wstar's Journal

travisjb · 11-08-2013, 01:27 PM

looks great. need some paint on that cage!

think the oem cross-member is redundant now? made that assumption on my car...

DR_ · 11-08-2013, 02:15 PM

Great cage! I can't wait to see it.

Apollo8642 · 11-08-2013, 02:19 PM

Nice job, can't wait to see it when it's all done.

Huck · 11-08-2013, 03:10 PM

Looks like its coming along nicely, moar pics when you can!

Zdayz 2014!!

wstar · 11-08-2013, 03:14 PM

Thanks all

I can't wait to see how different the car feels at TWS. I couldn't play around much in traffic on the way home. Maybe I'll take it out late tonight when the roads are clear just to get a feel for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by travisjb

looks great. need some paint on that cage!

I just picked up supplies at Lowe's, paint process is starting tomorrow morning! Rustoleum Pro spray enamel stuff, grey primer and semi-gloss black for the real paint. The real bitch is gonna be sanding/degreasing all of it for prep, and masking off the car with plastic/paper.

Quote:

think the oem cross-member is redundant now? made that assumption on my car...

Lucas' opinion was basically "It doesn't seem to weigh much, it's not in the way of anything, and it probably adds some body stiffness, may as well leave it there". Who knows, I might remove it later, when the backlog of other work clears up some

synolimit · 11-08-2013, 07:23 PM

Whats the rule on seat belt mounts? To me the mounts look higher than your shoulders. Thought they had to be lower at a 5-15 degree angle?

And in the other thread you said "I didn't pay much more than those bolt ins," please tell me this wasn't a $2000+ cage!? It's ok, not my favorite, but price I hope isnt crazy like I think it is.

sig11 · 11-08-2013, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by synolimit

Whats the rule on seat belt mounts? To me the mounts look higher than your shoulders. Thought they had to be lower at a 5-15 degree angle?

Schroth says 0-20 degrees down from mount to shoulders. Look fine to me depending on wstar's height!

VoBoy · 11-08-2013, 09:47 PM

Damn! Thought you were just gonna do a roll bar but you went all out! Nice man! Glad Lucas worked out for you.

Painting it is gonna be a PITA!!!

wstar · 11-09-2013, 12:52 AM

Yeah, 0-20. In the current setup it works fine on me, I'm 5'11". Passengers will be of random height, obviously, not much can be done about that. And yeah, I'm really not looking forward to the painting, but it has to be done. And synolimit: yes the price topped $2K, and yes it's worth it.

synolimit · 11-09-2013, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Yeah, 0-20. In the current setup it works fine on me, I'm 5'11". Passengers will be of random height, obviously, not much can be done about that. And yeah, I'm really not looking forward to the painting, but it has to be done. And synolimit: yes the price topped $2K, and yes it's worth it.

Wow, crazy! Just doesn't look like enough there. This cage must cost $5000. I think I'll make my own now. The rear back I want to buy and build first will be about $200 in steel and I need to buy a notcher from Harbor Freight or somewhere for $100 or so. Only need a shop to bend the main hoop till I do doors and such like you. I just hate paying labor with a passion! $100-$120 an hour is just insane for a guy there making maybe $20 an hour to build it.

wstar · 11-09-2013, 05:00 AM

Well, it's impolite to be detailed on pricing publicly, but I think it was a fair price, and it definitely wasn't as much as $5K either. You're free to build your own, it's your car

I paid for expertise and a job well done, and I'm happy with my purchase.

Just got back from my "late night after all the drunks are off the road" test drive out in the sticks. You can definitely feel the added weight, but that's the price of admission, I'm ok with it. The change in the car's stiffness and predictability was *really* nice. I think this may have been more of a cornering upgrade for the car than all my suspension work so far combined. It's just so... solid and predictable. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's a nice change

I'm sure some of that isn't just the cage itself, but the fact that I'm locked down in real harnesses and rigidly-mounted seats for the first time in this car.

travisjb · 11-09-2013, 09:19 AM

^ you said it well... that feeling let's me focus 100% on what the tires are doing. and no question there's added stiffness with the cage.

Boost_lee · 11-09-2013, 02:50 PM

Wow, that cage looks great. Good luck with the paint

wstar · 11-16-2013, 05:34 PM

Paint's done, coolant leak(s) fixed up. I got the layout/mechanical/attachment stuff done on the custom center-dash panel (actually, most of the hard part of that was done by my friend Wence, but I stood around and consulted!). I still need to finish up the wiring behind it, but here's the dash (and some peripheral views of the painted cage):

The small phone there is one of my old Android phones, re-purposed as the display unit for my datalogger. It'll run their "Predictive iDash" ( Race-Keeper Predictive iDash In-Car Lap Timing Display | Race-Keeper ) app and give me realtime lap info mostly. The switches are for the data system, USB power sockets (one of which runs that phone), and the gauges+alarm system. The pair of black and green pushbuttons are UpRev map switching.

wstar · 11-17-2013, 03:20 AM

Finished up the dash wiring stuff. The important news is that the UpRev map-switch buttons work. Basic details for those looking for a similar solution lacking a stock steering wheel:

If you look in the 2009 Service Manual, section EC (Engine Control), the terminal pinouts for the 3 big connectors on the bottom of the main ECU starts on page EC-523. Way down that list on page EC-532, you'll see an entry for pins 101 (SB) and 108 (Y) as the "ASCD steering switch". These are the two wires that run to the cruise control button cluster on the stock steering wheel. SB is Sky Blue, and Y is Yellow. I didn't really try to map it from the pin numbers, I just looked for wires of the correct color in the correct sub-harness that were running over towards the steering wheel area and tried those and it worked, YMMV.

Once you have those two wires, the way it works is the ECU expects a resistor across those wires. The exact amount of the resistance changes depending on which cruise control buttons are currently pressed, which is how it tells them all apart with only two wires.

Back on page EC-437, you can see a diagnostic table of the expected resistance values when various cruise control buttons are pressed, which doesn't quite tell you everything you need to know, but it's part of the puzzle, and you can get the rest by using an ohm-meter to probe around on the stock cruise button cluster a bit.

The bottom line is this pic, which just might be the ugliest drawing ever (but hey it took 5 minutes):

For those unfamiliar with basic circuit diagrams as drawn by 5-year-olds, the squiggly lines are resistors, and the two angly things crossing the center are the two pushbutton switches. The bottom switch is the one you hold down, and the upper one is the one you hit 1-5 times to select a map. If you can read my shitty diagram and assemble that correctly, it should give approx 3960 ohms with no buttons pressed, 250 ohms if the top button is pressed (or both), and 660 ohms with just the bottom button pressed.

You can order very close resistor values online at mouser.com, but honestly it'll probably work if you find something within 10-15% or so at RadioShack, too. It doesn't matter which way around you hook up the SkyBlue and Yellow wires, there's no polarity to this sort of thing. Obviously, the little arrows at the top of the diagram are where those hook up at.

11-08-2013, 01:27 PM	#631 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	looks great. need some paint on that cage! think the oem cross-member is redundant now? made that assumption on my car... __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

11-08-2013, 03:10 PM	#634 (permalink)
Huck A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Cocoa, Florida Age: 42 Posts: 5,075 Drives: Pantydropper machine Rep Power: 33	Looks like its coming along nicely, moar pics when you can! Zdayz 2014!! __________________ VLEDS \| Evo-R \| Moddiction \| CF Hood Struts \| F.I. CF CBE & LTH \| Stillen CAI \| NST Pulleys \| UpRev \| Z1 \| M7 \| Status \| Forgestar \| PSS \| Whiteline \| SPL \| SPC \| Kenwood \| Zenclosure \| Kicker \| Alpine Type R

11-08-2013, 07:23 PM	#636 (permalink)
synolimit A True Z Fanatic Join Date: May 2013 Location: Columbus, OH Posts: 5,051 Drives: 2013 Silver 370z Rep Power: 3389	Whats the rule on seat belt mounts? To me the mounts look higher than your shoulders. Thought they had to be lower at a 5-15 degree angle? And in the other thread you said "I didn't pay much more than those bolt ins," please tell me this wasn't a $2000+ cage!? It's ok, not my favorite, but price I hope isnt crazy like I think it is. __________________ 13 370z- Last edited by synolimit; 11-08-2013 at 07:27 PM.

11-09-2013, 12:52 AM	#639 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Yeah, 0-20. In the current setup it works fine on me, I'm 5'11". Passengers will be of random height, obviously, not much can be done about that. And yeah, I'm really not looking forward to the painting, but it has to be done. And synolimit: yes the price topped $2K, and yes it's worth it. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

11-09-2013, 05:00 AM	#641 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Well, it's impolite to be detailed on pricing publicly, but I think it was a fair price, and it definitely wasn't as much as $5K either. You're free to build your own, it's your car I paid for expertise and a job well done, and I'm happy with my purchase. Just got back from my "late night after all the drunks are off the road" test drive out in the sticks. You can definitely feel the added weight, but that's the price of admission, I'm ok with it. The change in the car's stiffness and predictability was really nice. I think this may have been more of a cornering upgrade for the car than all my suspension work so far combined. It's just so... solid and predictable. I don't know how else to describe it, but it's a nice change I'm sure some of that isn't just the cage itself, but the fact that I'm locked down in real harnesses and rigidly-mounted seats for the first time in this car. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details Last edited by wstar; 11-09-2013 at 05:07 AM.

11-08-2013, 02:15 PM	#632 (permalink)
DR_ Track Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Dallas Posts: 981 Drives: Touring/Sport M6 PG Rep Power: 17	Great cage! I can't wait to see it.

11-08-2013, 02:19 PM	#633 (permalink)
Apollo8642 Base Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Oregon Posts: 187 Drives: 09 370Z Nismo #280 Rep Power: 13	Nice job, can't wait to see it when it's all done.

11-08-2013, 09:47 PM	#638 (permalink)
VoBoy Base Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Chicago/Houston Posts: 37 Drives: 06 350z Rep Power: 16	Damn! Thought you were just gonna do a roll bar but you went all out! Nice man! Glad Lucas worked out for you. Painting it is gonna be a PITA!!!

11-09-2013, 09:19 AM	#642 (permalink)
travisjb A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: GSO Posts: 2,803 Drives: VIR Rep Power: 188	^ you said it well... that feeling let's me focus 100% on what the tires are doing. and no question there's added stiffness with the cage. __________________ 2009 370Z #104 For Sale

11-09-2013, 02:50 PM	#643 (permalink)
Boost_lee A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: SATX Posts: 2,813 Drives: 09 370Z TT 6MT Rep Power: 29	Wow, that cage looks great. Good luck with the paint __________________ My TT Z

11-16-2013, 05:34 PM	#644 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Paint's done, coolant leak(s) fixed up. I got the layout/mechanical/attachment stuff done on the custom center-dash panel (actually, most of the hard part of that was done by my friend Wence, but I stood around and consulted!). I still need to finish up the wiring behind it, but here's the dash (and some peripheral views of the painted cage): The small phone there is one of my old Android phones, re-purposed as the display unit for my datalogger. It'll run their "Predictive iDash" ( Race-Keeper Predictive iDash In-Car Lap Timing Display \| Race-Keeper ) app and give me realtime lap info mostly. The switches are for the data system, USB power sockets (one of which runs that phone), and the gauges+alarm system. The pair of black and green pushbuttons are UpRev map switching. carlitos_370z likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

11-17-2013, 03:20 AM	#645 (permalink)
wstar A True Z Fanatic Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 4,024 Drives: too slow Rep Power: 3594	Finished up the dash wiring stuff. The important news is that the UpRev map-switch buttons work. Basic details for those looking for a similar solution lacking a stock steering wheel: If you look in the 2009 Service Manual, section EC (Engine Control), the terminal pinouts for the 3 big connectors on the bottom of the main ECU starts on page EC-523. Way down that list on page EC-532, you'll see an entry for pins 101 (SB) and 108 (Y) as the "ASCD steering switch". These are the two wires that run to the cruise control button cluster on the stock steering wheel. SB is Sky Blue, and Y is Yellow. I didn't really try to map it from the pin numbers, I just looked for wires of the correct color in the correct sub-harness that were running over towards the steering wheel area and tried those and it worked, YMMV. Once you have those two wires, the way it works is the ECU expects a resistor across those wires. The exact amount of the resistance changes depending on which cruise control buttons are currently pressed, which is how it tells them all apart with only two wires. Back on page EC-437, you can see a diagnostic table of the expected resistance values when various cruise control buttons are pressed, which doesn't quite tell you everything you need to know, but it's part of the puzzle, and you can get the rest by using an ohm-meter to probe around on the stock cruise button cluster a bit. The bottom line is this pic, which just might be the ugliest drawing ever (but hey it took 5 minutes): For those unfamiliar with basic circuit diagrams as drawn by 5-year-olds, the squiggly lines are resistors, and the two angly things crossing the center are the two pushbutton switches. The bottom switch is the one you hold down, and the upper one is the one you hit 1-5 times to select a map. If you can read my shitty diagram and assemble that correctly, it should give approx 3960 ohms with no buttons pressed, 250 ohms if the top button is pressed (or both), and 660 ohms with just the bottom button pressed. You can order very close resistor values online at mouser.com, but honestly it'll probably work if you find something within 10-15% or so at RadioShack, too. It doesn't matter which way around you hook up the SkyBlue and Yellow wires, there's no polarity to this sort of thing. Obviously, the little arrows at the top of the diagram are where those hook up at. djtodd likes this. __________________ 7AT Track Car! Journal thread / Car setup details

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