Goldy's Flappy Paddles Build Thread

[Goldy]

This isn't exactly an engine swap but I thought i'd put a build thread up to bounce ideas around and let people know the progress. The car is a Rev 3 Auto import so things might be slightly different for other models.

The plan is to install a prototype control box to see if the idea of tiptronic control of the automatic gearbox even works.

The basic plan is to chop into the ecu wiring to install a switch that will let me flip between full auto and the flappy paddles. The control box needs wiring in and I need to find some suitable easy to install paddles and a way to get the signals off the steering wheel without trailing wires!

Fitted a 3 pole 2 way switch in a hole that was conviniently left by the previous owner. I'm going to run a 6 core cable to the ecu and splice into the Solenoids 1,2 & 3 wiring for the gearbox. The 3 wires going to the solenoids will run to the centre contact of the switch and the 3 wires from the ecu will run to one of switch contacts (not sure which yet). I'll then connect the other contact to the flappy paddle control box which should allow me to switch between the two.




I've bought off ebay an airbag slip ring off a toyota celica as a potential way of getting the wires for the paddles through to the steering wheel.

Whilst in the car today I thought i'd have a look to see how potentially this might fit. Much to my suprise when I took off the horn cover there was already an airbag slip ring fitted connected to the horn, my rev 1 was deffo not configured like this. Have had a little poke around it looks like the connector comes out at the lower rear of the slip ring, however there is a little circuit board in there that i'm not sure what it does. Anyone got any info on the airbag system? If I can access the wiring, the 3 pin connector behind the steering wheel will work perfectly for connecting the paddles up to!!

[nik]

ooh great stuff, a really interesting thread to read..loving the slip-ring idea..
if you still want zombie paddles making mate the offer is there..

[Goldy]

ooh great stuff, a really interesting thread to read..loving the slip-ring idea..
if you still want zombie paddles making mate the offer is there..

I might well take you up on that, i'm considering microswitches on the back of the wheel with some paddles bolted through, the audi TT paddles i've got look too big!

[Torero]

Subscribed to this guys, mega interesting. Could be the biggest innovation on a 2 since the V6.

[dgh938peg]

That same 3-pin connector is on my rev2 wheel as well so i guess it must be common from rev2 onward bud.

Just a thought, is it worth considering making the switch assembly onto an aftermarket wheel? That way you'd have a 6-bolt flange to attach to rather than pretty much nothing with the rev2/3 wheel. In addition - i would think most looking for this sort of option probably have an aftermarket wheel anyway.

Dan :)

[Goldy]

That same 3-pin connector is on my rev2 wheel as well so i guess it must be common from rev2 onward bud.

Just a thought, is it worth considering making the switch assembly onto an aftermarket wheel? That way you'd have a 6-bolt flange to attach to rather than pretty much nothing with the rev2/3 wheel. In addition - i would think most looking for this sort of option probably have an aftermarket wheel anyway.

Dan :)

I think it'd work with an aftermarket wheel, you'd still need to get hold of the airbag slip ring if you were fitting to a rev1. For the moment i'm just modding up the standard rev3 wheel, should be pretty similar with any wheel I would imagine?

[Goldy]

I've had a little fettle round over lunch and I think i've worked out the pinout for the ecu. The rev3 auto ecu is different than the 3SFE one from the MR2 tech BGB. This is bodged together from some info from the celica forums and a wiring diagram from the REV 3 3SGE bgb.



I had a quick check with a multimeter, B+, Batt and E1 are all in the correct positions. S1 can be checked, it should be = battery voltage with ignition on and 0v with ignition off, SL and S2 should be 0V with ignition on or off.


The three wires under my thumb correspond to the three control solenoids for the auto box, i'm going to try to check the wiring colours to double check i've got the right wires before I cut anything.


Next up is to splice into S1 S2, SL and STP and run them via 7 core trailer cable (from maplin) to the cockpit.

[Maxim9]

From the description and pictures it looks like the paddles would be mounted to the wheel. Wouldn't the better place be to mount them to the column so they're always in the same place?

[Nod]

Have you thought about using the horn for a power supply and then blue toothing all the data to the command module. That way you can have LCD screens for gearbox telemetry in the steering wheel too ;)

Lyndon.

[Goldy]

Thought about paddles on the column but it isn't so practical as they would probably get in the way. I think wheel is better as your hands tend to stay in the same place on the wheel when you're driving.

Lyndon, I looked into wireless paddles but decided it wasn't reliable enough for gear change. I like the idea of LCD screens in the steering wheel, though I think thats more your speciality ;-)