Progress Thread '88 GT Hell Horse - All over the place

Finally:

The instrument cluster has been installed in the car for it's final location. I built a mini wiring harness for the turn signals, and heat shrinked it all together with the terminal ends. I then spliced onto the factory harness for the turn signals using a small pigtail with terminal end. Plugged in the connectors and installed the cluster in the car. Tested the lights and they work just as they should.

I got all the trim back on and ran the HDMI and USB connectors to the screen. They are not hooked up to the power supply yet. I did get the old radio out, so it is ready for the next step of installing the mini fuse box.

Here are some pictures of the before and after along with side-by-side comparison. There is definitely a weight comparison that's for sure too.

Final installation:

You probably could fit the factory gauges on either side of the screen if you move the turn signal mounting locations

90sickfox said:

I like that gauge cluster. I'd probably use the extra space for led insulators lights for fans, line lock, nitrous, e brake, etc.

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It gives you the ability to add in all kinds of additional stuff now. I am going to take off the stock indicator for low fuel, oil,coolant, and washer fluid and wire in led lights, and reinstall in the future. I may remove the stock panel dim and install a push start button too

I didnt really realize the amount of stock stuff is not need anymore with this installation too.

I have my to-do list of items for this weekend needed to get the digital dash finished. Since I have the instrument cluster in the car its nothing more than wiring the Power Supply/Computer combo. I am needing to clean-up a little of my wiring in the car, so I am installing a mini 6-way fuse block that will power the Power Supply. I am also moving the WBO2 wiring to the new fuse box as well, since it currently runs all the way to the battery.

List of To-dos:
1. Wire in new 6-Way Fuse Block
2. Install Spade/Ring Connectors to the Power Supply (Allows to make it removable)
3. Wire Power Supply to Vehicle
4. Hook-up the HDMI and USB cables to Computer
5. Turn on Vehicle

It's Alive!!!!!!

I was able to complete my above todo list, and have the digital dash installed in the car. Wired in the fuse box with its own dedicated 10ga wire to the battery, and connected the spade/ring connectors to the ignition and ground wires to the car. Turned the key on and the dash started just like its supposed too played my video and opened directly to TunerStudio. I tested putting my Vehicle Project on a thumb drive, and opening it from the dash directly from the thumb drive. It worked perfectly, so any changes that I make to the tune or record datalogs will be saved directly to the thumb drive. This makes it super easy to just pull the thumb drive out and put it in my tuning laptop.

Sorry guys no video on it as I got side tracked on the screen delay script, which turns on/off the screen based on the ignition being on/off before the shutdown process is executed. This makes it so the screen isnt on for the 15-30 minutes of the computer shutdown delay, but turns the screen off in 30-60 seconds. I was having issues with the trigger not resetting. After the ignition is turned off the screen would turn off after the delay and turn back on with the ignition back on, but if you turn the ignition back off again it wouldn't trigger the delay again. It just would hang there and do nothing. That took a little time to adjust the script a couple different times to get the outcome I was looking for, but it works now. Just took a little longer than expected.

Last things on the list now is to just go back through everything. I still have little things that need to be done like make a service to automatically run the screen delay service, and a configuration screen to adjust the delay period. A couple of my new dashboards that I made need to be corrected, since some of the numbers get chopped off. The big thing is that it all works, so just need to wrap up the little things.

Then it will be video time again...

Small Update:

I was able to get the service and configuration file built for the screen delay. I ran into some issues with having the shutdown and screen delays work together, since all they wanted to do is fight each other. Most of the time the screen delay won the battle and the shutdown delay would just hang up. I modified the shutdown delay in how it senses the ignition, so they now can work without fighting each other. Everything is technically done now on my side of things.

Currently stuck on an issue with TunerStudio and it now taking an additional 15-20 seconds longer to boot after I registered the software. I was using the Lite version for testing purposes. I have an email into EFI Analytics, so they can shed some light on the issue. I didnt have this problem months ago when I did the first video. It boots likes its supposed too, but just takes additional time to boot-up now.

Things have been a little crazy for me lately, so I havent been able to put any additional time on this. I do have off work next week, so are hoping to be able to work some more on this. I need to address the slow TunerStudio project start-up, so again hope the proposed fix EFI Analytics gave me addresses the issue. If not then, I will copy the project directly to the Pi as the earlier test to see if that addresses the issue as well, since it may not like reading the project from the thumb drive.

Once I get this fixed I can finalize my couple dashboard I built to the dash screen resolution.

QA/QC Testing found: If you remove the instrument cluster it will effect the alternator charging. Ford wired the alternator sensing wire to the "dummy light" in the instrument cluster before running it to the ignition wire. Once you remove the instrument cluster you essentially disconnect this wire and the alternator stops charging the battery. Don't ask I found this out, but you will need to jumper the alternator wire to the ignition wire when you install the dash FYI.

Not a design that I think was the smartest. You are relying on the instrument cluster to make sure the battery charges , and it is all for the battery "dummy light" as well.

I have not been able to put much time into making further progress on this project due to my focus being in other areas. I have been able to confirm and fix the alternator charging issue. I pulled the instrument cluster back out of the car and solder a jumper wire from the alternator sensing(excite) wire to the ignition wire. This fixed the issue, and now the alternator is now charging again.

The plan is to be able to work on the car this weekend, since I was able to fix my other mustang over the holiday's. Still need to address the slow booting of TS, and finalize my dashboards. Once this is completed, I will be able to say that it should be completed and ready for some additional QA/QC time.

jrichker said:

I hope you put a 2-5 amp fuse inline to protect the wiring....

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There wasn't one from factory, so you believe I need one just in case?

jrichker said:

The original design included a 500 Ω resistor in the circuit to serve as a current limiter. You best choice is to either add a 500 Ω, 1/2 watt resistor or a 2 amp fuse since you wired it directly to the ignition switch.

Alternator wiring diagram for 87-93 Mustangs.

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Thank you for the feedback! I always appreciate your input on wiring. I will put an inline fuse holder with a 2 amp fuse as it will be replaced when I put in the fuse box in the car in the future.

I was able to work on the dash as planned this weekend. I was able to correct the slow booting process by correcting the activation key in TunerStudio and putting the TunerStudio Project on the RPi SD Card. Having TunerStudio open the project from the Thumb Drive tested out to increase the boot time by 20-25 seconds of a total of 50-60 seconds. Having it load the project from the SD card shows about 28-30 seconds to displaying gauges. I made a shortcut icon on the application bar for the TunerStudio Project folder making it super easy to get too. I retested the screen display functions, and all tested out great with the screen display turning on and off based on the ignition. Then the shutdown process automatically shuts down the RPi based on its delay. So the testing of everything came out working great.

Until hooking up the MS data cable to the RPi...

Now it boots up by plugging the MS data cable into the RPi without the power supply being turned ON. I noticed this when the RPi shutdown and the power supply turned OFF like it was supposed too, but the RPi was still ON. I noticed it whenthe red light on the RPi was still was ON. I figured this all out to be the issue by tracing all the connections to the RPi. I plugged in one cable at a time until the RPi turned ON with the power supply being OFF, which lead me to the MS data cable. If you plug the MS data cable without the micro USB power cable plugged in it doesnt turn ON. When you plug-in the micro USB power cable with the power supply OFF and then plug-in the MS data cable it turns itself ON by itself.

Working with @Noobz347 we think it may be due to the MS data cable is powered. Since it is powered the RPi is drawing power from the MS to boot up the RPi. I am using a USB extension cable from the RPi to the MS RS232 (Serial to USB Adapter). To test this theory of the issue, I cut the USB extension cable in half and spliced just the green and white data wires leaving the power wires disconnected. When I plugged the USB into the RPi the blue light came on the RS232 (serial to usb adapter) telling me it's ON even though the RPi wasn't ON. When I turned ON the ignition to turn ON the RPi the blue light on the RS232 (serial to usb adapter) turned OFF. The RPi fully boots up but is not connected to the MS. I unplugged the extension and plugged the RS232 (serial to USB adapter) into the RPi and it connects immediately. This tells me it needs the power cables hooked up but don't know why?

With the RPi turned OFF and the extension USB plugged in WITHOUT the power wires hooked up the Blue Light is ON the RS232, and I noticed the RPi fan makes a noise, so I unplug it from the RPi. The noise goes away from the RPi fan but also the power supply relay is making noise as well. I unplug the USB extension from the RPi to the MS, and the noise goes away. This means the USB extension to do something to the RPi even though there is no power attached.

Current thought process is I damaged the current RPi during all this testing I have done over the past few months. I do not remember having this issue when I first tested the dash display ONLY before I was building the power supply and scripts back in May. I decided to purchase a new RPi, which should be here on Wednesday.

Also could be the RS232 Adapter that I am using has a FTDI chipset and most of us your for our tuning laptops. This chipset has to be USB powered, but the linex system connects differently, so I ordered another cable that doesnt need to be powered to test to see if corrects the issue as well.

@jrichker if it is not the RPi itself being damaged it has me thinking it has something to do with the Power Supply that I have built. I would have to assume that somehow plugging in the MS data cable to the RPi is somehow pulling from the Power Supply to turn itself ON even thought the Power Supply is OFF. I did a simple check by plugging in a micro USB attached to nothing and plugged in the MS data cable to see if it would turn ON and it didn't. I plug in the power supply micro USB and it turn ON immediately. My thought is that I probably should install a diode (check valve) on the (+) wire of the micro USB plug from the Power Supply to stop any possible issues. This I assume would stop any possible readings or power from the Power Supply until it is turn ON???