MG Metalworks Van Build
- Thread starter mgmetalworks
- Start date
Kole
Adventurer
dcguillory
Adventurer
I had been hoping someone was going to translate from Geek to English but I'm with Brad on the Can. May I have an IPA instead?
mgmetalworks
Explorer
I thought I was "dumbing it down" a lot already. I guess I'll have to take my explanations down to the Bud Light level. Hahaha! :sombrero:
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I'm learning as I go so by no means am I an expert. I'm tackling the easy stuff first so I can build up a little brain power before attempting to do some serious module hacking.
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I'm learning as I go so by no means am I an expert. I'm tackling the easy stuff first so I can build up a little brain power before attempting to do some serious module hacking.
ohpyramids
Adventurer
amazing project. great job man.
mgmetalworks
Explorer
I FINALLY found a transmission for the conversion project!!! And under budget too!! :wings:
boardrider247
Weekend warrior anarchist
:26_7_2:
So Monday we should expect the swap to see your van rolling around Oregon spewing a giant black cloud?
So Monday we should expect the swap to see your van rolling around Oregon spewing a giant black cloud?
jjohnny350
Adventurer
Nothing like finding what you want for less than you want. You are very good, keep up the good work. I am interested in a door slider too whenever you get that done amongst the 5000 things you are working on. I am always impressed with people like you and time management. I dont know how you find the time to get so much done. Very nice, and where in Portland are you? I grew up outside of Salem, I miss the Northwest.
mgmetalworks
Explorer
:26_7_2:
So Monday we should expect the swap to see your van rolling around Oregon spewing a giant black cloud?
Maybe...If I can get my lift installed, pull the body, hack the ECM security, finish the wiring, make all of the mounts and plumb all of the intake, cooling, a/c, pwr steering and get the gauges to function, I'll be on the road by Monday. Hopefully... :roost:
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Thanks for being impressed so early in the process! Most people just tell me I'm nuts.
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I'll get back to the slider hinge at some point. Starting school again really took a larger chunk of my time than I thought it would. It has forced me to work on fewer things than I'd like to after work and on weekends. If I could make the money I make as an engineer doing some of these projects, I'd probably get a lot more done in much shorter timelines. As it is though, I have 8-10 hours of life-sucking corporate servitude to contend with 5 days a week.
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We're in Newberg, OR...about 30-40 mins south of Portland.
mgmetalworks
Explorer
Exactly! Now I can actually focus on technical challenges instead of arguing with wrecking yards that 250,000 mile Allisons are NOT WORTH $2500 WITH A $500 CORE!!!! HAHA!
mgmetalworks
Explorer
More CAN bus fun!
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Since my end goal is to do away with the Ford PCM altogether, I have a lot of work to do to figure out how to reproduce the CAN packets that the PCM sends to various modules. One of the most important things to figure out is how vehicle speed is transmitted over the bus because several modules use that particular packet. Online I found a technical paper about hacking a Ford CAN bus and it gave some clues as to which identifier speed and RPM use as well as some conversion equations to get from hexadecimal format to something understandable.
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The easiest way to test out the theory is to broadcast a packet on the bus and see what happens... And what do you know??? I have an extra instrument panel cluster, a power supply and a homemade harness for just such an occasion.
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From the tech paper online:
"The data format is:
[AA BB 00 00 CC DD 00 00]
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Where AABB - is the rpm displayed and CCDD is the speed.
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To get from the bytes in the CAN packet to the actual speed, the following formulas can be used:
Speed (mph) = 0.0065 * (CC DD) - 67
RPM = .25 * (AA BB) - 24"
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So, according to this, if I plug in some numbers and send the packet with the right identifier to the IPC, the RPM and speed will display on the gauges.
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Using their example, I plugged in [23 45 00 00 34 56 00 00] and here is what happened...
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It works!!! I was able to change the values and manipulate the two gauges no problem. One identifier down, 100+ to go! haha!
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That isn't much of a breakthrough but at least I was able to narrow down 4 other packet identifiers originating from the IPC.
.
Since my end goal is to do away with the Ford PCM altogether, I have a lot of work to do to figure out how to reproduce the CAN packets that the PCM sends to various modules. One of the most important things to figure out is how vehicle speed is transmitted over the bus because several modules use that particular packet. Online I found a technical paper about hacking a Ford CAN bus and it gave some clues as to which identifier speed and RPM use as well as some conversion equations to get from hexadecimal format to something understandable.
.
The easiest way to test out the theory is to broadcast a packet on the bus and see what happens... And what do you know??? I have an extra instrument panel cluster, a power supply and a homemade harness for just such an occasion.
.
From the tech paper online:
"The data format is:
[AA BB 00 00 CC DD 00 00]
.
Where AABB - is the rpm displayed and CCDD is the speed.
.
To get from the bytes in the CAN packet to the actual speed, the following formulas can be used:
Speed (mph) = 0.0065 * (CC DD) - 67
RPM = .25 * (AA BB) - 24"
.
So, according to this, if I plug in some numbers and send the packet with the right identifier to the IPC, the RPM and speed will display on the gauges.
.
Using their example, I plugged in [23 45 00 00 34 56 00 00] and here is what happened...
.
.
It works!!! I was able to change the values and manipulate the two gauges no problem. One identifier down, 100+ to go! haha!
.
That isn't much of a breakthrough but at least I was able to narrow down 4 other packet identifiers originating from the IPC.
