Been working on this for a while now.

I needed a good way to control the multi-stage variable pressure water system on the truck, along with nitrous. I've been using a pair of Allen-Bradley Micrologix 1200 Programmable Logic Computers to do so in the past, but didn't have a good way to pull sensor readings from the factory PCM without hacking up the stock wiring harness beyond repair. The solution I came up with is to install a second factory CAN-compatible Ford or similar aftermarket processor. I had another processor around, so that is the direction the project went.

Getting started was the biggest pain in the butt: finding a source of factory PCM connectors. After making NUMEROUS phone calls I finally got ahold of Tyco who manufactured the connectors from Ford, and was able to aquire 5 sets of male and female cable-to-cable connectors to match the Ford harness. Here's the part numbers for future reference...they are not available through Ford in connector or pigtail form.

2L1T-14A464-SD-028 Ford, 6-1438082-1 Tyco (X1 connector)
2L1T-14A464-TD-017 Ford, 3-1438082-9 Tyco (X2 connector)
2L1T-14A464-UC-011 Ford, 1-1438082-5 Tyco (X3 connector)

You'll also need the matching terminal pins to go into the connectors; these come as a set seperately.

Once it's wired up, everything is plug and play. I have schematics drawn out for the wiring if anyone needs them; I would post them but the files would suck up alot of FTE bandwidth. It plugs in between the factory PCM and data link connector, on CAN channel 1.

The great benefit of doing this is that anything aftermarket that needs to be controlled can be done so with the Ford PCM; the programming can be written and re-written during a flash of the Ford software, and all factory signals are available between the SCP and twin-channel CAN networks already present in the truck, so wiring is minimal.

Once installed, the secondary processor will need to be flash erased and left that way until full programming is completed and uploaded, to prevent interference with the primary processor's operation since the secondary will likely have the same memory block addressing as the first. All of this has to be re-written to allocate new memory addresses, and the programming must be done from the ground up to correspond with whatever control inputs and outputs you desire to control (solenoids, relays, pressure controls, electric regulators, and so on). This includes not only tables and scalars (such as in traditional automotive tuning) but conditional statements, control functions and algorithms, pinout addressing, memory addressing, and other such neccessities. The physical install is quite simple...however, quite frankly, the programming is a nightmare.

So far, I have the processor installed behind the power steering fluid reservior and getting an active on-network reading. I'm working (and will be for a while) on the programming and external wiring to input and output sources. I'll likely post an update when I'm done.

If anyone is interested in this in detail, feel free to contact me in private.

Just thought it would be some interesting information to throw out in the open, and hopefully helpful to a few.

 

Man you are out there. Has ford call you of may an offer or to work for them. Looks great but too much for me. but thanks for the infor anyway. John

 

PSD what do you think is your power at the rear wheels? That is a lot of mods.

 

Sorry, but I don't post power or time stats on here anymore.

 

You reckon???
Heck there are a team of engineers that work on doing JUST the engine programming for around 2 years.

Gee. This has gone beyond the point of ridiculous, and I love it, I love it alot.

 

What I'm trying to do with it won't be nearly as detailed as what comes from the factory; just functional at best. It has a 448k flash memory and I doubt I'll ever even use a tenth of it.

Hey just give it a year...when I get the paddle shifter done (Its really stupid simple with a Torqshift)

 

Funny you mention paddle shifter...
I just finished designing a paddle shift for our race car.
It uses a motorcycle gearbox though, so it is pretty easy.
Just 2 pneumatic rams out of paintball guns, a little pressurised cylinder, and some simple pneumatic circuitry.

You do have the advantage of not worrying about what customers want - or meeting EPA regs either.

 

With a TS, its just a transformer box, a small control circuit, some wiring and buttons...

 

Okay you earned the slogan "Stock S**ks" ......

 

Ok. You have me curious.
I have never done any transmission programming.
What do you think the delay will be like? (between paddle actuation to gear change)
All automatics I have driven with a psuedo paddleshift mode have had around a 1 second delay - less on upshifts, but more on down shifts.

 

When hardwired in, it should be instananeous. Since yours is pneumatic it will be EXTREMELY fast; even faster than the hydraulic system on the TS. The delays you speak of are all electronic...what purpose they serve I couldn't tell you, I'm sure there's some reason, but it is intentional. The converter will stay locked at all times in non-shift state, any time above about 7-8 mph depending on what I set as a scalar value. When shifting, up or downshifting, the TC will unlock, immediately shift, and immediately lock back. You can just use the turbine speed sensor and output shaft speed sensor to determine when the gear is locked in, and the whole process will be under about 600 milliseconds. It'll be pretty violent, but extremely fast. The only trick will be controlling line pressure and lockup pressure, but if you dont mind having your brains knocked around you can simply program a linear pressure ramp with a output = slope*x + intercept. Thankfully I've switched all the inverse proportional clutch solenoids out for direct proportional ones, so the solenoid DC's can be set to be proportional to the line pressure...once the intercept is set correctly, it will be firm at part throttle, and neck-breaking at WOT. I'll probably have a lower ramp rate for downshifting, because I don't want a violent shift downshifting coming into or out of a turn....

I think once its hardwired, I'll also be able to run more than the stock 100% DC (which is one amp at max pressure); possibly upwards of 1.5 amps to each solenoid....which will just make it insane. Only problem is will the rest of the drivetrain stand it?

I'll need a solid state switch box to switch the shifting controls over from the stock PCM to mine, so I can use either the stock scheduling or manual, but there won't be too much to it. I've found the actual control hardware I want to use, but I've got to find a good interior shop who can make it look decent.

See? Dual processors are fun
I'm still trying to figure out a way to overclock the actual processing unit on the stock PCM; these CPU's don't have an incredible clock rate.

 

Guys, all i can say about his truck is its VERY FAST and when I rode in it he had no Nitrous and no Methonal/Water Injection running! What really impresses me about his truck is the top end, you think "dang this thing is FAST on take off", it doesn;t even come into its powerband until 85 mph then it will throw you into the seat.!

 

Very impressive, Matt.

I didn't realize the engineering side interested you THIS much =o)

 

I don't know what most of the computer stuff means, even after reading through it four times.

I still like reading it though!

 

Matt, sounds awesome! It'll be the best of both worlds (manual/automatic). Can't wait to read all about when you get it working. One question that lurks in my mind is will both processor's be the same part number or will one be "from an auto truck" and the other "from a manual truck." I'm probably way off here as my experiance is with the old EECIV processor that was an all in one box.

Cool stuff!