Another Wreck, another Race Car.....

[Peter Jones]

I dropped in on Euro spec today as I'm in the US for work this week. Sonny has come up with a suggestion for a better camshaft sensor based on an Audi V8 unit. I'll see if I can get it setup over Easter.

[Peter Jones]

I just finished making a new distributor!

Background: -

My race motor has an ABF head and I need a cam position sensor to let my DTA ecu know the relationship between the cam and the crank as I run sequential injection and ignition.
The block is 06A so I'm using the internal 60-2 crank wheel for crank position.

I had been running an ABF dizzy but had dramas with timing, oil leaks and and dodgy hall effect sensors.

I got it working reasonably well but it's not a terribly serviceable item when you need to swap out a sensor track side.

At one stage I tried a KR style 4 vane dizzy which would start about 50% of the time. (Actually exactly 50% of the time unless I turned the sequential off.)

The KR dizzy leaked worse then the ABF one .

The folk at EuroSpec showed me how the Audi V8 pickups work with the vane bolted directly to the end of the camshaft.

I thought I was going to be able to make an extension piece for the end of the cam and run it the same as the Audi V8 but that was quickly going to exceed my rudimentary machining skills and the opening in the end of the head is larger in the Audis too.

So here's what I came up with. I made my own dizzy body to accommodate the ABZ style sensor.

The drive dog is from a KR dizzy, the shaft is cut down from a 2E dizzy and the vane is also from the 2E dizzy.

Bushes are longer and thicker than either KR or ABF and the seal is a little bigger too.
















One of the goals was to make swap outs quick and easy at the track side. Pulling a complete dizzy, especially the KR with the slotted mounts meant re-timing the setup.

The theory was that just swapping the sensor shouldn't require any re-timing and avoid dragging out the laptop.

To check this theory I tried a number of sensors in the new "dizzy" Interestingly, there's a few degrees between the three I tested. One is an Audi prototype unit (notice it's milled not cast) and two brand new generic units of the same brand.

The DTA S60 doesn't seem fussed about the small difference between them, it seems to have some un published tolerance range.



This is the ABF dizzy I was using

[Water Boy]

Very nice!

[grandturismo]

Impressive Pete. Hope it's a bit more reliable.

[Jarred]

very Nice indeed Pete!

[benough]

I'm not 100% sure what you did here, but making up a bespoke dizzy is badass

[sports racer]

I'm old school (very old) and I notice there's no provision for mechanical advance/retard. Is this function available through your management system?

If so, is the advance curve fully programable?

Cheers

Paul

[Peter Jones]

Yes, that's correct all ignition timing is done via the ECU.
This sensor only really tells the ECU which stroke no1 is on, compression or exhaust.

The main timing reference is a toothed wheel on the crankshaft.

The ECU has a lot of stuff it can do with ignition timing, the advance curve is just the beginning.

Launch control, traction control,rev limiting, idle, hot start, etc etc, all sorts of stuff.

You can even set it up for different advances per cylinder. Air cooled motors for example run No 3 cylinder slightly retarded to keep that cylinder a little cooler.

I'm running one coil per cylinder, they're fired sequentially. In production cars they're commonly fired in pairs on both the compression and exhaust strokes (Wasted Spark)

I could also have used a single coil and a distributor cap. The ECU can be programmed for all of those scenarios.

There's almost too many choices to be honest, it does my head in trying to figure out how settings interact with other settings.

[Vr6jett]

Amazing build!!!
I read through most of the build and I got to post # 789 and saw you were using Redline shock proof oil. I recently installed a wavetrac in my 02J and I know you shouldn't use that oil. It doesn't work well with the friction plates and also I haven't had any success with that oil lasting in our endurance car. We have gone through 2 transmissions and it also seems to wreck the syncros. We have changed oils and haven't had a issue since.

Wavetrac LSD Gear Oil Recommendations « Co-ordSport Performance Parts – Technical Blog

[Peter Jones]

Wow, thanks for that.

I tried and tried to get oil information on the Wavtrac oils and never got told that.

All I got was the factory fill information but nothing specifically about not using the shock proof oil.

Which oil do you use now? I'll change mine out before the next race after reading this.

Thanks again! Pete

[Vr6jett]

I ended up using Motul 300 gear oil. I also like Liqui Moly 75w90 we have run both oils with no issues.

http://m.motul.com/lv/en/products/oils-lubricants/gear-300-75w90

LIQUI MOLY - Motor Oils, Additives, Car Care - Products - Fully Synthetic Gear Oil

[Peter Jones]

Back into again after a long break.

I missed a bunch of events due to work travel commitments, upgrades and repairs.

EuroSpec have been helping me out big time with ongoing development. The car goes on the dyno for tuning again after the Vic Day of The Volkswagen show next weekend.

I took the Golf out to Phillip Island yesterday to get back in the seat and test out some of the mods.

I've added an adjustable pressure limiting valve inline with the rear brakes and it seems to have helped with some of the high speed breaking instability I was experiencing.

There's been a few plumbing mods as well in the oil lines to make bleeding the dry sump system easier.

Quick connects have been fitted to the oil tank and sump to make the oil changes easier.

I made some new water fittings for the block to delete the steel pipe.

New Lambda sensor setup. Upgraded from the Bosch 4 wire sensor to an Innovate LC-2 system and integrated it into the DTA ECU.

Better USB power adapters for the cameras, GPS etc in the car.

I'm entered for the Geelong speed trials at the end of November. Geelong Revival | Brings Speed Trials Back to the Geelong Waterfront I'm not really geared for 1/4 mile, should be a bit of fun anyway.

Been a bit quiet on here because I'm spending a lot of time at the moment sorting out Amarok wiring for the folks over at the AusAmarok forum.

Here's some pics from PI this weekend.

[morgs]

Nice work, was wondering where you got to! Any PB's? Are you in the shed today?

[grandturismo]

Always great pics.
Not many folks run the Tarox brakes Pete, how are you finding them? Are you using the .116 pad?

[Peter Jones]

The Tarox brakes are awesome, yep I'm using the 116 track pads.