General Motors Transfer Case Control Simulator

Well here is my latest creation. This box allows us to test General Motors Transfer Case Control Modules.

We can simulate front and rear prop shaft speed to test encoder motor clutch engagement. It has a OE transfer case switch to allow testing on the various modes for the 4 wheel drive operation. But why stop there, we have a engine control to simulate Vehicle Speed, Engine Coolant Temperature, Throttle Position, Manifold Pressure, Mass Air Flow, Oxygen Sensor operation, Oil Pressure, Transmission Range Selection, Current Draw, Voltage, Encoder Reference Voltage, 4WD Reference Voltage, 5 Volt Reference, Class 2 Data, and even a OBD II connector to use the GM TECH II for diagnostics and calibration updates.

We can even operate the instrument cluster and body control for vehicle security.

Whats inside? A General Motors engine control for a 2001 S10 Blazer, Body control for the same, 20 Amp 13.5 Volt switching power supply. Five Arduino Uno's to simulate crank position, cam position, vehicle speed, front and rear prop shaft speed. Three 555 timers to simulate Bank 1 & 2 upstream oxygen sensors, and one down stream oxygen sensor.

Does it work? Well I repaired 6 TCCM's under an hour! Cool thing is we can trouble-shoot the encoder motor, TCCM module and dash switches in a few minutes.

Identity Vehicle Security System

Had a 2005 Jeep Liberty come in from a dealer recently that had this key FOB with the name Identity. He said some times the vehicle won't crank but pressing on the key FOB it would finally crank. Their mechanic search high and low for the controller for the system but couldn't find it.

I found it! It was in the under-hood power distribution center in the Starter Relay socket. It appears this company makes a replacement relays for various vehicles. They have a keyless receiver built in to the starter relay which is controlled by the keyless FOB. 

When they install this system they simply replace the original starter relay with their relay.

Here is some pictures of the system:

Junk box motorcycle

I was bored at the bench today, so I soldered together some junk parts and paperclips and this is what I came up with.

GMRS Repeater

Well my latest project is to set up a GMRS repeater for the Cedar Rapids metro area. I picked up a pair of Motorola GM300 mobile UHF radios, duplexer, and Zetron repeater controller. FCC issued our license which is WQPY702. The repeater pair is 462.600/467.600 no tone.  Now all we need is a site to put up the antenna.

I also bought some UHF Ericsson MDX mobile radios surplused from the West Virginia State Police off of Ebay. The first problem is to program them to our system. 

Programming the MDX radios requires GE TQ 3370 radio interface box which 1. is very expensive and 2. impossible to find.  I downloaded the schematic for the interface and determined its nothing more than a MAX232 level converter.

This is what I came up with:

Here is the microphone connector on the FRONT of radio.

Note Pin 1 is the lower right, programmer connections a Pin 4, Pin 5 and Pin 7. I used some pins from a DB9 male serial connector for the connection to the radio microphone connector.

The programming cable to the PC is a straight through 2-2, 3-3, 5-5, 6-6

Here is my perf board version of the MAX232 schematic:

To program you need to find a copy of the ProGrammer software. It took a few days Googling to find it but it's out there.

When the ProGrammer software prompts you to turn on radio simply hold volume down while pressing power button and the radio will display "PROGRAM".

That's all.

2002 KIA Rio Knock Sensor Code

This vehicle was brought to us from another shop. The Check Engine light on, setting P0325 knock sensor code. Knock sensor was replaced by previous shop.

Pulled engine cover and noticed mouse nest and #1 and #4 ignition wire chewed on.

replaced ignition wires. Cleaned throttle body and updated ECM software per technical service bulletin. This restored the vehicle to normal operation. The point of this is, knock sensor codes are not always knock sensors, multiple misfires will trigger the knock sensor but not set a misfire code. Also a visual inspection should always be performed first.

The Small Block Chevrolet Grill

As some of you know we built a barbaque grill out of a small block Chevrolet engine. Customers that come into our office do a double take.

Here is the details:

• 1 small block Chevrolet with cylinders cutout with cutoff wheels, carbon arc, plasma, stick welder.
• 1 pair of SBC cylinder heads, valves and springs removed.
• Old Mickey Thompson valve covers blasted and painted hugger orange.
• Performer RPM intake manifold blasted and clear coated.
• MSD distributor with Accel wires.
• QuadraJet 4-barrel carburetor with interior parts removed and a block-off plate under.
• Harbor Freight engine stand.
• Harbor Freight 12 volt ATV winch to open and close grill.
• 30,000 volt stun-gun to light the grill
• Menard's Aussie gas grill burners and controls.
• Custom painted LP tank by my brother Bob.
• Custom hinges again by my brother Bob.
• Chrome water neck and valve cover breather.
• Stainless steel braided gas lines, chrome balance and timing cover.
• 12 volt wheel chair battery to power the winch all stored in-side the battery box.
• Sears Craftsman tool handle utensils.
• Custom made zoomies by Harold.

Myself and my brother worked on this off and on for three years and it was well worth the effort. It's really cool to see the smoke coming out the zoomies when your cooking burgers. YES it cooks great, not real portable though.