E46 Track/street build

[Harreh]

Played around with routing brake ducting, the remainder of the OEM under trays has good positioning and locations for all this so I was happy with that

Pulled the 5 speed auto and threw that in the bin, the sump plug was stripped and stuck so I gave it the send off it deserved by drilling speed holes to get the fluid out



I've mostly wired up the gearbox now, internal mechatronics are done, everything appears to be in order

Mechatronics all sealed back up



Some weld needed to be added and a hole drilled then tapped to suit the M54B30 starter on this bellhousing



New flywheel/DCT Mandrel installed on the motor and rear main replaced



Started doing the GCU wiring however I found my crimper is no good for these Molex CMC/CMX connectors, I gave up before I munted too many and am now waiting on the correct tool.



Test fitted the shifter in the cabin, might need to make a longer shaft, I also need to design and print a facia to pretty it up a little.



Gearbox will get physically bolted in tomorrow, from there I can take measurements for the driveshaft and give that to the driveshaft place, and the diff can come back out to be sent off for the LSD install. During this downtime I'll finish the GCU wiring and hopefully get the gears changing and learn that all my wiring and soldering was done correctly. If it all works the box will come back out to have potting compound installed over all the wiring and solder joints.

[Harreh]

Gearbox went in today with a little trimming of the casting, nothing major needed other than a small amount of massaging on the trans tunnel in a few select spots, foamy was very happy to get the grinder out finally.


Oil cooler adapter installed on the gearbox


Box in situ



Tailshaft needs to get measured after we finalize making the new trans mount, from there I can finish the wiring once my crimping tool arrives and start playing around with the box config.

Also 3d printed a bracket for the GCU since the people smart enough to design and program such a complex controller we not smart enough to make any method of mounting it to a surface

[Harreh]

Gearbox mount is mostly fabricated now, the box section is temporarily standing in until we can get some round tube in its place at the two mounting points on the chassis are at different heights. The box output flange and the diff input flange are both at 0 degrees relative to each other and measurements end to end have been taken so I expect this should be fine.



After 3 months of waiting from AGI the halfcage finally arrived, however it appears that its about 2" too narrow to actually fit as per their instructions.



More tidying on the wiring was done today and I hooked up the CAN Bus but I cannot see any data, I don't believe it requires a termination as it is not the final point in the bus, rather it ties in to where the OEM ECU goes into the cabin, however I could be wrong on this and will put a 120ohm resistor in.



I didn't get any screenshots of the valve test results as the software doesnt scale well on lower resolution screens however the valve test results all appear to be in spec which is great.

GCU still needs some inputs wired up such as a selector switch, as well as the shifter. I also need to source an oil cooler and make up the lines for that, seems to be a bit harder to get one with -8 fittings at price points I like but why stop burning money now?

[bboy]

but why stop burning money now?

That's the right attitude!

Good progress, she'll be running in no time

[bbeavis]

Excited to see what you do with that shifter. :-)

[Harreh]

So yesterday I got the gearbox selecting gears and actuating clutches when up in the air - we had some software issues that held it up for a few days but it appears all my wiring is correct at this stage.

I installed the new shortened driveshaft which was done by Driveline services australia, rollcage has been returned from AGI and repaired by them to fit correctly. Exhaust is mostly tacked up and ready to be dropped down and welded up completely.

Next steps will be to start calibrating the gearbox. I also reached out to Beavis who designed the original shifter I'm using and got the files so I can strengthen the base a bit to suit my needs a little better, so I'll get that installed next then start playing with the GCU software to get the pickup points and the myriad of other tables configured.

[Harreh]

Few challenges again, gearbox had to come out due to the internal temperature sensor wire earthing out on the gearbox casing. However the box is back in and the car finally runs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqqbC...ature=youtu.be

Takeup is rough and the shift from first two second is brutal, but I can tune that more this weekend. The brand new idler tensioner I purchased also appears to have a dud casting which has been causing the belt to slap around, which will need to be fixed. Oil cooler for the gearbox is installed and the exhaust is fully fabricated

[Euronymous]

Good stuff dude, making some solid progress!
also see the starlet in the backround, good to see its still lurking around.

[mrkebabs]

Impressive results! Keen to see the K20 mated to it down the track.

[Harreh]

So the car works, sort of. Clutch pickup isn't tuned and the shifts are still a bit sloppy but it's getting much better.

The new idler pulley I purchased had a dud casting which caused the pulley to sit at a slight angle which resulted in a dead belt and water pump pulley so that needs to be fixed now, but otherwise everything is operating

[YBS1OW]

great work!

[Harreh]

Been a while since updates, lots of things have moved on the car. Mostly boring under the skin type stuff. We've been doing some road tuning with the HTG controller which has been slow, painful and has tested the diff.

Lots of compression lockups, gearbox collisions and clutch dump shifts however we've made some progress despite the last two firmware updates adding in horrible bugs, particularly around clutch takeup.

I'll have an update soon around the car itself but I figure half the people watching this are watching for gearbox videos so here it is. Road tuning with Vito

[bboy]

That's sounding pretty damn good! I was expecting downshift blips, but I'm sure that will come

The HTG fb group has been going off lately with people crying about the software... makes me a bit nervous.

Great work though. Looking forward to seeing track vids

[Harreh]

I'm still running the OEM ECU so blips are a bit of a hassle right now.

Yeah HTG are really struggling, I think they've really become a victim of their own success, they have the most advanced product on the market right now by a long shot but are struggling to keep their heads above water.

[trdee]

Not gonna lie, it's pretty cool to drive.