No, sir! I haven't even had time to look any more info up myself, but I'm kind of stumped, even after looking through the FSM It's like I pretty much know what the problem is, just no clue how to solve it.

 

So here's essentially my finished product minus mounting it to something and actually installing it inside the car:

 

So what da problem iZ for the 4th gear?

 

Not bad, not bad at all......

I gotta post the new pixs of both sets of 4-gang switches...

 

tatanko went from complete noob IMing me asking bout 00vi and shift fast and now his built his own shifting mechanism. good job dude.

 

Looks like you and your buds are all "coming up" pretty fast - daymn, a new crop of wizards are about to hit the *.ORG!

I feel old - wait a minute, I am old...

 

The problem is that even though I'm sending an "A on/B off" signal (confirmed with a multimeter) using the switches, the car will not shift into 4th, it stays in 3rd. My conclusion so far has been that it has something to do with the circuitry of the overdrive system, but I can't figure it out.

 

About this 4th-gear shifting issue, think about what you do to use the shift_fast. You pull it into 1st gear, flip the toggle to Race, and drive - and shift gears with the switch. The two wires coming from the transmission computer are both at 12 volts, and you switch them to change gears.

What if you connected the two wires that come FROM the computer to a source of 12 volts, (cigarette lighter ?) and tried the shift_fast from other gears? like 2nd or third?

Maybe the reason for the 4th gear problem will show itself by shifting from other gearshift positions.

I have some photos of the two different switch banks I have, the toggle switch, and another idea - installing Red and Green LEDs on the two wires that go TO the transmission, partially as an indicator, and partially a troubleshooting aid.


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1526.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1527.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1528.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1529.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1530.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1531.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1534.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1533.jpg
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...t/Dscn1535.jpg
.
.
.

 

Sounds like good enough ideas, but unfortunately I don't have enough time right now to completely re-do my wiring with school and work (working in retail SUCKS at Christmas!). If you get good results from your tests, be sure to let us know. Otherwise, no progress from me until after Christmas probably.

 

It's better to get smarter (and richer) than go faster, right?

I just finished building Kevlo911's switch box. It looks pretty good, Maybe I should take photos ??? Tomorrow night or Saturday I will go for a little drive...

 

I highly recommend that. You say it's "finished" but how do you know it's going to work? You got 4th gear working?

 

It's finished - ready to connect - but I haven't driven the car yet.

quote:
"..Maybe I should take photos ??? Tomorrow night or Saturday I will go for a little drive..."


Photos to follow, final test, investigation of 4th gear, ship VB and shift_fast to Kevlo911.....

 

IIRC the JDM A32 has on-dash gear indicators for A/Ts (between the tach and speedo). The "cut outs" are on the USDM A32 as well but no bulbs installed or wired.

Could a set of relays be wired to LEDs to take advanatage of this unused bit of JDM goodness?

Great work guys, i have a feel'n ill be rocken paddle shifters by spring

 

Hummm. interesting tidbit there..

There are two solenoids that directly control which gear is selected (ignoring the 4th gear question, yet unresolved). These are A and B solenoids. They either have 12 volts going to them, or nothing. This can be the source of logic for a display. I don't have a FSM here, but I think this is right:

..solenoids...A..............B.........where "x" = ON
1st gear:.....x..............x..........
2nd gear.....................x..........
3rd gear.................................
4th gear......x.........................

So some sort of display could be driven from this combination of solenoid voltages -- It's nothing I plan on doing, but there's lot of folks that can.

 

Investigating 4th gear is what I'm waiting on. Anxious to see if you figure it out or not.
You've seen this or just heard of it? Likely it shows PRND21 and not 1234 or anything like that, but it's an interesting thing nonetheless. Surely someone should have figured that out by now

 

Yeah the 4th gen clusters have the PRND21, but we dont have the bezel nor wireing for it IIRC.

 

Wouldn't do me much good then anyway. I've already got the "feel" of which position the shifter is in down in my head since I have a leather boot and aftermarket **** (no shifter display at all).

 

Change of plans - Kevlo911 needed his VB, so I sent that and the 4-gang shifter switch to him Friday nite. No testing possible until I build another one.

And I've got the car dissected right now, to install the larger nitrous plumbing. That's about half done right now.

 

I hope Kevlo can go back and change the wiring later, then. If it's wired according to our original FSM info only (like mine) then it isn't going to work.

Good luck with the nitrous stuff.

 

I am sure I can rig it up if you guys don't figure it out. If I get bored i'll look through some FSM diagrams and see what you guys did too and see what I can come up with.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=69043

That is EXACTLY what I wanted to do, including the cruise control on the left side of the wheel. What do you guys think? Can we combine the two ideas together and get it all working?

 

I'd say let's get the 4-gang push-button version working work for all 4 gears so we know how to control 4th, THEN work on getting something like that going. I will probably convert to the "up-down" version eventually as well, but I'd like to get control of 4th down first.

 

Is that the same way you are trying to get 4th gear, like it says on there?

 

Yes. I'm doing the same old technique of putting the shifter in 1st and wiring it up to trigger only solenoid A for 4th gear. Rather than shifting into 4th though, it simply stays in 3rd.

 

I thought you had to manually shift down w/ the 4gang anyway? Those other threads are just like this idea. Only they thought it would be so much harder when it really isn't. Except for 4th gear haha.

 

You do have to manually shift down. What does that have to do with anything? Yeah, 4th gear is being a whiney little b*tch.

 

You were just talking about the "up-down" version. Didnt know what you meant.

 

My Shift_Fast_2 design - the one I race with - uses relay logic (because it's easier to protect from line spikes caused by nitrous solenoids) and is triggered by a programmed MSD 8969 switching one wire to ground, which advances the tranny by one gear - up to third gear, because I DO race, and don't care about 4th gear or TC locking.... yet. Remember, your shift lever is still in first gear on the console - possibly the reason why 4th gear doesn't engage.

You might think of the Shift_Fast_2 as having one "UP" button for shifting. There is one N/C pushbutton to clear the relays at the timing shack.

I personally don't understand the fascination with pushbutton shifting on the steering wheel - probably because I don't drive like an idiot on the street, so don't need to shift so much.

What we're all doing now is exploring how to control the tranny directly. I bet that if someone connects the two incoming solenoid wires to a 12-volt source instead of the outputs from the tranny controller, that you could leave the console lever in D and control gears with the 4-gang switches. Then you'd have 4th gear too. If someone tries it....

 

So you think bring in a source from the battery to the 4gang would solve the 4th gear problem? That would just move all the power to the 4gang instead of the TCU?

 

If you did that (fed the A and B solenoid inputs TO the switch bank from switched battery voltage) AND drove the car with the console lever in something beside first gear, then you can find out how things work.

 

You mentioned the "outside" 12v source idea before. I think I may mock up a separate wiring harness aside from my current one and try that out. Maybe pull 12v from the cig. lighter or something. Basically the only difference between that and my current harness is that instead of splitting the 12v signals from the TCU and making them go to both the race/normal switch and the 4-gang switch, I would have it only go to the race/normal switch and have an outside 12v going to the 4-gang instead. The "output" from the 4-gang would still be the same as it is now. Heck, I wouldn't even need a whole new harness, just a separate input side that I could switch out to test this idea.

Am I right in my thinking, grey? I mean, does it sound right to you? Basically for the R/N switch, I'd need the output to the tranny in the middle 2 prongs, the input from the TCU on one end of the R/N switch, and the "output" from the 4-gang on the other side of the R/N switch, with a simple 12v source going to the 4-gang switch and splitting it up to provide 12v where needed. Sound right?

I hope putting it in Drive will solve the problem. The 4th gear thing isn't even a huge deal, I just really want it to work.

 

Oh and FYI, doing some WOT testing earlier, the shift_fast + DR was jerking the steering wheel out of my hand when the transmission shifted. This is coming from a car that pretty much never torquesteered before.

 

What about w/o doing drop resistor?

 

That sounds exactly right. That combination will let you test the "Race" manual-shifting functions, and still go back to "Normal" operations. Good thinking.

 

That sounds exciting - it shifted pretty hard, didn't it? Did you try shift_fast without the DR mod ?? My car still shifts hard without the DR mod engaged.

Now can you imagine the Shift_Fast_2 mod plus DR mod ON shifting the tranny while spraying w/150-shot, only the spray being cut just during the shift? BANG - BANG. I'm really glad I have traction bars now..

 

Same effect, just not *quite* as hard.
Without the DR mod, it still shifts decently hard, but the DR mod is like the icing on the cake, really.

I want LSD

 

Sounds like my combo will be fun
But I dont wanna do the DR mod.

I was too lazy to check, but does this throw a CEL?

 

I sometimes get codes about solenoids... Not always, though. Of course I generally use the Shift_Fast_2 at the strip, only. That doesn't always throw codes, but driving around with the switch version will eventually create errors...

Some of the codes aren't in the usual lists,either. I don't have any examples anymore, but some were "C" codes, not "P" codes.... perhaps from the TCU....

 

Cool, FEDEX is mad fast dude. I will be out of town today, plus my car isn't working otherwise i'd ship the MO today. But ima mail it out tomorrow. I did my motor mounts yday so they are drying in the sun right now.

 

Excellent - now the fun begins.........