Hi. I was taking apart a stock harness so that I could snip off the cas sensor plug and put it on my haltech harness. As I took off the electrical tape so I could snip it closer I noticed that the stock harness is shielded (im glad I guess). A thought came across my mind thinking maybe I could just use the stock shielded set of wires to the passenger side firewall, where there it would connect to the haltech's harness, instead of having the haltechs wires going all the way across the engine bay.

I thought this might be better as I have heard there has been a lot of problems with alternators and getting clean cas signals. I have no problem just cutting the plug and putting it on the cas (as someone would normally do), I just wondered if anybody thought that using the stock shielded wiring going across the engine bay might somehow be better than having two seperate sets of haltech wiring? (for a cleaner signal?)

Thanks
~Tweak

 

opps, I think I found a thread that had the same idea as me. No real results, but I think I will use the stock wiring.
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...tock+cas+wires

 

Well, IMO - try the stock wiring.

I ended up using the entire length of Haltech's shielded cable and I had issues. Not saying the wire's a problem because it obviously isn't - many people aside from me use it without problems. But give the stock wiring a shot. As ludwig points out in the other thread the shielding on the stock wire is pretty beefy (wound wires as opposed to foil)

But just check the stock stuff out, trim back some insulation near the end and check for any blackening or corrosion on the wires - they are 20 years old after all.

 

If someone wanted to use an aftermarket CAS Wire, what would you suggest ?

A link to a certain wire would be great.

 

Audio cable is probably the best in the business. High frequency signals are more susceptible to interference than the low frequency signals common in the auto field. Claudio needs to chime in here as he should have some factory knowledge. From what I know though the audio cables are usually a higher end product. Funny that as I'm typing this the banner ad at the bottom of the screen is for Belden shielded cable.

The fact remains however that a LOT of perfectly functioning installs are happening with the components supplied in the Haltech kit. And those components are on par with the rest of the industry. So a good clean install is still the most effective means of achieving a trouble free end product. Not to pick on Eric too much but the way he's pieced his EMS together is not the way to do things. And unfortunately that way seems to be more the rule than the exception. Do it correctly the first time and take the time to do it right. I've seen a lot of cars that were thrown together "just so I can start it" that end up with bugs that never get fixed.


http://www.gotham.ch/products_en/gac/11002.htm

 

EDIT: Yep audio cable....

I actually used generic shielded RCA cable with the connectors cut off, cable shielding grounded at the sensor ground on a previous install.

IMO the biggest issue with the FC pickup is the pickup itself combined with the logic in the haltech reluctor adapter, and not the wiring.

I had ridiculous improvements when switching to the FD system.

 

I heard through the wire, that someone (*ahhchew tearbo2* oh excuse me) got something from rx7.net or something that allows him to use the FD style on his RE. He nor rx7.net will talk to me though, so now I hate them. :P

 

What he is using didn't come from rx7.net nor does it use any of the stock components. Lee is a very resourceful guy but i would advise you to stick with the stock gen 2 CAS. He is pushing his car to the absolute edge and needs a VERY accurate setup. There has been a awful lot of people make a tremendous amount of power using a FC CAS without any problems. Just take care when wiring and set it up right and you shouldn't have any issues.


And here is some wire, we have boxes of that **** lying around.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...shieldwire.php

 

ohh, woops. I was misinformed than. Sorry about that. Thanks for correcting me.

 

If you're wanting to go that far, simply use an REW front cover and water pump. You'll need to run serpentine pulleys and won't be able to have power steering (or will need some clever pulley arrangment to do so) but its actually a very straightforward swap. I'm going this route on my TECgt install so I can utilize the trigger wheel kit for the FD.

 

I've looked at doing the front cover swap on an FC engine and the FC oil pan doesn't like the FD front cover. Are you seeing an easy way around that we aren't? Really want to use the FD crank trigger with the Haltech to eliminate the CAS slop. Despite the fact that a lot of people have made great, reliable power with the CAS we've still measured about +/-3* slop at in the CAS drive gear and I would love to eliminate that.

 

Its time for some advanced features! Chris, give the "Advanced Trigger Setup" a try, it basically gives you the option to tell the Haltech a variable trigger angle at every 1000rpms all the way to 16000, this helps to correct for the variation you get from either the reluctor signals changing amplitud on you, or in the case of piston motors it helps with timing belts expanding and giving you a variation. I have used this on 1JZ and EJ20 engines and it makes the timing just stay ROCK SOLID all the time.

What you need to do is this. Lock your timing at the appropriate spot, give your engine a rev, preferably try to go past 4-5k rpm, see how much timing movement you get on the mark on the pulley, as you pointed out you're seeing 3*, lets say your trigger angle at idle (0-1000rpm) is 65, and when you rev it the mark on the pulley moves 3 degrees to the left (advances) you would take your trigger angle from 1000 to about 5000 and raise it by 3 degrees, and then after 5000 rpms you'd keep it at 68, then give the engine another rev, you should now see little or NO variation in the locked timing value.

As for the shielding question earlier, the Haltech harness is pretty good when properly installed and run through an ideal path where it doesnt meet high tension leads or power sources, and of course, the grounds are done the right way. Another effective way of making sure you dont get these sort of problems is to to have a well grounded car/engine, ground kits help a great deal, and improving the electrical system is always a plus. Realistically, remember that these cars are now around 20 years old, and the intense heat the rotary engine produces does help to progressively damage the harness with time, unless you have a brand new harness from Mazda and want to do a Plug n Play install, i would stick with doing the flying lead install. Convoluted tubing is always nice to use to cover each bundle of cables going to each sensor and location, and it makes for very nice looking installation when done with diligence and patience.

Hope this helps.

 

Great advice Claudio. On the subject of engine grounding there is some great information here. http://efi101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3554

On the subject of the CAS I want to avoid the situation below, which to the best of my knowledge is not something any EMS can over come. It's simply lash slop in the drive gear resulting from an on/off throttle situation. This not only translates into the ECU thinking the engine speed is different than what it is but that will result in poorly timed ignition events until the CAS speed again stabilizes in regard to actual crank speed. Only way to eliminate that is to eliminate the lash by converting to a crank trigger. Agree?

 

Well, yeah, crank angle sensor is the best solution, but even then you do get a little timing drift from the reluctor signals, easily fixed with the advanced trigger setup.

 

Agreed.

 

The best solution is a hall effect crank angle sensor

 

Funny that I'm reading that as I'm comparing pan gaskets

Hadn't noticed that portion until I looked at the parts this morning, yesterday I'd compared dimensions to see if I could run the FC waterpump etc...

My thought is now to machine down the gasket surface on the FD front cover approx. 1/8, then make an adapter to bolt to the FD cover with tapered heads (flush fit) and drill/tap for the FC pattern, but I'm not entirely sure it'll work yet. I also have a few more options being I'm using a pineapple aluminum pan (like adding to the pan itself rather then the front cover) but I'll ahve to dive a little deeper into it and figure it out. I do know I certainly want to use it - whether I end up swapping in an REW or not

 

Could also go back to a steel oil pan and perform these "mods"

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...RE+front+cover

The RE/20B front cover has the same bolt pattern (pan wise) and the pics in that thread illustrate the offset vs. an FD front cover. Not *too* far off.


Sorry for the thread jack

 

I'm gonna reply to your TEC thread and keep this going.

 

I didn't read the thread so I could be not understanding what your saying:

The RE and REW have the same bolt pattern with respect to the left and right side of the oil pan.

They are different with respect to the rear where the REW has engine mounts that go through the pan much.

They are way different with respect to the front cover section of the pan the REW pan is like 1/2 inch shorter. It is too far off you can't use an RE pan with an REW front cover there would be a gap there.

I put an REW pan and front cover on an RE. In order to do this I welded plugs into the REW pan where the engine mount bolts where.

If I could I would purchase an REW pan from pineapple or whoever but without the rear holes drilled.

 

Slo, I should have laid that out better.

Was trying to say that the RE/20B front cover portions of the oil pan are the same as the FC, and I'm trying to fit the REW cover to the FC. The thread outlines fitting an REW cover on a 20B, so the bolt hole location's will be off the same amount on my swap.