Honda K24 Swapped 2015 BRZ Ship of Thesus (NASA TT5)

[RedReplicant]

I figured GKTech toe arms would have been fine since how do you screw up a couple of large heims and some threaded rod, I was wrong.

Interestingly, their website has a different stack order than their instructions



Anyhow, the instructions tell you to torque the top nylock nut first, which is meant to seat the shank into the knuckle taper and prevent the entire assembly from spinning. You're then supposed to torque the bottom nut, but the problem is it can easily spin the shank in the knuckle, so now you're screwed.

If you put a wrench on the top nut to try and torque the bottom nut the predictable thing happens given they put two weak points into the shank to break instead of bending your knuckle or subframe. The washer on the bottom floats freely instead of being aligned and when you're properly torqued you're past full thread engagement.



Anyway, long story short, don't buy these stupid things and instead buy SPC or SPL. Now I wait for parts to arrive so I can throw these $300 things in the trash since GKTech doesn't do returns / support and realistically it is my fault for putting a wrench on the top nut.

[autoracer86]

Ouch that really sucks. Thanks for sharing so others can avoid.

[clu]

I wonder if you could get a matching stud from here:
https://midwestcontrol.com/shop/inde...d%20end%20Stud

Matching the taper could be a challenge I imagine

[RedReplicant]

We're good to go, I put in a set of SPC for now. Found the front right Shaftworks strut was blown, somehow the seal at the bottom of the cartridge went.

All the droop.

[autoracer86]

That's not fun find outing out one of your strut were blown but things happen ! How did you know it was blown ? Was it leaking

[NoHaveMSG]

From the pictures I have seen, not super impressed with the GKtech parts. I've seen home built parts with better quality welds. Heck, I have built parts with better welds. The racerX toe arms I used to have where similar design. I tightened them as you described and never had an issue with them.

[RedReplicant]

Originally Posted by autoracer86

That's not fun find outing out one of your strut were blown but things happen ! How did you know it was blown ? Was it leaking

Sprung a leak, but not from the shaft seal



I'm going to send them into Shaftworks to be rebuilt and then put them up for sale.

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

From the pictures I have seen, not super impressed with the GKtech parts. I've seen home built parts with better quality welds. Heck, I have built parts with better welds. The racerX toe arms I used to have where similar design. I tightened them as you described and never had an issue with them.

I haven't taken apart the RacerX, I'll have to take a look there... but yeah, I don't really like the GKTech design. I wish I'd thought further before buying

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

I haven't taken apart the RacerX, I'll have to take a look there... but yeah, I don't really like the GKTech design. I wish I'd thought further before buying

Without knowing the material, I would still guess the heat treat was not good on that part. I'd imagine it would need to be pretty hard to keep from getting scored when seating into the spindle, but even steels like that you have to temper a bit. Unless it is just case hardened which is a reasonable option for a part like that but you can still mess that up.

[justinco]

Dudes, Xidas!

[RedReplicant]

Still waiting to get the used Smartstring kit I ordered from eBay, so the alignment and first Xida drive has been on hold longer than I'd figured.

In the mean time I ended up buying a used cluster from eBay, which turned out to have a TRACK light. I hadn't realized before that there were 2017+ cars that still had analog gauges.



Never really worked with CAN before, steepish learning curve but I've got an Adafruit RP2040 that I intend to 3d print an enclosure for. Connected is the cluster and a PeakCAN adapter to my laptop for monitoring / sniffing.

Worked out the messages for:
* Check engine on, off, slow flash, fast flash
* All of the messages for top skid light (TC triggered), trac off, track, ABS, etc
* RPM / speed / temperature
* Airbag light on / off

I also figured out how to disable ABS and enable pedal dance via over CAN using the diagnostic modes, all I still really want to figure out is TPMS but my car doesn't have any of that intact anymore so I can't just sniff it.

Anyway, the reason I ended up doing this is because I'd like to run an AIM or Haltech dash but I refuse to give up the ABS failure light. Simple solution was to write a small bit of code for the RP2040 and drive an output based on the ABS light on CAN being sent OR the ABS unit not being heard from for a second. The issue with doing this by just adding the CAN messages to the AIM or Haltech dash is that the AIM only supports a very few small CAN protocols for its second CAN network, so I can't put BRZ chassis on one (ABS is here) and Haltech on the other. Haltech dash doesn't have a second CAN input and you can't reasonably write custom messages nor is there any chance Haltech is going to add it to their transfer list of chassis to Haltech CAN in a reasonable timeframe.

Other way I could think of was to gut a cluster and solder wires to the ABS light LED spots, but screw that.

RP2040 will have 12v, ground, chassis can hi, chassis can lo, and an output pin for the ABS signal. Also need to wire the fuel level sensor signal at the cluster and ground to the Haltech so I can have fuel level logged and sent over can, rather than just wiring it into the dash as an analog input. I just need to find a the female side of the cluster plug so I can wire what I need to cleanly since I hate splicing or cutting harnesses.

Few of the messages

0x0D3 => ABS / TC Light Control, 50hz
First Byte
No VSC / TRAC => 0x00
VSC Light => 0x08
TRAC Light => 0x20
Both Lights => 0x28

Second Byte
Skid Flash => 0x10

Third Byte
Unknown

Fourth Byte
No ABS Light => 0x00
ABS Light => 0x20
Skid Light => 0x40

0x372 => SRS Light Control, 10hz
SRS Light Off 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x20, 0x28, 0xFB, 0x3F

0x361 => CEL Light Control, 20hz
Second byte
CEL On => 0x20
Fast CEL Flash => 0x40
Slow CEL Flash => 0x80

I'm not going to post the pedal dance or ABS off

[autoracer86]

Ah so you're like a smart person haha. There is so much overlap between car people and IT people . You could always just wire the RP2040 to a basic LED that is installed within eye view.

Another idea but not sure its possible can you have the RP2040 trigger/Flash other warning lights instead of the ABS one.

[RedReplicant]

I just smack my head on the table until things work

Yeah, if I use the RP2040 as an input on either dash I can have them say / flash something like ABS FAIL. A light would work too, but I figure if I'm flushing dash money I may as well try to use it

[autoracer86]

Originally Posted by RedReplicant

I just smack my head on the table until things work

Yeah, if I use the RP2040 as an input on either dash I can have them say / flash something like ABS FAIL. A light would work too, but I figure if I'm flushing dash money I may as well try to use it

haha Hope you figure it out. Will be following along for sure

Too bad the aim Strada doesn't just have a ABS icon https://www.aim-sportline.com/en/out...rada/index.htm

[RedReplicant]

Yeah, oh welllll

If I wasn't rule bound I'd put a MK60E5 unit out of an E90 BMW into the car and then I'd not be limited ECU, wiring, etc wise and it'd be better anyway.