CrapCan Volvo Turbo Microsquirt Project

[SwedishKnievel]

Let me state from the outset that I have no idea what I am doing. Now, that being clear, here is what's afoot:

All at once, I have decided to swap Turbo B230FT Volvo I4 into our existing Lemons/Champ/LuckyDog CrapCan budget endurance racecar. The previous motor was the 16 valve N/A variation of the same I4 block. The 16V motor, while cool, is rare and has a lot of 16V specific parts. The 8V turbo motor is much more common in pick-n-pull junkyards and many more parts are available at RockAuto.

Not satisfied with the complications of a simple engine swap, I elected to also ditch the factory ECU and ignition system and replace it with a Microsquirt, a set of LS2 truck coils and an electronic boost controller. That part of the swap is complete and has been tuned and tested.

Next is the incorporation of the RCP. The RCP will: 1) drive an Android tablet to be used as an instrument panel; 2) provide live telemetry to the pits to monitor engine vitals; 3) record driver performance data; 4) record engine data.

The RCP will receive input from: Microsquirt through a CAN bus connection (MAP, CLT, IAT, RPM, TPS, AFR and ???), Oil temperature sensor, Oil pressure sensor, Coolant pressure sensor, Brake pressure sensor, Fuel pressure sensor, Fuel level sender.

I've built a harness in the engine compartment for the non-microsquirt inputs. I received my RCPIII yesterday and plan to mount it in the car this weekend and complete the in-car part of the harness. I intend to mount the RCP on the transmission tunnel near the firewall.

Any mounting suggestions?

Also, for the two resistance type sensors (oil temp & fuel level), I intend to wire the pull-up resistor right into the harness at the RCP. Is there a better way to do this?

[brentp]

Hi,

Welcome! would love to see pictures of your car and your build process.

For your specific questions, please post to the respective areas of the forums, (sensors, CAN mapping, installation, etc).

We also have the wiki - see the sensor guide there: http://wiki.autosportlabs.com/

and here: https://wiki.autosportlabs.com/SensorX

Thanks!

[SwedishKnievel]

Here is a work in progress image of the installation (the wiring will be tied up once it's clear everything is working) The car is gutted so lots of mounting options. I had initially thought that I would mount atop the transmission tunnel but that idea had a number of challenges. The location I used is under the dash on the passenger side. It sits nearly level despite the appearance in the photo. This location will keep it from being stepped on, kicked, overheated from exhaust, rained on, etc. You can see the microsquirt on the left side of the picture. It's also proximate to the firewall connector I used for the RCP connections. I removed the cowl cover, dropped a couple of M6 bolts through and secured them to the sheetmetal with nuts on the inside and a dollop of silicon sealer to keep the H2O out. This gave me studs with which to secure the RCP; sandwhiching it to the underside of the cowl.



This is the display:





It is an Amazon Fire 7" tab. I used a RAM small tablet mount and fabricated a plate to mount to and a visor/hood.

Most of the wiring is complete. I only have to wire the fuel sender and the oil temp sender. Picked up resistors this week. Will hopefully fire it up this weekend. Stay tuned.

[brentp]

Clean install! I like the shade. Let's see an external pic of the car too

[SwedishKnievel]