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I'm guessing we're all pretty tired of looking at wires but the silly push button is all wrapped up


In final testing I did find the the relay board was not really behaving as it should. A pretty quick tap would sometimes having it switch and switch back and then the light in the button stopped working. I swapped to the spare relay board but the same thing and the same failure with the light. Not sure why but the ICs they added for I don't really know what reason were the issue, so I jumped past them


and removed 1 of them that just wasn't behaving at all and got all angry about the jumper.


and everything I tried works right Getting the wires on the clutch and brake light switches was not so easy with the power steering in the way but I got them so the brake lights are working again (I didn't realize they weren't working when I was driving) and the clutch down for the starter works right.

With that sorted I wired the ECU CAN buss to the power steering so now I need to add code to the ECU to read the brake and clutch switches and talk to the steering units....then I can get back to the engine. The tig torch I needed to fix the intake ports has been sitting on the bench for a while


As has the piston.


so engine work soon......

Oh good. Something I can follow and understand is coming.
Do you need the piston vise?

_________________
Wade Williams
Master Ferrari Tech
Restoration Tech
Engine Machinist
Fabricator
Racecar Driver

It was just relays and switches.....boring I guess but not hard right?

Yes, when you get a chance the piston vise would be a big help!

The last couple days as I found time I worked on the ECU to PS unit CAN stuff and tonight the ECU was able to turn on the PS. My laptop died before I had time to mess with the steering force but it works so I'm pretty happy. I set it up so I can test different settings easily so I should be able to get the force stuff sorted without a lot more effort....should....

As an added bonus when I was looking at the CAN buss data I was pretty sure I was seeing the PS unit sending out the steering position so when I was writing CAN code I added some stuff to read that channel from the PS unit and convert it to something meaningful so now I also have steering wheel position displayed on a gauge and available to log which is a great bonus as I had no idea that info was there to be had.

I think this means I can put the dash back together and get on with fixing the engine.

I did figure out how to get the ECU to change steering force which is good. On the minus side it felt like I could mostly ADD assist, not sure how much I can remove. There is an output that looks like its steering force that I don't have scaled well....0 (not touching the wheel) is 0.5 and turning left I see a max of 0.6, turning right a min of 0.4 with what I believe is minimum PS assist. At max assist the numbers are more like 0.54/0.46 and sitting parked this is basically 1 finger steering (imagine 1 finger parking a 308 ). With the dongle values are like 0.58/0.42 ish.....so already 2/3-3/4 full soft I guess? I'm going to clean up the code a bit and tie it to (vehicle speed X tuning variable) +min speed so I can easily control max assist and how quickly it drops to min assist and call it the best I can do and see how it feels.

I thing the 2nd 1/2 of the plan is crank up the caster. Its about 4 deg now, I'm thinking target 7 or 8 and see how that feels. This is next up I think.

Last I realized my steering position is actually steering change meaning 0 is where ever the steering wheel was pointing when the PS unit turned on. Still useful but I'll need to remember to park with the wheel straight at the autocross to make the steering log data most helpful....or I can always still add an actually position sensor.

So I was thinking about the steering unit really wanting to over assist and that maybe I could throw some high power resistors in there but then came up with a better idea....If I intercept the strain gauge signal I can tell it the driver isn't working so it should chill. I cleaned up some other stuff then got out the scope, pulled the connector and killed the GD PS unit. Last time it died a wire got kicked off and I kind of assumed something shorted but it looks more like if its powered on when the connection is missing if bricks itself. MFer

Time to redo the PS setup

The theme of this whole build is you fixing problems that most of us aren't smart enough or talented enough to even have in the first place.

LOL, I'm pretty sure the right answer is you're all smart enough not to have these problems in the 1st place.

From the day I built the steering setup I've not loved it....
1)the steering unit, which is very clearly subject to fail, needs to be a bolt-in or nearly so.
2) Love the quick steering (and honestly would like it even quicker), hate the quicker itself and how I installed it.
3) the PS unit blocks my clutch foot.
4) its way over assisted

This all needs a re-think.......

Just finished chatting with a very helpful woman in China and see is going to make me a Power steering unit from a few different products they have....kind of a compact ATV design but with automotive size connections and power. Then she is going to custom program the controller so I can can tell it exactly what output I want at any given moment. The (broken) fiesta unit I have is on a 50A fuse and this is a 65A max so it should be at least what the old unit had as a max assist. I'll order that tomorrow

Then one of my way better with electronics than me buddies will make a little box that reads vehicle speed and lets me program what steering assist I want. He was on about a bluetooth phone app so its sounds nice but the end result will be an assist vs speed curve (not line, curve) that is whatever I want it to be. Technically I can probably just make my ECU control the steering but the PS unit I just spec'd plas a nice little controller sure feels like a product that is better and WAY cheaper than anything currently on the market so I'm buying a few, ping me if you want one before they hit ebay. I'm thinking I can do $299

We might do something with a programmable controller for OEM PS units for like $199....ping me if that is something you want and I'll dig into it.

Then, the plan is I'm NOT got to cut or weld it, I'm just going to make adapters and bolt it in. I know, you're all disappointed, but even I can learn from my mistakes laugh

The next thing to sort out is the ratio bit....keep what I have with the quickener or do a custom rack?????

Today I realized the reason the steering boots didn't fit right is because for whatever reason, my car has a mondial rack in it. That makes measuring it see a bit pointless I think. The mondial manual has a nice drawing with the critical info, the 308 manual has a poor quality drawing without the need dimensions which is not helpful

I'm kind of eying having Titan make me a rack
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1613/8529/files/Data-Sheet-Titan-Bespoke-Steering-Rack__C99-610-000-01-AT-DR_offset.pdf?v=1589212338

Stock is 3.2 revs so 38mm/rev. The superperfomance 2.5 about 62mm/rev, with my 2:1 gearing I was at 1.7 revs and about 73mm/rev and I really liked that titan can do 72. 79. 86 and an 86mm/rev which would be 1.5 revs lock to lock which seems amazing. But, the pinion is straight, not a 4.5deg angle so I would need to scooch it a little, which I think would be fine. I need to hunt down a 308 rack to measure I guess.