Well I took the plunge, based on the fact that it's a long way from Yorkshire to go to get Mark Adams to custom map an ECU chip I bought one from his shop on eBay instead!
Fitting was quite simple, if not a bit nerve racking (must not get static on the chip! must not get static on the chip!) and the instructions included with the chip are very informative and straight forward, luckily I had an ECU that the chip and decoder board slotted straight into with no messing.
It was all a matter of whipping out the ECU from the passenger footwell, undoing the torx bolts holding on the cover, carefully removing the standard chip, replace with the decoder board, add the tornado chip and refit!! :)
So now for a test firing, ignition...the fuel pump whirrs away, which is a good sign...engage the starter motor...the engine does a few revolutions (to build up oil pressure) and then sparks into life, GET IN!
Right time to take it for a spin; first impressions are good, the engine behaves well at low speeds (town driving) much more refined and smooth. It had a tendency before to be lumpy while crawling along at low speed, this seems to be all but eliminated. On the open road the car responses to the right foot a lot better, pulling up the rev range smoothly. I've still got a slight misfire but I think that's down to the plugs. I need to check them over...time to return to base.
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
New front boots and a rattling rear
Had a couple of new front tyres fitted, Toyo Proxes T1-R's, the Bridgestones were looking a bit too warn, pretty much between 1.5 and 2.5mm left. It looks like they don't make the T1-S's anymore or at least blackcircles.com can't get a hold of any :/
All I need to do now is put them through a few heat cycles and about 500 miles to get rid of the mould slip and they should start to stick to the road like very sticky things!
I had also noticed that the rear end was clunking a bit when going into bends, and when the car was in for it's MOT the mechanic pointed out that the rose joint on the near-side anti-roll bar was a bit loose/warn. So it was time to raise the back end and take a look, sure enough the rose joint was a tad loose. I do have to hold my hand up and take the blame on that one, got distracted when fitting them :/ Now all the nuts are tight it's a lot quieter, there's a joke in their somewhere...
All I need to do now is put them through a few heat cycles and about 500 miles to get rid of the mould slip and they should start to stick to the road like very sticky things!
I had also noticed that the rear end was clunking a bit when going into bends, and when the car was in for it's MOT the mechanic pointed out that the rose joint on the near-side anti-roll bar was a bit loose/warn. So it was time to raise the back end and take a look, sure enough the rose joint was a tad loose. I do have to hold my hand up and take the blame on that one, got distracted when fitting them :/ Now all the nuts are tight it's a lot quieter, there's a joke in their somewhere...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Mod-Wise Boot Opening and Light Kit
Well another day and another Mod-Wise kit to fit, after this I should have the ability to open the boot from the outside, without having to put the keys in the ignition and press the button under the dashboard, and I should be able to see in the boot at night!!
Here's how I went about it:
Fitting the relay to the boot actuator. This was a matter of pulling up the carpet in the boot to the right hand side of the boot catch (as you look at the car from the rear) and finding the wires that feed the boot latch actuator, here are mine (picture taken from inside the boot looking backwards, the light pod is the off-side rear):
Now attach the wires with the supplied clips, and I've also taped the relays in place with good old duck tape!
Now it's a matter of feeding the door micro-switch and it's wire around the boot, again I used little strips of duck tape to keep it in place, and fed the switch over the near side wheel arch and through to the passenger door lock actuator. This was the trickiest bit of the job, getting the micro-switch to work consistently when attached to the lock mechanism, I had to very gently bend the long switch arm so it stayed in place when the lock mechanism was moved between the locked and un-locked positions, also at this time I tapped into the live purple wire that heads to the interior light:
Right now to sort out the reed switches and the LED lights in the boot, first the reed switch for the boot. I decided to put this through a hole I found under the boot catch plate. I had to enlarge it slightly but then it enabled me to put the reed switch through and have it behind the number plate:
As you can probably just make out from the picture the wire is held in the hole by duck tape, who invented this stuff? They deserve a medal!! Right, so after checking that it was working it was time to fit the light reed switch, I fed the wire up the off-side side of the boot and placed the reed switch on the bracket, putting the magnet on the rod that holds the boot open (I can't for the life remember what it's called) I was able to activate the switch when the boot opened:
Fitting the LEDs was straight forward again, just a matter of feeding the wires around to where you want the lights to be and using the small magnets behind the carpet attach the light in front of the carpet. I placed one, as shown, under the off-side rear wing, the other had to be placed on the rear panel facing forward because the wire wasn't long enough to reach to the near-side wing. Let there be light:
All that there was left to do now was to hide the magnet somewhere on the key fob so I could use it to gain access to the boot, I had the idea of putting it in the remote blipper like so:
Which was all well and good for a few days then the blipper stopped working! Taking the magnet out made it start again! Coincidence? I don't think so! At the moment the magnet is just clinging to the key fob until I find it a permanent home!
Here's how I went about it:
Fitting the relay to the boot actuator. This was a matter of pulling up the carpet in the boot to the right hand side of the boot catch (as you look at the car from the rear) and finding the wires that feed the boot latch actuator, here are mine (picture taken from inside the boot looking backwards, the light pod is the off-side rear):
Now attach the wires with the supplied clips, and I've also taped the relays in place with good old duck tape!
Now it's a matter of feeding the door micro-switch and it's wire around the boot, again I used little strips of duck tape to keep it in place, and fed the switch over the near side wheel arch and through to the passenger door lock actuator. This was the trickiest bit of the job, getting the micro-switch to work consistently when attached to the lock mechanism, I had to very gently bend the long switch arm so it stayed in place when the lock mechanism was moved between the locked and un-locked positions, also at this time I tapped into the live purple wire that heads to the interior light:
Right now to sort out the reed switches and the LED lights in the boot, first the reed switch for the boot. I decided to put this through a hole I found under the boot catch plate. I had to enlarge it slightly but then it enabled me to put the reed switch through and have it behind the number plate:
As you can probably just make out from the picture the wire is held in the hole by duck tape, who invented this stuff? They deserve a medal!! Right, so after checking that it was working it was time to fit the light reed switch, I fed the wire up the off-side side of the boot and placed the reed switch on the bracket, putting the magnet on the rod that holds the boot open (I can't for the life remember what it's called) I was able to activate the switch when the boot opened:
Fitting the LEDs was straight forward again, just a matter of feeding the wires around to where you want the lights to be and using the small magnets behind the carpet attach the light in front of the carpet. I placed one, as shown, under the off-side rear wing, the other had to be placed on the rear panel facing forward because the wire wasn't long enough to reach to the near-side wing. Let there be light:
All that there was left to do now was to hide the magnet somewhere on the key fob so I could use it to gain access to the boot, I had the idea of putting it in the remote blipper like so:
Which was all well and good for a few days then the blipper stopped working! Taking the magnet out made it start again! Coincidence? I don't think so! At the moment the magnet is just clinging to the key fob until I find it a permanent home!
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Mod-Wise Two Stage Cooling Kit
I noticed during this weeks MOT that the left hand fan wasn't working, I did wonder why the temp was creeping up in stationary traffic, when it hadn't done so before. So it was time to get dirty and sort out the electrics and to fit the Mod-Wise two stage cooling kit I'd ordered even before noticing the stationary fan!
First get the fan moving again, simple answer, dirty connections. The plugs that sit straight behind the fans were the culprits, the first ones you come across if you follow the wires from the fan itself. So it was a matter of a quick poke and scrape around with a suitable screw driver and some wet 'n dry, short out the connectors to the otter switch with a paper clip and hey presto, spinning fans!
Now for the kit, generally following the instructions given in the kit by Mod-Wise and the additional instructions on The Chimaera Pages, these gave me enough information to fit the full kit.
I will be attaching the additional power supply this weekend, this allows the fans to stay on for one cycle after the engine has been switched off.
First get the fan moving again, simple answer, dirty connections. The plugs that sit straight behind the fans were the culprits, the first ones you come across if you follow the wires from the fan itself. So it was a matter of a quick poke and scrape around with a suitable screw driver and some wet 'n dry, short out the connectors to the otter switch with a paper clip and hey presto, spinning fans!
Now for the kit, generally following the instructions given in the kit by Mod-Wise and the additional instructions on The Chimaera Pages, these gave me enough information to fit the full kit.
I will be attaching the additional power supply this weekend, this allows the fans to stay on for one cycle after the engine has been switched off.
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