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FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.

ultimateforce posted:

I might have missed it, have you done a burnout in this car yet?

No, between the standing water sloshing around, gas pedal only working *sometimes*, and the clusterfuck of wiring I decided I was going to fix all that first. I did drive it up my street but that's it so far.

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Quite A Tool
Jul 4, 2004

The answer is... 42
That's dissapointingly practical of you.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Couldn't find any black paint, but I did find some undercoating. Figured it would work just as well if not better.

Need to make up the endcaps still, but I got the easy part done and that allowed me to mount the fusebox and PCM.



Next I put two layers of sound/temp insulation over what I could on the firewall, while leaving the bolts exposed so it doesn't need to be removed to remove the firewall. Going to possibly have another layer of insulation and then carpet or maybe just some carpet over what I have now.



I don't have any pictures, but I fabricated a bracket to mount the ignition cylinder close to the factory location on the column. It's probably 3 times the size of the VW cylinder but all that stuff is MIA and the GTP cylinder will play nice with the BCM/PCM so that's what I'll use.

Also traced back the wires and used my new pigtail for the pedal sensor. That should take care of the gas pedal non-compliance issue from before.



Going to tie in the serial data lines into the VW OBDII port instead of having a second OBD port. Then I need to figure out what the hell the rest of these wires up by the column are. Should be fuel level, radiator fans, cluster, driver info center, and the VW ignition wires ... nothing is labeled of course.

Grumbletron 4000
Nov 30, 2002

Where you want it, bitch.
College Slice
FuzzKill, you are the king of the buttfucking insane 3800 swap. What ever became of the corolla? Its one of my favorite projects in AI.

I can't offer any real help but I do own a '04 GTP and I can tell you that you've got the nicer DIC. My car has the 3 button welfare version. The 5 button DIC has the cheesy boost gauge, temperature display and such. If it would help I can offer pics of my stock vehicle for a frame of reference.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

It's not that hard to bypass the "security" features in the GTP ignition switch, if you want to eventually go back to the VW ignition switch - which should keep it looking a little closer to stock.

You'll have to perform a relearn once you do the modification (which takes about 30 minutes), but it should get rid of the security light - and also allow it to start reliably. I'd do some kind of immobilizer somewhere though.

Also, as you probably know, the GM ignition switch runs on 5 volts, instead of 12 volts; no idea if that'd cause issues on the VW switch, but it causes issues on higher mileage GM switches that haven't been replaced under the billions of recalls yet.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.

some texas redneck posted:

It's not that hard to bypass the "security" features in the GTP ignition switch, if you want to eventually go back to the VW ignition switch - which should keep it looking a little closer to stock.

You'll have to perform a relearn once you do the modification (which takes about 30 minutes), but it should get rid of the security light - and also allow it to start reliably. I'd do some kind of immobilizer somewhere though.

Also, as you probably know, the GM ignition switch runs on 5 volts, instead of 12 volts; no idea if that'd cause issues on the VW switch, but it causes issues on higher mileage GM switches that haven't been replaced under the billions of recalls yet.

Bypassing the security on a 2004+ GP and 2004 specifically is a non-trivial matter. Best bet is to license it with HPTuners and disable the codes, then wire up your own switch. This doesn't work on every car though, and I'm not going to be a guinea pig to find out. Also, the wiring, cylinder, and switch are all missing from the car so it would be just as much to put a stock unit back in.

Corolla is still kicking it in my yard. Engine is in the garage. It needs a lot of TLC. I regasketed/painted the engine and was planning on re-doing the harness and kept working on other things instead.

Edit: Forgot to post the update ...

While wiring the ignition switch, I was checking current draw on the VW system. With the battery wires hooked up, it drew .85A initially, and then dropped down to .3A. The ignition wires however, were drawing about 7A with nothing on in the car. That seems a bit to much for what should only be the VW BCM. Guess I'll need to start pulling fuses and see what is stealing my amps.

FuzzKill fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Sep 7, 2014

aa35199
Sep 1, 2014
Awesome thread, failed project cars are are starting points after some idiot puts the majority of the dollars into hard parts. This is how my friend and I turned a $1000 mmii vr6 gti failure into a respectable $1200 hoon mobile.

Seat Safety Switch
May 27, 2008

MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.

Pillbug
I saw a guy today with a Hayabusa engine swapped into a Smart Fortwo. I told him about your project and he wondered why anyone would bother doing such a thing.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

FuzzKill posted:

Bypassing the security on a 2004+ GP and 2004 specifically is a non-trivial matter. Best bet is to license it with HPTuners and disable the codes, then wire up your own switch. This doesn't work on every car though, and I'm not going to be a guinea pig to find out. Also, the wiring, cylinder, and switch are all missing from the car so it would be just as much to put a stock unit back in.

While wiring the ignition switch, I was checking current draw on the VW system. With the battery wires hooked up, it drew .85A initially, and then dropped down to .3A. The ignition wires however, were drawing about 7A with nothing on in the car. That seems a bit to much for what should only be the VW BCM. Guess I'll need to start pulling fuses and see what is stealing my amps.

I assume it was similar to the anti-theft system on my Saturn :iiam: - does it actually use a chip in the key, or is it the style switch that has 2 switches (one of them is one that only the tip of the key can turn)?

I didn't realize the complete wiring/switch were missing though, and I can't see justifying the cost of an HPTuners license solely to disable Passlock. So.. carry on!

7 amps?!

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Seat Safety Switch posted:

I saw a guy today with a Hayabusa engine swapped into a Smart Fortwo. I told him about your project and he wondered why anyone would bother doing such a thing.

When a Smart/Hubbabubba swap owner looks at your project as crazy? Congratulations, your project is certified Automotive Insanity.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Figured out the 7A draw. Automatic headlights with ignition :downs:

After 30 seconds of YouTube knowledge, that was bypassed. B+ draw is .5A initially and then ~.3A of which 95% is the central locking system (probably the keyless receiver plus whatever current the VW BCM draws. Ignition draw is .85A initially and then the same .3A after a couple seconds. Not bad. Got it to crank with the key after making a few temporary connections, still need to hammer out a few more things.

Need to wire in the cluster, driver info center, paddle shifters, BCM power, and OBD data to all of the above. Then I think all that is left is the fuel pump. FP has two 14ga red wires going through the firewall and spliced to the pump/sending unit pigtail. I have no idea which is power and which is ground, and the pump is not a GM unit, and not the VW unit so I'm not sure what to lookup for the connector pinouts. Going by the connector, I would guess it's a mopar pump but that is just a guess. Hopefully with some brake cleaner I can get a part number off the top without having to remove it from the 'fuel cell'. Also need to check if the ohm range is going to jive with my cluster or not. One would hope that it would, since you could put literally any pump into the cell.

revmoo
May 25, 2006

#basta
0.3 seems high, shouldn't you be targeting like .05 or so idle drain?

Red_October_7000
Jun 22, 2009

meatpimp posted:

When a Smart/Hubbabubba swap owner looks at your project as crazy? Congratulations, your project is certified Automotive Insanity.

MMm, I can't fault him at all for not doing a burnout or other hoonery in it quite yet because he did something other than looking at it, going "nope", and loving off to elsewhere. I'm quite excited to see where this goes, it's got the potential to be legendary.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.

revmoo posted:

0.3 seems high, shouldn't you be targeting like .05 or so idle drain?

It does seem high, when I remove the central locking fuse it goes down to .03-.05A ... not sure if maybe it is staying 'awake' or what the issue is but it should be drawing something since it is listening for the key fob or door press/lock cylinders/etc. But not .3A worth of listening. Going to leave it live for a longer amount of time and see if it goes to sleep.

Anyway, I tracked down the fuel pump, it's from an early 2000's Dodge Caravan. Awesome. Not sure why they went with that pump, but I did find it does seem competently mounted in the fuel cell. I am going to bring home a few pumps and see what is going to fit best. I am getting no reading from the sending unit on the current assembly, otherwise I would leave it.

Pump candidates:
01 Grand Caravan Flex fuel (assuming the sending unit is in the correct range to work with my cluster) the flex fuel will be a higher volume than the current pump and is dimensionally identical to what is in there now. Will go right into the cell with no issue.

04 GTP pump. Obviously the correct flow/pressure/sending unit. Not sure if it can go deep enough in the cell to be able to pick up the last couple gallons. Otherwise a shoe in. Also not sure if it will fit the current lock ring.

02 Chevrolet 1500 (flex) pump. Slightly different sending unit, but close enough in range to work correctly. Right pressure, flow etc. Very tall pump so I know it can reach the bottom of the tank. Not sure if it can be made to fit the current lock ring setup on top.

I did get it running after tracing down the wiring for the Dodge pump. Still need to make the connections into the fuse box permanent as mentioned in the last update, I had to get a bunch of crap into the garage tonight which worked out well since I can start the GTI (and move it out of the way) with some alligator clips for the time being.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Amp draw seems to be better now, starts @ .17A and drops to .02A after a few seconds so I guess that's good. Don't think I changed anything though :confused:

Fuel pump is resolved (I think). The hat size on the Caravan pump is so large that the GM pumps would pretty much fall into the fuel cell. The Dodge sending unit resistance is wayyyyy out of line from what I need. I took a sending unit resistor board from a GM pump and made it fit onto the Caravan pump assembly. Not quite the same size board, but close enough to make work. It needed to be just in the right position to read throughout the whole sweep, so I melted the plastic carrier a little bit to try and lock the board into place. I did it that way because I can't think of any adhesives that would work well bonding to plastic and being submerged in gasoline.

Hopefully get the new unit installed tomorrow. Getting rained out tonight.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Got the new pump installed this morning. Had to tweak the float, of course in doing so it hits the side of the tank now so I'll have to take it out and tweak it again. But it works and the gauge reads correctly from 1/2 to E (float can't go above 1/2 yet)

I loomed up most the wires I ran to the ignition switch and cluster. Started cleaning out the interior of the car.



Made my various fusebox connections, bcm, fan(s), fuel pump, sending unit, cluster power, grounds, tapshift, etc. Connected the serial data wire from the ECM to the BCM, cluster, and to where the driver info center will be. Taped up/loomed those wires. Checked everything over again, and verified functionality (read: does it start).

With that all done (and working!) I can finally put some interior back in the car.



Sound insulation first



Then some carpet and seat(s)





Be jealous of my paddle shifters.


Things to do still:
Insurance/registration
Driver info center/radio
Wire data to OBD port so I can tune/read ECM
Figure out center console options
Finish firewall corners and top, carpet firewall
Seal off roof scoop
Find column shroud that will better fit over new lock cylinder location
Change oil
Flush/change coolant (currently water!?), it started to run hotter than it should have

Things that will probably (maybe) get accomplished tomorrow:
Change oil
Driver info center
OBD port

iv46vi
Apr 2, 2010
Does the dash cluster even works in this with correct info? What magics translate rpm from engine to the dash?

Turbo Fondant
Oct 25, 2010

It's the GM cluster so I can't see why not. I think those clusters use a PWM signal from the ECU for all the info but it might just be an ordinary bunch of gauges.

Turbo Fondant fucked around with this message at 15:50 on Sep 13, 2014

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
It is the GTP cluster so it all works as it should. Downside of that is that everything save the e-brake light and check engine light are over the data bus. That made the other parts (gas, temp, tach, speedo) simple, but now I need to wire in the VW turn signal, headlight, and etc to the GM BCM or the cluster won't indicate that information to the driver.

Edit: Older clusters would have 15-20 wires going to them, this has 5 or 6 wires only.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Trying to flush out the coolant, I think there is a blockage in the engine.

Before the chemical flush, I got a lot of small chunks and flakes of rust colored crap out, mostly from the radiator. I did as much as I could with the hose and then added the chemical flush and ran it till it got over temp again. Coolant didn't start to flow through the upper hose until it was already way over temp. Once I saw the flow I let it run for a minute more to see if the temps would come down but there wasn't enough flow (the radiator never changed temps)

Got a little bit more stuff out after the chemical flush but I'm not satisfied that the issue is resolved. Going to pull the thermostat housing I guess and see what it looks like.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Old thermostat didn't look terrible but the new thermostat seemed to fix the flow problem. Ran it for much longer this time and it didn't even get hot enough to turn the fan on. This led to the discovery that the radiator has a slow leak. gently caress.

If it was the stock radiator I really wouldn't care but it's a very nice thick aluminum radiator. I'll try and see if it can be repaired and probably look for a condenser as well while I've got the rad out.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

I assume that year GTP was like most other late model GMs - with the chimes/bells/dings/turn signal sounds/etc going through the radio, instead of having a chime module (I'm pretty sure Saturn was the only GM brand not to do that, and they still gave in on the last models). Do you plan to address that, or just keep it silent? I imagine you would need the portion of the GTP's dash harness that went to the original radio...

Or does it actually have a chime module somewhere?

West SAAB Story
Mar 13, 2014

by Athanatos

(and can't post for 279 days!)

some texas redneck posted:

Or does it actually have a chime module somewhere?

Completely serious here- why the hell would you want to repair/reinstall the standard GM annoying buzzers and bells if you finally got away from them? WHY?

Seat Safety Switch
May 27, 2008

MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.

Pillbug

Viggen posted:

Completely serious here- why the hell would you want to repair/reinstall the standard GM annoying buzzers and bells if you finally got away from them? WHY?

How else am I supposed to know if barometric pressure is trending towards rain this afternoon? Or if the season's tulip crops in Belgium are about to turn?

Besides, apparently from the recent spate of unbelted people dying from the GM ignition recall, their core customer doesn't pay attention to all the bells either.

West SAAB Story
Mar 13, 2014

by Athanatos

(and can't post for 279 days!)

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Besides, apparently from the recent spate of unbelted people dying from the GM ignition recall, their core customer doesn't pay attention to all the bells either.

Does it sound a bell or buzzer while melting down, though?

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Torque management is a bitch! Need to license the PCM with HPTuners so I can disable it as well as tune and erase some codes.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

Viggen posted:

Completely serious here- why the hell would you want to repair/reinstall the standard GM annoying buzzers and bells if you finally got away from them? WHY?

I kind of like being reminded if I left my headlights on or keys in the ignition. :shrug:

The turn signal clicker is annoying as poo poo though, and all of the chimes in general are way too loud. I've tried covering the speaker itself in duct tape, but it didn't do much to quiet it down (I assume because the base is open, I think some hot glue will take care of that).

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Germans have the worst harnesses. If I'm not mistaken, this is the same generation that can suffer from the coolant in the taillights problem.

Anyway, this is the inside of the headlight harness. Figures why half the lights don't work.




I'm amazed the headlights haven't caught on fire to be honest.

Next up, blower motor only worked on high. Figured easy fix, blower resistor. What I wasn't expecting:



Why would you put the resistor in the bottom of the blower box if there is any way water can get into it? How does water get into the blower box? Since presumably it was sitting under water, the contacts rusted out and became one with the pigtail. So now I need a new blower resistor pigtail as well. Oddly, the blower box was dry when I dropped down the resistor :confused:

In other news, I made a new fascia for the driver information center, now with less meaningless/dangerous rocker switches and start buttons.



Also pressure tested the radiator and could find no leaks. Maybe it was leaking from a hose or was just steaming water from earlier? While I had it out I made new radiator mounts and fitted a dual fan assembly from a Dodge with roughly the same core size to my radiator. Now I can hook up a high and low fan and have better core coverage on the radiator.

Black88GTA
Oct 8, 2009

FuzzKill posted:

Germans have the worst harnesses. If I'm not mistaken, this is the same generation that can suffer from the coolant in the taillights problem.

Anyway, this is the inside of the headlight harness. Figures why half the lights don't work.




I'm amazed the headlights haven't caught on fire to be honest.

That looks familiar. This is what the headlight harnesses looked like on my BMW before I replaced them both:



What was left of the insulation crumbled into dust as soon as I disturbed them. Oddly enough, these were the only bad wires on the whole car. At least it was isolated to the headlight harnesses. Looks like they were almost certainly from the same supplier as yours. All of my lights worked perfectly somehow though :iiam:

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
I did something I've never done before. I downgraded my brakes.

The whole front subframe from the donor car are bolted in the back of the GTI, so I have front struts, spindles, bearings, and brakes.

The stock GTP front brakes are giant (by VW standards) cast iron single piston calipers. Which makes my rear brakes larger than the fronts. No good.

There is a solution! Kind of. The 'track' GTP's or people obsessed with weight reduction figured that you can run Grand Am brakes. The Grand Am uses a slightly smaller rotor, same surface area pad, and has a slightly smaller caliper piston bore. But the GA calipers are aluminum and the rotors are a bit thinner so I believe it ends up being about a 20lb drop. With a slightly smaller piston, it should improve pedal feel as well as make the bias not as terrible as it was.


Stock setup.


New vs. old pads. Overall pad is larger, but contact area is about the same


New vs. old rotors. Slightly smaller, slightly thinner


All done

Anyway, got everything installed, it still locks the rears up wayyyyy too quickly. So I'll need to do something else about the brake bias.

Also got started on the corners of the firewall (that I've been avoiding) and the rear parcel shelf/engine cover.

InterceptorV8
Mar 9, 2004

Loaded up and trucking.We gonna do what they say cant be done.

FuzzKill posted:

I did something I've never done before. I downgraded my brakes.

The whole front subframe from the donor car are bolted in the back of the GTI, so I have front struts, spindles, bearings, and brakes.

The stock GTP front brakes are giant (by VW standards) cast iron single piston calipers. Which makes my rear brakes larger than the fronts. No good.

There is a solution! Kind of. The 'track' GTP's or people obsessed with weight reduction figured that you can run Grand Am brakes. The Grand Am uses a slightly smaller rotor, same surface area pad, and has a slightly smaller caliper piston bore. But the GA calipers are aluminum and the rotors are a bit thinner so I believe it ends up being about a 20lb drop. With a slightly smaller piston, it should improve pedal feel as well as make the bias not as terrible as it was.


Stock setup.


New vs. old pads. Overall pad is larger, but contact area is about the same


New vs. old rotors. Slightly smaller, slightly thinner


All done

Anyway, got everything installed, it still locks the rears up wayyyyy too quickly. So I'll need to do something else about the brake bias.

Also got started on the corners of the firewall (that I've been avoiding) and the rear parcel shelf/engine cover.

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Adjustable-Proportioning-Blocks-With-Brake-Light-Switch,6160.html

Maybe that?

8ender
Sep 24, 2003

clown is watching you sleep

FuzzKill posted:

I did something I've never done before. I downgraded my brakes.

The whole front subframe from the donor car are bolted in the back of the GTI, so I have front struts, spindles, bearings, and brakes.

I want to believe that you're the only person ever in the history of cars to encounter this problem because of the amazingness of this project car.

Bajaha
Apr 1, 2011

BajaHAHAHA.


FuzzKill posted:

I did something I've never done before. I downgraded my brakes.

The whole front subframe from the donor car are bolted in the back of the GTI, so I have front struts, spindles, bearings, and brakes.

Wait, does this mean you can add 4 wheel steering to this crazy project? I've got to dig up that video of the crazy polish guys who had a homemade 4 wheel steering on a tiny fiat or whatever.

I think this was video I was thinking of:
http://youtu.be/orVrp-oTWyU

Bajaha fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Oct 12, 2014

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.

Bajaha posted:

Wait, does this mean you can add 4 wheel steering to this crazy project? I've got to dig up that video of the crazy polish guys who had a homemade 4 wheel steering on a tiny fiat or whatever.

I think this was video I was thinking of:
http://youtu.be/orVrp-oTWyU

Yeah I could, the rack and pinion was removed and replaced with a piece of box steel with female threaded ends. So I still have inner and outer tie rods in the back, as well as having fully adjustable camber/caster/toe just as you would in a typical front suspension.

I made a decent score today in the junkyard, found a 2004 GTI that had just been set out a few days ago. So I changed my seats (again), got a new seat belt reel for the passenger side, new passenger side door panel, and the car had a good condition carpet so I grabbed that as well.

Still need to find a good condition door panel for the driver side, the carpet/felt lining on the one in the junkyard was all torn up. The new seats fold forward and up with one handle for easy backseat (or engine) access. The other seats I had were from a Jetta so they didn't scoot forward as far and didn't look as cool. They also have more side and back bolstering.


New (left) vs Old


Installed

Hopefully get the other corner of the firewall done and sealed tonight, we'll see.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Shouldn't you have a GTP passenger's seat in there or something?

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
I was productive today!

I got the rear shelf covered, so that's ready to go.

I finished both corners of the firewall and sealed them up. Once that was done I was able to reinstall the final carpeting over the firewall to cover the fusebox/ECM/screws/etc. After that I reinstalled the plexiglass divider that goes above the firewall and the rear shelf. So it's pretty much done. There's a few interior things I want to do, but the only thing holding it back from driving right now is the tires. Probably get some on it in the next couple days. Oh. And the roof scoop. Crap.

I don't have any pics from today's progress, it was dark out and I had put away my worklights before I remembered to take pictures. I'll get some daytime pictures tomorrow.

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
One day I'll get home before dark ...

Anyway, got some more small things. Got a new sunroof switch/dial. Mine was getting finicky (that's how you can tell it's a VW!)
Got a center console that I may be able to frankenstein into place. Also got a few odd VW clips and etc that were missing.
Also got a new hood latch and hazard switch that I forgot at work for the second day in a row now .... one day I'll remember. I'm supposed to get out early tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.

angryhampster
Oct 21, 2005

You have any timeline goals for getting it roadworthy, or just "I'll get there eventually.."?

FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
It's road worthy now with the firewall done, just needs tires. Going to use my truck and go get some tomorrow. Then just need to register it.

Timelines are hard with so many different things going on. But looks like it'll be on the road just in time for sub 100° weather.

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FuzzKill
Apr 1, 2005

Snuff the punk.
Pictures!

Don't mind the open hood and bonus tools.

I'm going to end up re-making the plexi window, as it broke in the top corner when removing it and I think I can do a better job.



New seats, partition wall up




What to do about that hideous color ...

It is still a lot louder in the cabin than I was hoping, but it is nice to be able to run the engine without simultaneously baking and choking myself.

Tires tomorrow!
Registration sometime!

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