It’ll all be fine – it just won’t be fine today . . .
First, a disclaimer:
NO LUCAS PARTS WERE INVOLVED IN THIS ABORTED ATTEMPT. NO MIDGETS WERE HARMED DURING TODAY’S EVENTS, AND NO SMOKE WAS RELEASED FROM THE WIRES.
In preparation for today, the entire electrical system needed to be removed from the car. There is no distributor – it’s an Electromotive crank trigger system.
Contrary to previous posts by myself, no modifications to the system were involved, and to my great shame, I must add that the idea of a peizo-digital/analog converter was really rather stupid, and a path that I neither attempted, nor will pursue. In fact, the ECU and ignition packs were simply removed from the car, and a new harness was purchased and installed on a test box for the sole purpose of this session.
The problems that occurred were as follows –
The data cable from the computer to the ECU got warm. I don’t think that’s supposed to happen, but it did not bode well for the rest of the attempt. A careful testing of the ECU data port indicated 4 of the computer port pin-outs were showing 12 volts DC. Again, I don’t KNOW, but I don’t THINK that’s supposed to be the case.
A call to electromotive indicated that they did not know why a data cable would get warm, but they did help me address an oversight on my part. While I did have power going to the coil packs, I did NOT have power going to the ECU. I had brought my soldering iron for just such an oversight, and repaired the problem.
Further investigation discovered that I had set up the multi pin plug to the coil packs for the wrong half of an 8 cylinder engine. There are pins for two sets of coil packs for a V-8 installation, and I had set up the pins on the cabling to the ECU on the side of the nonexistent signals that the chip in the ECU may or may not have etched into its RAM. The cabling was remedied with Don’s faithful and patient assistance.
Either through my error or through a faulty ECU, the unit would not fire up and blew fuses.
So tonight, I’ll tear into my half of the voodoo box, and prepare the Electromotive unit for shipping and testing.
Mark and Don were absolute champs. While I stumbled with the electrical, along with Tom, the owner in assistance, they had the engine rolled up, bolted up, linkaged and plumbed by about 9:15. That part of the plan went off without a hitch, due in large part to Mark’s design work, Don's intuitive mechanical ability, and “Wigglepin’s” excellent machine work. Having done a dry run today, I expect it will go a little quicker next time.
So, that’s that.
Photos courtesy of Wisdonm –
Topic: Milwaukee Midget (Read 3577130 times)