Some of you who followed my other threads will recognize this. For a couple months now on and off I've been doing wiring work and fabricating a panel to mount a bunch of switches on my interior. I was sick of the "ricey" look that came with having switches placed randomly and being mismatched, etc. I wanted a clean look that fit better with the interior and looked a little classier. The amount of switches I have mounted would have made for a lot of clutter around the cabin, as well.

The finished product is a panel that includes switches for:

-Drop resistor
-Race/normal (shift_fast)
-1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears (shift_fast)
-Torque converter lockup
-Manual fan controls

The panel itself is done and the wiring is about 95% complete (still some bugs to work out related to the sources I chose for 12v to power LEDs as well as making 4th and the TC switch and fan switch to work), so I felt now would be an appropriate time to share.

Now for a quick rundown of the progress through pictures:

 

Sorry I don't have better pictures of it installed and working yet, I finished it then had to run off for a meeting and didn't get back until it was dark. I'll post some day time pictures tomorrow so you can see it lit up better. I have questions and concerns for anyone who might be able to chime in.

First of all, my fan controls don't seem to work anymore. They worked when I tested them a couple weeks ago during the initial wiring process, they seemed to work earlier today when I installed the panel, but now they don't seem to work. I disconnected a wire, and it may have been that, though, so I'll check back on that later.

My torque converter lockup switch is NOT working. I was 99% sure I had it wired properly, but the switch neither allows the TCU to lock it up or for me to manually lock it. I'll double-check my wiring again, but is there any reason it might not work? I obviously got the right wire if it's not locking up, but...

I should also state that I haven't gotten 4th gear working yet. I wired up the overrun clutch and everything, just didn't connect it yet due to time constraints, so for those who were interested about 4th gear, save your questions until I update.

To anyone thinking of following me, I don't recommend it. It was a LOT of work, enough that I'm not so sure I would do it over again if I had to. My little series of pictures makes making the panel easy, but it wasn't as easy as you'd think. Also, take one look at the amount of wiring (you only see maybe 2/3 of the total wiring involved in the pictures, and that's not to mention you have to do a lot of wiring behind your center console) and it's enough to deter most from even considering it.

Thanks for looking, and feel free to ask any questions.

 

wow,
you really did do alot of work there. i got to the third and fourth pic and way to much wiring, ha

installed though it looks amazing. i hope you get it all working.

 

Thats a nice set up.. Hope you get all the wiring issues worked out. I know that feeling of having something bench tested, and not working afterwards.

 

Thanks. Yeah, it was definitely a LOT of wiring. That's why I tried to make sure everything was done right the first time so I didn't have to sort through that mess again to fix anything. Lucky for me the stuff that needs fixed should be easy to get to.
Thanks! Yeah, it was a little frustrating, but the drop resistor and shift_fast are the two biggest components of the whole thing and they work just as they should already, so it's no huge deal, really. All will be fixed and working as it should be in time, no worries

 

And you ragged on me about wiring.......

"My torque converter lockup switch is NOT working. I was 99% sure I had it wired properly, but the switch neither allows the TCU to lock it up or for me to manually lock it. I'll double-check my wiring again, but is there any reason it might not work? I obviously got the right wire if it's not locking up, but..."

Remember, grasshopper, the center pole of the switch goes to the TC clutch connection on the transmission. One of the outer poles goes back to the Tranny computer, and the remaining pole goes to +12 volts. Review your work with a clear mind..... then wait for the smoke!

J/K.....

 

That is indeed how I wired it up I suppose I'll have to simply go back in and dig at it again and trace the wires to make sure that's how it is setup.

 

looks good.. 5spd poser..

 

buahahah "Remember, grasshopper...."

btw good job dude, uv been showing me pics of your progress since u started that thing like last year lol. About time you finally finish.

 

the auto guys coming up to the 5spd people in the "controlling your tranny" department. Great work!

 

Nice setup Tatanko.... what kinda of plastic did you use, to make the panel ??? also what did you use to make it black? it almost matches the factory color...

Good job

by the way whats that electronic thingy on the bottom din reading 0 ????

raul

 

I moved the shifter into neutral for a better shot
How about it!
Thanks. Yeah, this should be a lot of fun at the track. At my power level it isn't going to make a huge impact, but it'll be interesting to get some reactions, and it will come in handy later on (dynos, higher power levels, etc.).
Believe it or not, I went to Lowe's and grabbed a semi-clear plastic panel that would go over tube lights on a paneled ceiling. I painted it with high-temp "low gloss" black paint. I can get specific brand names and #'s if you'd like.

The thing at the bottom is my MSD #8969 RPM switch. Notice how it reads .8 in the last picture instead of 0? I had the car turned off in the first shot. It displays current RPMs when you aren't playing with settings on it.


The way I have it set up right now, the LEDs light up to indicate which gear it is in even when it's in auto mode. This is interesting because you can see JUST HOW SLOW the transmission shifts even at WOT. Around town you'll see the lights come on (indicating that the shift solenoids have been given a signal) and then almost a full 2 seconds later you actually feel the transmission slip into gear

 

Good job man! This is very similiar to what Ptatohed wants to do. I'm sure he'll be inspired despite your disclaimer about all the wiring.

 

If he wants to try it, he can go for it. I just think there are very few members who would even WANT to attempt this

On another note, I took a day time picture. Not the greatest due to the lighting, but it gives you an idea:

 

Nice... Tatanko... did you by chance have any issue with the quality of the switches... I've noticed I have to go thru a couple from Autozone, until I get a few sturdy long lasting switches..


raul

 

No issues with switches What do you mean exactly? What on them is breaking? I have used probably 20 different switches over the last coupe years, including those push-button ones there, the toggle type pictured, the oval-shaped switches, etc. and never had a problem with any of them

 

I had some arming switches... and I bought some "rocker switches" all from Autozone... they where the universal kind.. Anyhow the arming switched just seized up... and would no longer switch over from on/off. The rocker type switches... would fuse out... some of the leds in it would not work... other would come apart.. so I was just like ugh... what a waste of $3 per switch... well lets just say I went thru like $20 worth of switches before I was able to get at least 3 good ones...maybe its my luck... I should try Radioshack next time.

Raul

 

Ahhh. The only trouble I had was LEDs dying/not working in the first place like you already mentioned. I don't have that problem now, obviously, but yeah.

 

Er, Choke - Gasp - that actually looks pretty darn good!

You know, add my Shift_Fast_2 relay logic to that panel, controlled from the MSD, and you will be state-of-the-art with shifting your automatic!

Nice.

 

Some day, for sure. Right now I don't think it's worth the headache at my power level. Maybe when I get some more

 

That's awesome Tatanko. Something like this has been on my to-do list for a long time. Thanks for the inspiration. Like you, I have all these ideas for switches and/or LED lights (DR mod, a switch for my Air/Water aftercooler water pump, fan control, OD button, VI activation, etc.) but I didn't want a messy/cluttered look in the cabin.

I guess I don't visit the .org enough anymore because I don't know what the definition/details of the following are:
-Race/normal (shift_fast)
-1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears (shift_fast)
-Torque converter lockup

Could you please explain, or provide links? You can PM me if you don't want to clog up your thread.

Thanks! Good job.

- Josh

 

yea i was wondering about those terms too.

dont know if you would interested in doing this, but with all these switches is seems like if you spent alot more time and programming, you could hook up to a computer and write a program to do the work of flipping switches.

 

Thanks for the compliments. Those three items pertain to the transmission, same as the drop resistor. The first two items are for the shift_fast, the name given to the different sets of mods we've come up with to take control of the transmission away from the TCU and give it to our own electronics (like grey99max) or give manual control to switches (like my setup). I simply choose between manual or TCU-controlled shifting, and if I choose manual I simply select the gear I want to be in. The advantage is hard, near-instant shifts at WOT. The manual version also has the benefit of being able to select any gear you wish to dyno in without fear that the transmission may downshift on you or be in the wrong gear.

The torque converter lockup is as it's name implies, it will manually lock up the torque converter. This is useful in racing because if you lock it up at the right time in the RPM range, it actually provides the advantage of putting more power to the ground without putting added strain on the engine.
I thought about that, but that may have ended up being just as much work, if not more. It also would have cost me a lot more, whereas I spent MAYBE $20 to $25 on this project total. The cost was mostly time and patience.

 

It's been done. I raced with an advanced version last season, and the next version is under construction.

quote from above:
"You know, add my Shift_Fast_2 relay logic to that panel, controlled from the MSD, and you will be state-of-the-art with shifting your automatic!
"

 

i figured it had been done. any idea how hard would it be for Tatanko to incorporate it into his setup?

 

Depends on how I wanted to do it. His is essentially what mine is, except automated (no human input) and with some extra stuff added to it.

 

..... you would probably have better luck with your wiring if you used more than two colors of wire and took the time to label them.

 

I thought about it, but I got lazy after a while and a lot of the wiring was already done (like all the shift_fast stuff) and it would have been a lot of work to go back and re-do it. I knew where everything went (or at least thought I did...I got most of it right ), and that was good enough for me. Oh well, time for some troubleshooting.

 

Ugh. Panel is currently out of the car for a mild rewiring. Something came loose somewhere, because I lost connection for solenoids A and B. Too hard to work on it in the car and I need the car all this weekend so I took it out. Oh well, back to work I may as well get the LEDs fixed while I have it out as well.

 

Interested in the schematic for the shift solenoid LEDs - in regards to showing which gear the auto is in. I was thinking about getting some sort of logic interpreter to make it work, but how did you do it? I bet yours was simpler in some way.

Also, please be sure to update about the overruning clutch solenoid, want to know if my idea was in fact correct or if we have to do some more thinking.

 

Turns out it didn't work quite as well as I thought it did, sorry. I thought about it, though, and you could possibly use relays to make it work. After all, it is just binary code (two signals...four results), how hard can it be to use 2 or 3 relays to make it work?
I will when it gets tested!

 

Thanks for the replies. And, again, nice work. I am still confused. Are these mods via third party aftermarket products? Or are these mods that have been figured out by .org members? Ex. Like Jime's DR mod? So how does this shift_fast work as far as selecting the gears? How do you select? With my manumatic, I am able to shift up and down via my cruise control buttons. How do you select the gear? And is it true selection? Ex. Can you literally start off in, say, second gear if you wanted? My manumatic isn't true full control.

So the torque converter lock-up is just for launching, correct?

What is that red L.C.D. device in your would-be push-out drawer/storage location?

 

This is all custom-made stuff using switches I've bought. Everything on my car is something that has been figured out through combinations of .org members. The shift_fast (this version, the manual one) IS TRUE selection. If I want to, I can start out in 2nd, 3rd, etc.
Actually, all current research points towards locking it up at a certain RPM once you're already moving as being optimal for our cars.
That's my MSD #8969 RPM switch for my 00VI.

 

Nice dude... I really wish someone would figure something like this out for the IS. 1st to 2nd shift on my car happens wayyy too early.

 

I thought they had aftermarket TCM's for the IS/GS/ect...

Find the FSM and have fun

 

Yeah I would think so, too. on getting an auto IS in the first place

So it looks like I may not put that panel back in. Cool as it looked and nice as it was, it's too difficult to fix issues and work with wiring there. I think I'm going to route the wiring down to the passenger's foot well and build a box with these switches that I can plug in at the track.

 

Well then, I don't know if I feel comfortable giving you props for just how nice, clean, and incredibly amazing all of the work that you have done is.....

When I saw that thread awhile back with the paper drawings I had NO idea it was going to look like THAT! That's amazing man, keep up the good, no, GREAT work!

 

Well then, I don't know if I feel comfortable giving you props for just how nice, clean, and incredibly amazing all of the work that you have done is.....

When I saw that thread awhile back with the paper drawings I had NO idea it was going to look like THAT! That's amazing man, keep up the good, no, GREAT work!

 

Thanks. I'd love to keep it, but, I dunno. It's so discouraging when I keep having wiring problems with it. Adding the LEDs really complicated things, but for some odd reason (even though I soldered everything) the controls for the shift solenoids just...stopped working. Car is 100% fine with all the switches removed and the wiring hooked back up like stock, so I don't know...

 

That's how I'm building the Shift_Fast_3 - in a Radio Shack box, velcroed to the right-hand side of the console, sitting in front of the passenger seat. All cables go under the console, come out underneath the console and connect to the Shift_Fast_3 box. The MSD 8969 will be surface-mounted on the main box so I can change shift points. And no, I don't have photos yet.

All switches are under my right hand this way. Switch from Normal to Race, switch from Race-4-button to Race-fully-automatic, clear Shift_Fast, upshift Shift_Fast, engage torque converter clutch, Indicator LEDs for the solenoids, and some other fun stuff. Nitrous cuts on shifts, for instance...

Sorry your panel isn't working out like you planned. "It's always something".

Persevere - yu'll get thar....