Hi Forumites,
Haven't done a great deal to Barbie over the last couple of days - been really busy with work, as at end of year it gets mega-hectic. The race to have Barbie finished, or near finished to be able to be registered straight after Xmas is now well and truly lost.
The guy doing the brake lines didnt show up for one reason or another, so was pretty disappointed about that, as having the brake lines in would have been a major milestone to have achieved. Jason (boot_it) came over to redo the exhaust, but it was a bit of a non-event as it was absolutely pouring with rain and I didnt want him to use the drop saw in the shed, what with Barbie and Crusty in there, and with bits and pieces of El Gato as well - not a good idea. So we booked that for another day.
But, I did get around do doing some work on his car, so all was not lost. I had to mount the proportioning valve for the brakes so the brake line guy could complete his stuff (as it turned out I need'nt have bothered). But anyway, mount it I did. I mounted it up behind the oil catch can, not ideal, but out of the way and still accessible:
And close up:
Well that was half a hours work (or less). So today I spent a few hours on Tony's dash. Mounting the equipment and mounting the dash unit itself. Tony has decided to go a seperate route to most people, in that his dash is all digital - no analogue gauges anywhere. The main unit is a Dakota Digital item that one would find in a custom hotrod in the US. It displays speed, both in numerical format and also a bar graph, rpm, also in numbers and bar graph, oil pressure, volts, water temp and fuel level, all in numerical format. The display itself is teal coloured 7-segment Vacuum Flourescent Display (VFD) display - it looks absolutely awesome at night ( will take a pic soon!) The display also has idiot lights for turn, indicators and ignition.
To the left of the Dakota Digital dsplay, sits an Apexi AVCR and an Apexi SAFC. Not wanting to go to a full-blown replacement ECU, Tony wisely opted for the Apexi items to control boost and fuel/air ratio. The SAFC controls the fuel/air, while the AVCR controls the boost level. Both are fully programmable, and both have a 'learn' function which allows them to tailor their maps to how you drive. The SAFC is capable of monitoring and replaying the following data channels in Numerical, Analog Meter and Graph displays: Intake Manifold Vacuum/Boost Pressure, Air Flow Capacity, Intake Manifold Pressure, Karmann Frequency, Engine RPM, Throttle Position, and Air Flow Correction %. Finally you can also monitor the air/fuel ratio. So, a pretty felxible piece of equipment.
The AVCR is a digital boost controller that allows the user to modify the boost pressure and Apexi claim that the entry level users need only to input a desired boost level and the AVC-R's trademark self learning CPU processor does the rest. Features include RPM based boost control and also gear based boost control function. Aside from the basic functions above, the AVC-R has a Start Duty Setting as well. The AVC-R also includes a Scramble Boost function which allows the user to momentarily raise or lower the boost level at the push of a button. The AVC-R displays data in three different modes: Numerical, Analog, and Graph. Numerical Mode allows the user to monitor up to four different parameters in numbers and also shows peak hold values on demand. The Analog Mode displays up to two values in an easy to read meter style display. Peak Hold is also included in this function. The Graph Mode offers real time graph plotting with a Ghost map trace feature built in. The graph can replay movement up to 60 seconds. So again, a pretty flexible device.
As you can see, the Dakota Digital display, and both Apexi's share the same display mechanism (VFD), in the same teal colour - so they should look pretty good together. I hope they are not so good as to distract Tony while he is driving
The fibreglass dash was one Tony picked up from a Mini Muster about 12 months ago, and it took a lot to get it to fit the mini dash rails, and its still not quite there yet (a few gaps need filling). I have attached it to the dash rails with 6mm domed Allen bolts (of course) and 6mm nutserts. Anyway, enough talk.
Dash affixed with the domed Allen bolts - I love 'em (they just look so smart an 'finished'):
The dash looking from the drivers side door:
Through the back window:
From the drivers position (ony if you have your head tilted slightly to the right
):
The Dakota Digital display. You can just see the individual displays if you look hard:
And the Apexi units. SAFC on top, AVCR underneath:
And still room for a single DIN radio, and the HVAC control panel:
That's it from me, cheers,
Tricky
