#2001 VRH 732W Transmission 'Computer' Rebuild .....

[bozzzydmc]

They are building a wind farm North of me near Bridlington and seeing today was the nicest Sunday for as long as I can remember out came the car for a lovely drive up and down coast, its nice to remember how good it is to drive it!

Anyhow thought I would share some pics with you.

[Chris Hawes]

Great stuff Mike. The last photo is brilliantly composed!
I took my car to Kent and back over the weekend and racked up over 500 miles total. First time it has been heavily used since 31st January which was before the copious amounts of natures wet white stuff...

[bozzzydmc]

Cheers Chris ... plus not a fragment of ice or blade fell on me

There are twelve of them in a cluster up to now and just off a main road, so they are quite a landmark ... a taste of things to come I feel ....

[MikeH]

Aha so it wasnt a ufo that hit it, it was a flying delorean..

Nice pics there, deffo love that last one

[Dan6457]

Nice pictures there Mike Wind turbines always look good in pictures, thats about all they are good for though :lol:

[Guinney1971]

lol!!

Nice pics Mike - so is that you're real number plate now or is that a show plate and your
car is still HEC6T?

[bozzzydmc]

Cheers Claire

I actually sold the plate HEC6T during the Ashes filming and put the car back onto the origionally registered VRH 732W , thought it would be daft not to seeing as they used that 'on screen' so to speak. ... Blimey, that was a year and a half ago now ....

[Guinney1971]

ah right, I did wonder - I remember it having the VRH plate during A2A and wondered if it
was an 'age related plate' for filming purposes.

Hows things with you anyhow?

[hana 5284]

Hay great pics there mike you sould come down to our shop if you want to see one up really close..Its the biggest one in the country 86mts up to the hub.but you need a hard hat for the incomeing ice storm..."SAY NO THE WIND TURBINES"
HAIL TO THE ANTI WIND TURBINE COMITEE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es5zfCVZZTE

[bozzzydmc]

Just to follow on from NickT's post re his repair on his transmission 'computer' and as a matter of 'preventative' maintainance, Nick kindly helped me carry out the same updates and modification to my own car.

In hindsight Id wished I had done this earlier!....Not that my gearbox ever had any issues but the gear change is now even more super smooth and very quick between gears compared with before.

We changed out the two capacitors that are part of the ac-dc converter from speed sensor 'alternator' These had just started to show small signs of 'popping' ...These were changed to long life 'tantalum' type capacitors. Another couple of recommended modifications were carried out by adding decoupling capacitors s across the opamps power supply and a couple of diodes across the coils. We also changed out the main zener diode too.

The boards were also checked for dry joints for which a couple were found.

All in all a very fun day and with Nick's fantastic soldering skills a very nice job done too... Cheers again Nick !

[Conor Doyle]

Hi Mike / Nick,

Would you have a step by step "how to" on this project.

I would like to carry out the computer rebuild upgrade and also move the computer to the firewall in the engine compartment.

Any tips and crossreferences for the parts would be greatly appreciated.

Conor

[NickT]

I got the info from DMC Talk [can't take the credit for the research]

http://www.dmctalk.com/showthread.php?t=7427

http://www.dmctalk.com/showthread.php?t=5635


Changed parts:
Zener 7v5 Diode - stable voltage supply [1970's style!]
4.7 micro farad tantalum capacitor [35v] - alterator rc network cap
10 micro faraf tantalum capacitor [35v] - alterator rc network cap
TIP42C - Large Output Transistors [that operate the soleniod coils]

Added parts
0.1 micro farad tantalum capacitor [35v] - decoupling cap [op amp 1 between pin1 +ve and pin 6 -ve]
0.1 micro farad tantalum capacitor [35v] - decoupling cap [op amp 2 between pin1 +ve and pin 6 -ve]
Diode - reverse emf of coil [inductive load]
Diode - reverse emf of coil [inductive load]
Heatsink compound between transistors and aluminium lid.

Checked
Throttle spool to auto computer cable to allow slight play when at rest (so full throttle opening is full swing of magnets/ brushes in alternator a/c)

Luckily I have a pit so dropped the gear computer and fed it over the gearbox. Fixed it under there so we didn't have to drain the oil, remove the solenoids etc etc.

No point in relocating the auto computer really in my opinion unless you want to faff about with it later.

All in all a nice days work.

NickT

[Rich H]

For any member who doesn't have the facilities or expertise, I can do this for you. I've done three or four so far.

Unfortunately you'll need to remove the governor from the car which involves draining the gear box and removing the auto sump. Sealing it again can be an absolute nightmare. This is not an easy job, and I don't recommend it unless absolutely necessary.

I can send you just a bag of bits if you know what you are doing for a couple of quid. Like Nick has, the job can be done in situe, but you need a pit or car lift - ramps as a minimum.

PM me for further info....

[Phil Peters]

Sounds like a good write-up for the club mag... :wink:

[Birksie]

Yep, Rich did mine a few years ago. Excellent job he did too. :wink: