Leadership Team Shortshift Posted May 3, 2015 Leadership Team Share Posted May 3, 2015 Changed my K-series R400 to wasted spark ignition and now have the Aces shiftlight (the standard R400 Caterham unit) thinking that the engine is operating at half of its actual speed. The green (out of power band) light remains illuminated tlll north of 7,000rpm and I haven't seen any of the ambers, let alone the reds (which would probably require around 15,000 rpm to activate...)Any ideas on how to correct this? I'm guessing that there must be a signal wire to/from the Aces unit which needs to pick up a true engine speed signal somewhere. If it's relevant the car has the Stack instrument pack in it.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerobod - near CYYC Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 If you have the version with the control unit that has configuration capability, the recommended method is to setup for a 2 cylinder engine. Here is the link to the manuals for the current Sureshift units: http://www.aceserve.co.uk/new04/techsupport.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlesElliott Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 Aces used to modify the internals for wasted spark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Shortshift Posted May 3, 2015 Author Leadership Team Share Posted May 3, 2015 Thanks for that (and thanks to Jonathan as well, who sent a similar comment) but the standard Caterham Acesunit doesn't (as far as I know) have the separate control moule; it seems to be pre-programmed. Hence my thinking that this will require a tweak to the wiring/connections?James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Williams Posted May 3, 2015 Share Posted May 3, 2015 James, how did you get the Stack to read correctly after the change to wasted spark? If you changed the signal source just connect the aces input to the same source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Shortshift Posted May 4, 2015 Author Leadership Team Share Posted May 4, 2015 Thanks Adrian. The wasted spark conversion was done for me by Rob at Rat Race (100% recommendation for super-quality of work) and he must have made the necessary changes to make the Stack read correctly. I'll give him a call - and I've also mailed Aces' technical support line. to see if they can provide any information.When I get it sorted I'll post the solution here in case it is ever of use to anyone else.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Williams Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Both the Stack and Aces are specific to the Caterham install when supplied by CC so do not have the full programable functionality of their mainstream counterparts.One solution when doing a wasted spark conversion to an EU2 K is to use the tacho output from the ECU which is redundant in the standard Caterham set up (you need to source an extra pin & wire). If this output is then connected into the vehicle loom via the engine loom both the tacho and aces work as intended without having to re-configure them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerobod - near CYYC Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 I have the Aces Sureshift unit branded by Caterham and installed on my R400D as a factory fit (although assembled by Super7 Cars in Canada, the Canadian importer, as opposed to Caterham). It has the control box that allows full configuration, although I didn't realize that at first until I poked around well under the dash to see it fixed on the firewall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Shortshift Posted May 5, 2015 Author Leadership Team Share Posted May 5, 2015 Yes - this is a voyage of discovery; I have also found the control module (which I thought the 'standard unit' didn't have) under the dash but, as reported by others, it is a non-programmable/adjustable version.I'll see what Aces' technical support guys come back with before I start to look at making new connections back to the ECU.James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oilyhands Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 The MBE should have a tacho output that you can use with the right signal for both the tachometer and the shift light. I don't have the schematic to hand right away, but I can find it if needs be.oily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Shortshift Posted May 5, 2015 Author Leadership Team Share Posted May 5, 2015 Hi DaveThat would be very helpful. I only noticed this on the way over to you on Saturday - no idea why I didn't mention it to you then as you're clearly the man to know the answer!Thanks again for the cam timing adjustments - great work!James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Williams Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 James / Dave It's pin 34 from the MBE which is what I was getting at in my previous post as being the 'easy' way to set up both tacho and aces when doing a wasted spark conversion.James as you already have the Stack working as intended it might not be the best way for you from this point. You could either ask Aces to reconfigure your unit as they used to be quite reasonable in their costings, or connect the aces to the Stack input assuming that the unit itself hasn't been reconfigured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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