Fred's firmware development diary

[Fred]

Day 34: Swapped gearbox tin to correct type, installed and torqued up alternator and front brace mount, modified the coolant pipes to be better (how they always should have been) and cleaned the hoses ready to install. The exhaust manifold has had a few holes drilled in it and won't hold water between flange and head anymore. All in all, not a bad days accomplishments, even if the ute work started fairly late. I came in from the garage at 11pm. This morning I sorted out the Auckland segment of the Puma order with Marcos.
Tomorrow: I should get enough done to start modding/fixing/shortening the intake manifold. If I put in a big day, it could be running by the end, but probably not, because I need to modify the megasquirt or go and find my 36-1 wheel in the grass... I will install the freshly improved coolant plumbing and other hard to reach items then bolt up the engine, starter, braces, ex side stuff, turbo, oil feed, wiring, etc.
The next few days: install accessories, turbo, exhaust, plumbing, mounts, etc etc. Modify intake manifold and coil bracket.
Soon: solder one wire in cab, install boost, oil pres, oil temp gauges, adjust req fuel in ms2e box by 10% and test drive the ute.

[Fred]

Day 35: Installed the freshly improved coolant plumbing, modified some brackets for better clearance, weight reduction and accessibility of bolts. Installed the oil pressure sender fittings/sensor, bolted the engine to the gearbox and mounts.
Today: Torque up the gearbox bolts and engine mount bolts properly, put the exhaust side, turbo, oil feed, manifold, exhaust, wastegate, brackets, back together, put the starter motor back on, hook up rear coolant plumbing
Tomorrow: Modify intake manifold and coil bracket.
Soon: solder one wire in cab, reconfigure ms to use different sensor type, build opto isolator to allow that, install boost, oil pres, oil temp gauges, adjust req fuel in ms2e box by 10% and test drive the ute.

After that, finish BFMR MS2E install, code FreeEMS, install FreeEMS on truck, install bucket seats and 5 point harnesses. LOTS of computer/backups/server/forum stuff. Ship out and sell various things, deal with the government in various ways, figure out my general plan of attack and either update my CV or get on a plane depending on the result of an email that I've been putting off sending.

It's all coming together, slowly but surely.

Getting closer!

[Fred]

Day 36: Torqued up the gearbox bolts and engine mount bolts properly, Installed box to engine braces, installed and aligned all exhaust side bracketry, wiggled the turbo into place, plumbed the rear of the engine up, hooked up the temp gauge, ECU temp sensor, CAS, tidied up the wiring to the ignitors, tidied up other wiring and plumbing, added breather hoses, put the starter motor in position, test fitted the ex manifold, tightened the rather loose sway bar end links, started fabricating the bracket for the gauges out of light alloy sheet.
Tomorrow and Monday: tidy up a rough weld done from above on the ex manifold, install ex manifold and turbo, attach exhaust to turbo, install wastegate, install oil feed to turbo, torque up the starter. modify and install the intake manifold and coil bracket, run wires for gauges, tidy up drivers side wiring/plumbing more, add windscreen washer bottle, add passenger side breather bottle, modify the remaining coolant plumbing to be good/better, replace steel brackets for radiator/intercooler with alloy, install the radiator, find a good place to put the radiator overflow bottle.

[Fred]

Day 37: tidied up a rough weld done from above on the ex manifold, installed ex manifold and turbo, attached exhaust to turbo, installed wastegate, installed oil feed to turbo, drain from turbo too, hooked up the turbo to the intercooler, hooked up exhaust to turbo, finished alloy bracket for gauge cluster.
Tomorrow and Tuesday: Torque up the starter. modify and install the intake manifold and coil bracket, run wires for gauges, tidy up drivers side wiring/plumbing more, add windscreen washer bottle, add passenger side breather bottle, modify the remaining coolant plumbing to be good/better, replace steel brackets for radiator/intercooler with alloy, install the radiator, find a good place to put the radiator overflow bottle, wire up the fans, plus previously listed EMS/instrumentation stuff.

[Fred]

Day 38:

bov filter installed
old bracket removed
soldered broken wire in ECU loom
breather bottle added
intake manifold cleaned, sliced, shortened, welded, test fitted
starter torqued up
modified/improved lower coolant pipe
oem style wiring reconnected
gauge bracket marked for drilling tomorrow
tidied and organised all tools

Tomorrow:

Upload and check Marcos's site
cut top spare bsp socket in half if not tapered or migrate to bottom as drain for future oil ingres
Finish inlet manifold
Make new braces for inlet manifold
Install inlet manifold
Modify and install coil bracket and coils
Blow valley out with comrpessed air
Finish modifying lower coolant pipe
Replace lower radiator mounts with alloy
Drill and fit gauge cluster
Find wire to connect gauges up
Hook up boost gauge
Find better idle air solution
Create/install oil-air seperator in PCV line
store/backup all memory cards intelligently

This could stretch into the day after tomorrow...

Fred.

[Fred]

Day 39:

Had major interruption and got delayed by half a day....
migrated spare bsp socket to bottom as drain for future oil ingres
Finished inlet manifold
Installed inlet manifold
Finished modifying lower coolant pipe
Drilled and fitted gauge cluster
Uploaded and checked Marcos's site

Tomorrow:

drink a V or two...
store/backup all memory cards intelligently
Hook up boost gauge
Replace lower radiator mounts with alloy
Blow valley out with comrpessed air
Make new braces for inlet manifold
Modify fuel supply banjo bolt for more flow
Modify and install coil bracket and coils
Find wire to connect gauges up
Find better idle air solution
Create/install oil-air seperator in PCV line
Install throttle
Install injectors
Install FPR
Install radiator
Fill with oil/water, not coolant, not with fresh HG..

[Fred]

Day 40:

drank a can of V
Replaced lower radiator mounts with alloy
Made new braces for inlet manifold
Modified fuel supply banjo bolt for more flow
Installed coil bracket and coils
Created/installed oil-air seperator in PCV line - longer pipe and stiffer inline check valve
Installed throttle
Installed injectors
Installed FPR
Installed radiator
Proper radiator overflow bottle location/hose extended
Setup breather bottles on both sides

Tomorrow:

store/backup all memory cards intelligently
Hook up boost gauge
Blow valley out with comrpessed air
Find better idle air solution
Fill with oil/water, not coolant, not with fresh HG...
modify my ms2 box for dual optical inputs instead of one opt and one vr
reconfigure for 4(+1) instead of 36-1(+1)
Find wire to connect gauges up
Find all old megasquirt files in backups
Load up mt into win vm in mac
Verify cranking RPM
Verify/set timing
Engage fuel pumps and check for fuel leaks - fix them.
Adjust req fuel by 10%
Attempt to start
Warm up and check for coolant/oil leaks - fix them.

[Fred]

My Puma boards arrived today! Thank you very much Marcos! And Jared also! :-)

The next week is going to be intense to say the least!

Fred.

[Fred]

Day 41:

installed washer bottle, new pump, new hose
received package of Puma boards from Argentina!
Studied and made notes and formulated questions about my Puma
stored/backed up all memory cards intelligently
filled engine with oil, no leaks so far
Found all old megasquirt files in backups
setup megatune on the mac in the vm and got it talking to a serial adapter and configured to talk to my ms box

Tomorrow:

Firstly:

install engine braces
hook up and cable tie remaining hoses and loose wires in engine bay
fill with water, not coolant, not with fresh HG...
modify my ms2 box for dual optical inputs instead of one opt and one vr
Adjust req fuel by 10%
Verify cranking RPM
Verify/set timing
Engage fuel pumps and check for fuel leaks - fix them.
Attempt to start
Warm up and check for coolant/oil leaks - fix them.

Extras:

Hook up boost gauge
Blow valley out with comrpessed air
Find better idle air solution
Find wire to connect oil gauges up
install seats
install seatbelts
weld two remaining deck supports in

New things to do:

Modify, finish, build, assemble, etc my Puma board, add a db37 to it with my pinout
Write code to run engine!
coordinate with other software devs to gt other supporting tools written in time
tune engine on freeems!!!!

[Fred]

Day 41:

install engine braces
hook up and cable tie remaining hoses and loose wires in engine bay
modify my ms2 box for dual optical inputs instead of one opt and one vr
Hook up boost gauge
made new alloy lower radiator mounts
fixed broken bolts in bonnet latch mech
attached number plate with actual bolts instead of tape
fixed headlight housing attachment points

Day 42:

8+ hours at a wedding, 1200+ photos taken
figured out that my input circuit from 4 years ago only JUST worked and that the clone of it with slightly different resistor values didn't... replaced both with correct setup
checked RPM value, looks good
figured out that timing lights both had crap clips and worked intermittently, figured out how to nurse them, measured and set base timing.
adjusted reqfuel by 15%
fired right up! :-)
fill with water, not coolant, not with fresh HG...
no fuel leaks
no oil leaks
no coolant leaks
test drove, running on 3 cyls due to dodgy spark plugs
Blow valley out with comrpessed air
pulled plugs out
measured plugs

Today:

Replace plugs and check for 4 cyl operation, if not, compression check, etc
put rubber edging around gauge cluster
tidy up garage/tools/parts
work on puma/code and/or do optional stuff below as makes sense:
drink wine to celebrate fixing ute! :-)

Extras:

wire up both oil gauges
Find better idle air solution
install seats
install seatbelts
weld two remaining deck supports in

Tomorrow and till wednesday night:

code/puma - maybe some optional stuff too.