AR7E - Alcester Racing 7's Equipe
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The ACES Sureshift 2 shiftlight was pretty easy to install in the AR7E K-Series cars - but please read the important note regarding EU3 spec engines... Hints and Tips Update (October 1st 2003)A quick update - hints and tips... For night driving, don't bother messing around with different profiles in order to avoid being dazzled by daytime-intensity LEDs - just tilt the head unit down (or up) a bit. The intensity of the LEDs drops off with increased viewing angle (and is infinitely variable...), so you should be able to find a comfortable setting.) Right, back to the general description. Physical InstallationThe SS2 comes with a couple of strips of 3M's wonderful DualLock (TM). This is "Mans Velcro (TM)" (TM) and is also known as 'golfball tape' or similar. It's bloody expensive (about 20 quid per useable metre) and oh, so good.
<Click Image for Full Size> At AR7E, we don't run wimpy heaters in out 7's so there is a nice flat panel just in front of the gear stick to tack things to. The car illustrated is an ex-Academy 2001 car and has the 'redundant' hand brake lever - but the control unit fits fine (Note that in normal use, you don't need access to the unit - although with only one DualLock strip, it is easy to remove for maintenance).
<Click Image for Full Size> We only used one strip of DualLock (TM) along the top edge of the SS2 control unit. This is plenty secure for our needs - and means you can actually remove the unit more easily than when using two strips (this stuff is not just 'Mans Velcro (TM)' (TM) - it is 'Supermans (TM) Velcro (TM)' (TM). (Note - from now on, all trademarks - real or invented' are acknowledged...) We persuaded Julian at ACES to throw a standard light-unit mount in for free (nice man). We cut down the remaining DualLock strip to match the footprint of this mount and stuck it to the top of the scuttle. Rock-solid, but easy to remove when you need to. God knows how you get it off without destroying paintwork - but heh! that's a long time off anyway. The shiftlight cluster loom is a bit long for this application - maybe Julian can make them shorter on request at time of ordering - so we put a soft loop into the loom at the plug end and then routed it along the underside of the dash. We used real Velcro straps attached by tie-wrap to stick-on tie-wrap pads (just look here, it's far easier than explaining) to allow the loom to be routed in an easily removable way (such as when you leave the car in a public place overnight and want to remove the SS2 gubbins). That covers the physical installation. Electronic InstallationWell, this is the bit you're probably most worried about. Relax. The SS2 has a separate plug in power/signal loom with three wires on it. The earth is simple - just find and existing earth somewhere (we used one from a cigar lighter on this car) and either crimp on a ring or fork connector (if you're bolting the earths to the chassis) - or fit a spade y-connector. The positive power lead needs to go to a switched and fused supply (although there is already an inline fuse in the loom for luck). We used the heated windscreen output from the fuse box. No wimpy heated screens here boys! Finally, the tacho feed. Now, YMMV, but on this EU3 k-series, there is a white and black wire going into the back of the tacho. On the power/signal loom, the signal wire is preterminated with a spade connector. We cut the B&W wire, installed a y-job crimp-on spade connector and bob is now my uncle. Amazingly, the thing fired up first time and both the tacho and the SS2 worked fine. As an alternative, you could use the 'parasite' or 'tap' connectors that allow you to get a connection to a wire without actually severing it. You can get these from Halfords for instance. Take your pick! Well, that wasn't hard was it. If you want any more details, shout. |
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