Believe me I've tried to open up the gauges. I was originally planning on doing my own green LED swap. The Autometer gauges are sealed at the bezel, meaning it's crimped on. That's why it costs $25 to have Autometer swap out my LEDs for me. It's to pay for the new bezel and lens they have to crimp on, as well as the labor.

I'll look into hooking them up to see if I can tell if they dim with the alt. under revs.

Autometer makes this very device for dimming their LED gauges, I linked to it above so it HAS to be something very similar. I could just plunk down the $30 for the thing, but if it's as simple as that circuit I posted above, I hate to do that since I can make one in 30 minutes.

Is there an easier way to limit the voltage? If Autometer intended for this gauge to tie into a factory dimmer, which is a simple rheostat......however, I don't think a direct rheo will work as the LEDs will dim slightly then probably just shut off altogether. I could hook up a resistor to the dimmer line and see what happens though....

 

Where was the "dimming" discussion on this thread 2 weeks ago when I installed my Autometer Trans and Boost gauges LOL. I ended up installing 2 micro-switches in the A-pillar gauge pod that turns the LED "moonglow" either on or off.

On the other hand, the above discussions are way past my ability so I would have ended up doing the micro-switches anyway.

 

In your case, just buy the 9114 from Autometer and be done with it.

 

A little update:

I sent the gauges off to Auto Meter yesterday to have the LEDs swapped out from white to green. Now they'll match the factory dash all the way down to the needle.

This weekend I also made the angled bezels for my gauges. Now they'll fit in the dash right above the stereo in the DIN area and be angled toward the driver. I think I'm going to have to trim about 1/8" from the top of the dash area between the A/C controls and the DIN mount I've made for everything to line up flush, but that's short work for the trusty Dremel.

I was going to have a machine shop do the cuts for me to get the angles and measurements precise, but when they quoted me a $40 price to make simple cuts that would take all of 10 minutes, I decided to find a way to do it myself. Luckily my Dad had a miter saw and I was able to get a metal cut off blade for it that made short work of the tubing. I did have to do some clean up with the Dremel, but no biggie. Now I've just got to sand the cut edges smooth, prime, and paint.

I've added a "TRD Supercharger Blog" to my website for those that wanted to follow along as well.

I'll be on vacation next week, then the real work will begin.

So far so good.

 

Im back to high jack

Well, since reading around i see that people have a lot of problems with the ftc1-e split second piggy back. I preferibly dont want to be one of those people. Can anyone give me an average price on a smt6? I guess ill be removing the split second unit for the smt6 in the near future.

And the tuning seems a little easier with the smt6.

What do you guys think?

Ohh by the way, i got the s/c back from magnuson the other day, $707 and some change to rebuild it. And have the URD fully installed, with some hiccups along the installation.

[/endhighjack]

 

You can't say "hiccups along the installation" and not tell us what they were

 

Sweet i should sent mine over there to be rebuilt...700 is a decent price...

 

{EDIT... I made a mistake. Gregg USED to run an FTC1e, (he swapped into a MAP-ECU2) but the software he uses for th AIC is the same as the FTC1e. I've altered the wording below to reflect the AIC}


Well, to be on the good side of SplitSecond for once in my life, I think that the FTC1 is a "fine" unit, and I dunno that I've heard of issues with it.

But, that said... Johnny (Weasky2k, just above here) is a PerfectPower dealer, he's the one to get you a price.


Tuning wise... A buddy (Gregg, "Greedy" here) and I spent some time with our tuning tools side-by-side last Thursday. He runs a SplitSecond AIC (uses the same software for tuning as the FTC1e), I've got the SMT5. I'll let him speak to what was really going on in his head, but from what I saw there was a lotta "oh, that's cool"; "a completely separate map? nice!"; "you can make a tuning change THAT fast"?

I can expand on that last point... I had NO idea that it takes so long to update a tuning with the AIC. Now, Gregg's thinking that it may have been an issue with a USB->serial dongle he was using, but even so, the AIC software works such that you make your changes, then you flush ALL of the maps back to the box. AND, you have to shut down the engine to do it.

The SMTx is IMMEDIATE. We're talking, while the engine is running, one cell (or a column) at a time if you want, global changes as well (like fuel trims and timing configuration). The guy that was working with us hadn't seen the SMT before, but was VERY familiar with the process of using an FTC1 - he was pretty floored.

 

About the hiccups:
A: As i was installing the injectors, I got to about the 5th one. Started to oil the o-rings a bit and noticed something looked different from the rest of them. The part that goes into the fuel rail wasnt modified to fit. So called Brian immeadiatly and he sent a new one out that day. W/O me having to send the non modified one back right away, which i thought was very generous of them. speaking of, i need to send that out soon!

B: Getting ready to wire up the injectors with the new direct connect fittings they have, look into the box of goodies and notice they are the solder type. Call up Brian again, and that same time he sent them out.

C: As the installation of the FTC was being done, The RPM wire on the ECU was in the incorrect spot according to the wiring diagram. So called up URD tech support which was like 5:30-6 pm on saturday kinda figured they were closed, but Gadget picked up. Explained my situation to him, he then told me to explain via email and he would check it when he was done with the project he was on atm. Being about 9:30 pm on saturday now, i recieve and email from gadget telling me which wire it goes to on the Manual, which the one i got had it saying to go to the wire for the automatic, when the page said manual on it???? Dunno what happened there. Anyways he told me which wire it goes to and sent me a new diagram.

D: well, it really isnt a hiccup but. I got the wrong sized pulley for the s/c. Asked for the 2.2, and got the 2.1. Got ahold of Brian again and he explained to me that they were currently out of them and would be recieveing new ones really soon. Which is fine with me because i need to learn how to turn it before i get more addons. I can just send it out with the non mod'ed injector and the solder on wires for the injectors.

In all, None of this was to bash on URD, They have Awsome service and take very good care of their customers! I would deffinetly buy from there again!

im just thinking Brian was in a hurry to get my shippment out which is why a couple of things were different. But thats all good at the same time because the s/c was being rebuilt.

Weasy2k, as for having the s/c rebuilt, Your can be cheaper than what i paid. Cristian said he only paid like 600 to have his rebuilt when he sent his out. Ohh and cant forget to tack on $100 for shipping, so the total for me was 807 and change.

And midiwall, Ive just heard its easier to tune with the smt6, let alone having a switch on the fly for a diff map is always nice too

 

Let me add one of my own: "Wow, that would be nice!!!"

Do they make something to tune closed loop with, like the A/F sensor calabrator?

 

Stevo3,
still 600-800 is fine...i am trying to do it myself here by taking a GM s/c and using the rotors in that one with new bearings,....just gotta press out a couple things and hopfully everything will fit fine

Mark,
Funny how everyone is shocked yet the FTC1 ios the ONLY unit that i know of that isnt tune on the fly....for some reason!

Dale,
The smt6 can either do open loop config or closed loop....cant do both. However the smt7 that i have only had a day to play with (was then stolen ) can do both open and wideband controlled closed loop.

I just installed a second smt6 into my Tacoma and started to play with closed loop settings and i now have the truck running at 17:1 during highway cruse I haven't had a chance to fill the closed loop map out yet so when i warm start the truck it sits at 20:1 for a minute (very annoying) so i have to get back in there and wire up the engine temp wire to the closed loop smt6 so i can have it bypass my tuning until fully warmed up.

 

What would be really nice is if someone made a device that would interface with the WB sensor and tune itself. You basically tell it to be "X" AFR at "X" boost and the device just made it's own adjustments.

 

Make one and I'll buy it

 

which wideband? the stock AFRatio one? or a real wideband?

If your talking real wideband..smt7...it does that already. I am ordering a couple more in june and will remove the dual smt6 setup i got now and goto a single smt7

 

It'll hook up to the wideband that came with my LM-1? Umm how much for an SMT7????

 

Interesting. Keep me posted.

 

It has a BUILT IN wideband controller that it uses to target AFR's

You cant see what AFR you have so you still need a wideband display like the LM1 to verify things are working right.

There is a retail price change happening for these things so I will update everyone on that soon. Currently its around 575usd.

 

Speedy, there is a company planning to make a box that works directed with INNOVATE'S wide band gauge.
Check out the news letter on the Innovate web site.
I do not know what vehicles they plan on making it work with.

http://www.innovatemotorsports.com/r...s/news16.php#B

Its called Close Loop with Dobeck Performance.
It sounds like you can tell it what AFR you want in closed loop and open loop and works with Innovate's wide band product.

I'm on Innovate's mailing list and saw this article.

KOda4

 

wow thats pretty good!

 

Interesting. That's EXACTLY what I was talking about.

I've got a Dynojet Power Commander III USB on my sport bike and it works flawlessly. If this thing works as good as the Power Commander does they'll have a winner.