44 replies to this topic

[rik]

When, during my first week of vx ownership, I scared myself several times, I looked into after market traction control. Found some information on this forum, but not many people seemed to have it. After talking to a few members (oblomov, and Paul.Stuhlfelder), who both have it, on a vxt and bmw z roadster respectively, they passed me on to a group buy going on on the zroadster.net forum, which I decided to enter into. It offered the system at varying degrees of price depending on quantity they could buy, it ended up somewhere in the region of £500. Anyway, this group buy took ages to finalise, and in that time I learned how to not nearly crash the car every day . When the group buy was about to be finalised, I decided that I still wanted it, if only for an added level of safety if something catches me out, especially now that the weather is raining every day now, and the car is my only car (I do 60 miles a day).

Group buy went smoothly, and it came in the post yesterday

I've decided to document the installation in hope that it will encourage more people to get the system if they want it, and not be put off by the work involvolved, or the price of professional installation.

Have a read about the traction control here

At this point, I'd like to say that I'm not a professional mechanic in any way, and I have only been getting down and dirty with cars since I got my vx (about 3 months ago), but I do have more than a basic experience in electronics, and I like to think I have a good amout of common sense. Therefore, do this at your own risk!

Oblomov and Paul.Stuhlfelder have given me a lot of advice about installation which has been very useful. I have decided to go down a slightly different route to installation than they have, which will allow me to return the car to stock condition with the least amount of messing around if need be. I'll post their pms to me here (if thats ok with them), so you can look at it another way if you don't like my way.

I'm going to fit it over the next few nights and/or/maybe weekend if it takes that long. It's dark outside by the time I get home from work so I'm doing all this by torch/street lighting

Last night I read the instruction booklet and made sure I understood it all properly before I started installing it. I won't go into much detail about how it works (you can read a better explanation on the racelogic web site). Basically, you wire it in, stealing the signals from the abs system, the signals to the fuel injectors, and the RPM signal. If the system senses that the wheels aren't moving in sync, it will cut the signal going to the fuel injector, and the engine will do a controlled misfire to reduce power output momentarily.

This involves splicing the wires coming from the 4 abs sensors at the front of the car, at the ABS ECU, cutting the trigger signal to the 4 fuel injectors coming from the engine ECU, and wiring it (in series) with the RLTC control unit. The RPM signal, +12v ign are also spliced from the engine ECU, and the usual grounding points can be used for the neg.

If you didn't understand that, read more about it at the racelogic web site until you do.

Here we go then..

[VIX]

This involves splicing the wires coming from the 4 abs sensors at the front of the car, at the ABS ECU, cutting the trigger signal to the 4 fuel injectors coming from the engine ECU, and wiring it (in series) with the RLTC control unit. The RPM signal, +12v ign are also spliced from the engine ECU, and the usual grounding points can be used for the neg.

Piece of p1ss then!

[rik]

Day 1

What you get in the box





Traction control unit, main wiring loom (connections for abs, input injectors, output injectors, +12v, GND, cockpit ajustment switch, diagnostic wiring loom (led/ rs232 connection), software cd, manual, some connectors to wire in the injectors nicely (which I don't think I will use actually)

The manual, and some notes I made to simplify it while I'm working



I used this and this for information, and this (which is for turbo engine, but ABS information is correct, and this for information.

The tc unit can handle up to 6 cylinders (but we only have 4), so I tidied the extra 4 (2 in, 2 out) injector cables away (could've snipped, but I kept them on for possible resale value). This is the main connector for the racelogic loom.



Lots of crimp connectors (I cleaned Band Q right out of them), insulation tape



Some extra wire I got from where I work (the unit doesn't come with a sufficient amount imo, so I got this if any more is needed to extend). Hearshrink



The way I'm going to wire it all in, is with these crimp connectors. I will make many "3 connector" adapters, which will take the input and give it 2 outputs, one back to where it was going in the first place, and one that goes to the RLTC (these are needed for abs sensors, +12v, RPM). I colour coded the wires to correspond to the standard VX colours (instead of the colours which RL use).






Using this method, if I want to remove the system, all I need to do it take out these 3-way connectors, and the original wires can just plug back into eachother (male into female), which means no de-soldering as in other methods. In fact, you won't need to use a soldering iron to do any of this if you follow this method.

Edited by rik, 21 November 2006 - 10:49 PM.

[rik]

Tonight I'm going to wire in the +12v and the RPM signals. Using the documentation, it states that ther 12v is a green wire coming from connection 1 on the ecu, and the RPM is a black/whire wire on the same connector.
The n/a ECU is in the engine bay, the drivers side, the drivers side of the engine, and behind the engine (i.e. more towards the center of the car). It has 2 heavy-duty looking connectors coming out (or going in?) to it. For these 2 wires which I need to splice, I decided to avoid ripping into these connectors, as there was precious little slack in the wiring loom.

I traced the loom round to the passenger side of the engine, at which point it terminates with a detachable connection, which plugs into another wiring loom. I'm going to take these 2 splices from near this connector, where the wires are free to cut into.

I had to remove the passenger side rear wheel, and the plastic wheel lining to access it comfortably.



I took an educated guess at which connection was the one I wanted.. the blue one. Because it had both a GREEN wire, and a BLACK/WHITE wire. (I turned out to be correct)

Unplugged from the engine loom



Green wire cut, male crimp attached to one end, female crimp attached to other, and then the pre-made 3-way connector attaches. The 3rd connector on the 3-way then connects to the red wire (which has an in-line fuse) of the TC loom.



This is just a 12v power supply to power the TC unit.

I attached the TC GND to the big grounding point on the left of the engine. This was only a temporary connection for the sake of testing.


the RLTC unit can be tested at each stage of installation. The first test is to see if it's simply getting power, and that the 12v line you've spliced into can handle the load.

Turn the ajustor knob to OFF.
Crank the engine and it should go to idle as normal.
Go round to the boot (I am installing it in the boot so all the crap is there at the moment)
Check if the red light is on. If it is, the TC unit is recieving power properly.
Rev the engine a bit and make sure it runs as normal. (see oblomov's notes). Mine was fine.
Turn the knob to any other setting and the light should go off



Now it's the same procedure as above, but splicing the black/white (RPM) wire instead.



Once it's wired in, start the engine again. Turn the knob to off (or 20% works too), and the LED on the diagnostic loom should start flashing at a constant rate (it is symballising the rate of engine revs). There was only 1 of me, so I couldn't check properly if it speeds up or slows down when there are higher revs (I assume it flashes faster).



Working first time

That's all I'm doing for today.

I taped up any exposed metal on the crimp connectors, grouped them together and cable-tied them together for neatness



Checked it still worked

Then I detached the GND from the engine bolt (the unit is now off), wheel arch back in, wheel back on, and took the car for a quick drive to make sure everything was ok. (I have to drive to work tomorrow). It was fine. Put the kettle on

Tomorrow I will do the ABS connections.

Later in the week, the injectors. Could someone tell me perhaps a good place to splice the injector wires? Perhaps they are accessable from these outcrops from the main loom? any help appreciated so I won't have to go cutting the loom to bits

Edited by rik, 21 November 2006 - 11:22 PM.

[ChazUwe]

Very good guide and well done for attempting something such as this. Can't help but wonder why though??? Its not as if the VX has difficulty getting traction with the rear wheels doing all the driving....

[rik]

Very good guide and well done for attempting something such as this. Can't help but wonder why though??? Its not as if the VX has difficulty getting traction with the rear wheels doing all the driving....

please don't start that discussion here. I have said why I am installing it. It is a guide for people who want to install the system. If you want to discuss wether the VX needs it, please start a new thread on the VX Discussion forum.

[ChazUwe]

My mistake I thought forums were for posting on!

[i need nos]

nice work there rik, will be interested to see what the finished product produces! if its as good as in theory sounds it should be i suggest u let it loose to see what time it does the stig challenge thing in? great effort though for something i havent seen yet on a vx..

[jasvxt]

Good on you Rik keep us all posted. Just picked up my Race-logic system today will be round yours tomorrows for fitment Joking Rs Jas PS wheres the control unit (cockpit adjustment switch) that Oblomov has in his car seem to remember it being a silver alloy unit.

Edited by jasvxt, 22 November 2006 - 10:50 AM.

[rik]

PS wheres the control unit (cockpit adjustment switch) that Oblomov has in his car seem to remember it being a silver alloy unit.

He paid extra for the digital ajuster (I just got the bare minimum basic system). The switch which will go in the cockpit of mine will be the black unit with circular switch, and the red light on it, shown in the pics (it's just laying loose in the boot at the moment)

[jasvxt]

OK Rik thanks. Question : as you may know vx owners often dis-engage the Abs on track days etc or because the Abs is crap generally, either by disconnecting the fuse or via an on/off switch ,does the race logic system still work in this scenario, as i would have thought the speed sensors work directly with the Abs unit as well ? Rs Jas

[rik]

OK Rik thanks.
Question : as you may know vx owners often dis-engage the Abs on track days etc or because the Abs is crap generally, either by disconnecting the fuse or via an on/off switch ,does the race logic system still work in this scenario, as i would have thought the speed sensors work directly with the Abs unit as well ?

Rs

Jas

good question, short answer I don't know and I will just have to test it when its installed.

long answer, depending on how the abs sensors work (I don't know exactly how), I would imagine one wire has a permanent + voltage on it, and the other outputs an intermittant (pulsing) + voltage, the frequency of which is determined by the speed of the wheel turning. Providing the pulsing wire is the one which is spliced, I think that the abs sensor will still work as normal, and if this is unplugged from the abs ecu, but NOT unplugged from the TC ecu, I think the TC will continue to receive the pulses correctly, and therefore function as usual.

Please correct me if someone knows more about the abs sensors.

my theory: (complete hearsay, so could be totally wrong)

Edited by rik, 22 November 2006 - 11:53 AM.

[Thorney]

We've just fitted 2 Race Logic system this, it's a pita job and takes hours.

[rik]

We've just fitted 2 Race Logic system this, it's a pita job and takes hours.

tell me which of those extrusions from the main loom are the injector wires then

[walkes]

My mistake I thought forums were for posting on!

Traction control on a NA, never seen one of those spin

[jasvxt]

[minime]

the racelogic system is good but even better with the digital controller...which i have had now for almost a year

[ChazUwe]

My mistake I thought forums were for posting on!

Traction control on a NA, never seen one of those spin

Lol, well that's half the fun

Besides I blame the fact the tyres weren't up to temperature Obviously not driver error

[jasvxt]

Bump hows it going Rik ? Rs Jas

[rik]

Bump hows it going Rik ?

Rs


Jas

wired up the abs last night, was all working as expected, until I decided to test if the abs still worked (it did), but from that point onward, the diagnostic LED refused to flash and stayed constantly on. I phoned RL this morning and they said to hook it up to a laptop because it sounds like it has come out of diagnostic mode. So I am now trying to find someone to lend me a laptop as I dont have one