Another build thread

[CTWV50]

Yes I've eliminated the immobilser for the time being, just so when I fit it and the engine doesn't start I don't have to wonder if it's the immobilser. I may refit it if after the IVA if it reduces the cost of insurance. As for making a light loom I think it would be more hassle and expense. I separated the engine from the lights just so if/when I go aftermarket ecu I don't end up pulling the whole loom out to do so, Also I don't want any wires running past the hot side of the engine so it's clear for the turbo install at some point in the future.

[skov]

More goodies arrived in the post today, courtesy of tigmatt

[skov]

This cluster arrived from ebay yesterday afternoon:



It's from a 'new' Mini, and I thought it looked rather nice and would suit the Roadster. Plus it was cheap at £16

The only slight issue is that it's controlled entirely from the CAN Bus in the Mini.
I like a challenge, so...

First thing I did was take the back off and see if I could figure out the pinout for the connector.
There's only 7 pins on it, and I quickly found the pins for GND, Battery, CAN-H, CAN-L, and the backlighting. That leaves two pins I don't know the funtion of, but I don't think I need them.

I cracked open my CAN interface and started sending random messages to see if I could get anything out of it. That was less than sucessful, so I did some googling.
Lucky for me some guy had recorded the CAN bus on his Mini, had a go at analysing it, and stuck his findings on the web. He had only identified a couple of the messages, but that was just the kick-start I needed, so I stuck my reverse engineering cap on and got to work.

A few hours later and I can now control the following functions from my laptop:

* Speed
* RPM
* All the tell-tale / warning lights
* Backlight intensity
* Position of the red-line

The only thing I can't do yet is get anything sensible displayed on the two little LCDs, but I'm working on that.

The next stage of this sub-project as it were is to design a box that will sit in the car, monitor various signals, and generate the CAN messages for the cluster. That'll give me something to do in my lunchtimes at work

Here's a screen shot of the program I knocked up to talk to the cluster:



And there's a little vid of it in action here (very poor quality I'm afraid).

[ginger nutter]

that is goin to look great I wouldnt have a clue how to go about working all that out, good work

[MarkB]

Clever stuff, I'm always amazed how folk can make head or tail of all that lecy wizardry...clocks look smart too

[twinturbo]

So what do you use for the CAN interface?

TT

[skov]

Thanks guys. To be honest my job often involves playing around with CAN busses, so this is bread and butter stuff for me

TT - this is the CAN interface I'm using.

[CTWV50]

Genius!

[CTWV50]

Thought about changing my clocks too but sort of stopped when I realised you needed warning about break fluid, engine temp, oil pressure, and the ecu has a speed sensor which is in the clocks from the manual speedo I think. How do you get round all that!

[MarkB]

Originally Posted by skov

Thanks guys. To be honest my job often involves playing around with CAN busses, so this is bread and butter stuff for me

TT - this is the CAN interface I'm using.

Please excuse my ignorance but what are "can busses" I immediately thought of double decker buses and "blakey"...