: Jesus that was a long day! The good news is my MOT is passed (standard... ) and my DASH2 is fitted. The bad news is there are teething problems. It's late, so more to follow... I do have problems... Some have these I have since been able to address, but initially the list of issues was as follows: The fuel gauge didn't work at all due to having the wrong resistor to wire in The main beam warning light came on with the dipped beam and went off with the main beam The screen backlight didn't light up with the sidelights but with the dipped beam The function to dim the (EXTREMELY bright) LED warning lights (handbrake, main beam, etc) when the headlights are switched on so you don't get blinded at night didn't work (especially problematic given the above point) The readout for the Syvecs Cal switches was inaccurate The angle at which the screen sat in relation to the driver meant that it couldn't be read at night As the eagle-eyed may have noticed from the pics Paul posted before (and from my last one in this post), my clock wasn't working So... Lots to work on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 The next day, I stripped the dash down again and set about rectifying as many of the issues as I can myself. The first problem I addressed was the physical mounting of the screen. As the carbon pod I'm currently using is the pre-production prototype, it's not 100% corect. It fits in the car just fine, but the angle it holds the screen is wrong. Since this will be getting replaced with the final production one as soon as it's made, I needed a temporary fix. After a trip to B&Q for some supplies, I ended up with some M4 x 75mm bolts (better to have ones that are too long and cut them down than have ones that are too short) and some lengths of alloy tubing (4mm ID and 6mm ID). My plan was to create a spacer from the alloy tubing (I bought both sizes to give me more options) and then cut the three mounting bolts to the required bespoke length to hold the unit securely at the right angle. After initially offering everything up, I reasoned I needed a 30mm-long, 6mm-ID spacer for the top of the unit. This actually turned out to be too much, so in the end the spacer was around 18-20mm long with one angled end. Throw in a couple of appropriately sized washers to spread the load a bit and my final product looks like this: And assembled away from the pod (the two large washers fit either side of the carbon pod, effectively shrinking the pre-cut hole to the correct size for my spacer to work): Fitted, sans-DASH2: And the end result away from the car: Much better, and not nearly as noticeable as you may be currently thinking when it's fitted to the car (pics of that to follow - keep reading...). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) While the dash was stripped off the car, I decided to address a further issue that's been bugging me since having my single turbo conversion finished, namely the location of my Syvecs calibration switches. They were first installed inside the centre console box, which was very neat and I suppose sleeper-esque, but actually not entirely practical. I just found them a faff to get to and thought all along that they would be much better fitted to the dash in the DIN panel below my stereo. Irritatingly, my local Halfords was out of any DIN blanking plates when I went in to buy one. I ordered a couple of different options for later, but was determined to find a temporary fix. It turned out that I had an old stereo fascia case still in the protective wrapping that I thought I could adapt to do the job just fine. I pulled the two halves apart and trimmed the excess plastic of the "hinge" away from the bottom of the case before offering it up to my stereo cage, which I'd removed from the car. It looked like it was going to work just fine after all, so I set about mounting it with some L-shaped metal brackets bolted to the panel itself and then to the cage. It looks a little... industrial ( )... but I actually quite like that! Front view: Inside view (stereo is upside down in this pic): Next I needed to drill the holes for the switches themselves. Having applied some masking tape to the front of my improvised blanking plate, I marked off the vertical centre line and then measured an equal spacing from the edges that would allow me to fit the switches in from behind: Holes drilled and trimmed, the unit looks like this: Test fit: All looked well! Switches mounted: (It was after this stage, once I'd reconnected all of the multi-plugs and fixed the dash binacle back in place, that I realised I'd neglected to refit the retaining screws that hold the ABS control unit on top of the stereo cage so it was just held in by the power of the little plastic tabs. You KNOW that's going to rattle! Off it all came again... ) Eventually though, I got to the stage of everything being reconnected and the syvecs switches being mounted how I wanted them: I have a new blanking panel for my (now redundant) stock traction control switch on order from Mr T, by the way, but as it's easier to remove the old unit with the dash binacle completely away from the dash itself, I've taken the switch out now. The new panel should be easy enough to slot home with the binacle pulled away at the base only using my new found proctology-style contortionist skills! It turned out that my clock wasn't working simply because the multi-plug hadn't been reconnected behind the dash. I thought initially (before I started stripping anything) that it may have been that a wire had broken so I even bought some more to solder in just in case, but I DO like the simple fixes! Edited May 16, 2013 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 Having had the info from Paul at Whifbitz as to which resistor I needed to complete the fuel gauge circuit, I bought one (44p from Maplins - not bad!) and set about soldering it into place: Sadly... I'm not convinced this has worked. I'm going to brim the fuel tank to double check, but I'm fairly sure that - although it IS showing a reading - it's reading incorrectly. Annoyingly, although I have the Race Technology software to make changes to the programme the DASH2 runs off (the set-up of this unit is all done on computer and uploaded as a programme and therefore can only be altered on computer as well), I don't own a laptop with the required output connection to make any changes or, for instance, check that the set-up for the fuel gauge is correct. I guess for now I'm just going to have to be very careful about trying to estimate my fuel consumption from the number of miles I drive. Not ideal... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) Having resigned myself to the fact that, until I get some more info / a correctly equipped laptop, I can do no more, I reassembled everything. The interior needs a good clean and of course the panel that the Syvecs switches are mounted on is only a temporary stop-gap design, but here's how she's looking right now: See what I mean when I said my DASH2 pod mounting spacer is... ...not nearly as noticeable as you may be currently thinking when it's fitted to the car More to follow (hopefully) as I cross other points off my list of problems, which currently stands like this: The fuel gauge isn't working correctly The main beam warning light comes on with the dipped beam and goes off with the main beam The screen backlight doesn't light up with the sidelights but with the dipped beam The function to dim the (EXTREMELY bright) LED warning lights (handbrake, main beam, etc) when the headlights are switched on so you don't get blinded at night doesn't work (especially problematic given the above point - my uber-temporary solution is to cover the warning lights with a piece of electrical tape. Seriously, they're THAT bright!) The readout for the Syvecs Cal switches is inaccurate The angle at which the screen sat in relation to the driver meant that it couldn't be read at night My clock wasn't working Lots to do, but it MUST be workable...? Edited May 16, 2013 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) I brimmed the fuel tank earlier and can now confirm that my fuel gauge definitely isn't reading correctly. It won't move from 23%, which seems very random... Looks like a different resistor is needed AGAIN. Also, rather worryingly, I discovered that my stock odo and trip meters aren't working either. They're displayed as normal but not actually doing anything. The ones on the DASH2 unit seem to be functioning fine but at the moment, because the odo started at 0 when it was fitted, it's showing as 72 miles. So to work out the total mileage you have to add the stock odo number (in km...) to the DASH2 number (in miles...). NOT ideal. Edited May 16, 2013 by DaveR (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaan W Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Hope you get it sorted Dave, electricals can be a real pain but simple once fixed Love the Dash2 by the way and that carbon steering cowl is just Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 16, 2013 Author Share Posted May 16, 2013 Hope you get it sorted Dave, electricals can be a real pain but simple once fixed Love the Dash2 by the way and that carbon steering cowl is just You're not kidding... And thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 I just dropped my car off at Whifbitz again earlier today. Ryan's being brought in on the DASH2 case, so I'm sure he can work his magic with a soldering iron and a laptop and get everything squared away as it should be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted May 18, 2013 Author Share Posted May 18, 2013 Oh yeah, also I think it may be a suitable time to get some shiny new anodised auxiliary pulleys fitted while my car is down in Enfield... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) Just because things have gone a little quiet on the update front, don't think that my project has halted or even paused! Rather I've just been too busy tinkering / hard working / lazy to type anything up... So... Firstly my DASH2 is now MUCH better, thanks to the combined efforts of Paul Whiffin and Ryan Griffiths. It's not 100% yet, but it's certainly playing the game much better. For instance, I now know how much fuel is in the tank (useful when the average MPG is 16...). The only problems still to sort are all related to the screen backlight and the warning LEDs. The screen still lights up with the headlights rather than the sidelights and also the warning lights don't dim when that happens, meaning night driving is quite dazzling at times. The warning light for the full beams now behaves as you would expect, except that for some reason it turns off the screen backlight when it comes on, so you can either see the road more clearly or know how fast you're driving, but not both! These are only minor niggles and I can certainly live with them in the short term. While Ryan was around, he also squared away my cold start which was, frankly, terrible! You couldn't just turn the key and expect the car to start: rather it was a case of sitting in the car and very carefully "helping" the starter motor out with some extra fuelling courtesy of the accelerator pedal. Not ideal. Now though, she starts on the key first time every time, which is how things should be. Sadly there does seem to be an issue with my launch control at the minute. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but when I tried it to see if it was any better than before (i.e. holding the revs at a slightly lower max RPM), the DASH2's oil pressure warning feature started flashing at me and the engine just sort of petered out to a stall... Weird. I'm sure Ryan can fix that one with a few taps of buttons with his magic hands, so it's just a case of getting some time booked with him. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do that between now and the Shakespeare County Raceway RWYB meet this weekend, so I may have to try launching 'old school stylee' for that event... As I alluded to before, I had some rather nice Whifbitz alloy aux' pulleys (anodised in blue of course!) fitted while my car was back in Enfiled (for the 4th time in May!!!), but, uh, haven't taken any pictures of them yet... Also, I'm not sure quite what it was when I picked my car up the day before the Bluewater F&F6 meet, but the whole thing just seemed to drive much better than before. I've no idea if Ryan tweaked something else on the map or if the aux' pulleys make THAT much of a difference, but my car hasn't felt that user-friendly for months. The love never went, but the drive home (despite the M25 trying its hardest to make things different... ) reaffirmed it, put it that way. Closer to home since collecting my car, I collected the new dash blanking panel from Mr T to plug the gap left by the (now redundant) stock trac control switch. I had thought that the centre and left ones - where I have my rear fog light switch mounted - were the same so I was going to swap said switch into the centre and blank off the left. As it turns out, it's the other (right) side that's the same part, so the fog light switch is staying where it is! I haven't changed the Syvecs switch mounting plate yet for a more permanent fixture (although I now have the part in my shed), so that's still to come... I've also continued tarting things up a bit in the engine bay. As I've said before, Suki's a go car not a show car but that doesn't mean things can't look nice under the bonnet. Firstly, I fitted some rather nice suspension strut nut covers that I found on eBay. Link here for anyone who wants to know. I think they finish things off nicely for a very reasonable price (~£7 all the way from the US of A!!), although I REALLY do need to get my strut brace legs colour-matched to the rest of my bay... I also bought and fitted some Mikalor-style clamps to my radiator hoses, courtesy of the good folks at Viper Performance. I still have to do the lower hose where it joins the radiator (I've done the upper clip on the lower hose, if you see what I mean... ) but I'm going to have the front of the car jacked up in a few days for another part of my project so I'll do it at the same time when access is easier. And also replaced the plain, unbranded length of breather hose that joins the plenum to the cam cover with some much nicer branded hose from the same company (seriously, they should sponsor me... ). I also had my Dremel out and gave the top rad hose a bit of a shine up. Nothing too fancy and the finish isn't the greatest I'll admit, but it's certainly an improvement over the dull grey that it was before. As you can see in this same pic, I finally got around to replacing the tired-looking stock black (well, grey...) electrical conduit with some new blue stuff. The turbo side of the engine bay is done, at some point I'll switch my focus over to the inlet side. Something that's been bugging me since fitting my Whifbitz carbon FMIC slam panel is the fact that the greyish-silver paint of the frame below showed through and spoilt the affect at a glance: To rectify that, I broke out the Hammerite (don't judge me!!) and gave the offending areas a coat of black: That doesn't look the greatest, but with everything reassembled I think it's much smarter Thanks for looking. See the next post for my complete (so far... ) engine bay... Edited June 3, 2013 by DaveR Spelling (see edit history) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 So here she is now More to come, as always... Oh and if you haven't already, check out the pics I took the other day during a spirited Sunday PM drive: Click this link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Mitchell Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 The wastegate Vac pipes would look better wrapped in heat resistant sleeve and routed the other side of the strut feet. Looks lovely though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveR Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 The wastegate Vac pipes would look better wrapped in heat resistant sleeve and routed the other side of the strut feet. Looks lovely though Funnily enough, I had the same thought the other day. I need to get hold of some heat wrap, but watch this space... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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