Ryan's Truck

So...update time:

The truck mechanicals are coming along well - the transmission has been checked over/cleaned up at a local shop and is now ready for install.  James has the engine at a friend's shop and is in the process of going through it.  I don't know the details there, but it's coming along well and the plan is to have the truck on the road by the end of the year.

As far as my part goes, the transmission controller is coming along nicely.  We decided to go with the Ruggeduino shown above, and it arrived here on Saturday:



As far as I can tell it is functionally identical to a standard Arduino Uno and even has the same mounting holes and USB port placement, which came in handy when working on the case.  I've talked about the case at some length in my 3-D printer thread, but you can see from the above photo that it's just a simple box to hold the Ruggeduino and a relay board.  I've also finished the design for the case lid, so that's good to go as well:



At this point all that remains physically is to decide whether to mount the interface connector directly to the case, or have it on a cable extending from the controller - I'm leaning to the latter at this point, we shall see what happens.

I've been having fun playing with SolidWorks and printing the results, but now it's time to get back to coding.  I've got the TPS from the engine as well as a pressure transducer that will read transmission line pressure as a proxy for vehicle speed, so now I've got to write the code to read both of those along with the overdrive lockout button and make decisions accordingly.  Hopefully that will be done this weekend - my goal is to have this ready before the engine, so when James is ready to start bolting things in this won't be the holdup.

Finally...one last selling point for the Ruggeduino:

Matthew - That is really looking professional!  Well done!

On the sketch, with it be table-driven or equation-driven?  I'm having a hard time getting my head around how just using the TPS and line pressure would work.  Will you also have a tach input?

I like the Ruggeduino, and something like your case with just the Ruggeduino looks like what I'd want to do to read various parameters and drive a display.

Nice!

Gary Lewis wrote

Matthew - That is really looking professional!  Well done!

Thanks!  This whole project actually feels more professional as well...I've done other (non-automotive) projects in the past with cases that I've purchased, and they never feel right.  It's rare to find a case the exact size you need, so you end up with something that is too large, and you have to figure out how to get your board or whatnot mounted without coming loose, and then the whole thing is way larger than necessary, and and and...

This is much better.

On the sketch, with it be table-driven or equation-driven?  I'm having a hard time getting my head around how just using the TPS and line pressure would work.  Will you also have a tach input?

Nope, no tach.  The trick here is that it's just the overdrive that is being controlled by the Arduino; gears 1-3 are old-school hydraulics.  So the logic is super simple...if vehicle speed is above a certain level and the pedal is pressed by a certain amount that means you're on the open road and it's time to engage overdrive.  If the speed is below a certain level and the pedal isn't pressed so much, you're slowing down and it's time to disengage.  Plus the O/D lockout button has to be handled, and that's it.

I like the Ruggeduino, and something like your case with just the Ruggeduino looks like what I'd want to do to read various parameters and drive a display.

Let me know whenever you're ready to do it.  I'd be happy to print you up a case, or if you want to play with it yourself you're welcome to the CAD file as well...no reason to re-invent the wheel, unless you really want to.

"Purpose-built" comes to mind.  When it just fits it is just right!

Oh, now I understand on the tranny.  Yes, the sketch should be pretty simple.  Are you going to have any input, like from a bluetoothed cell phone or USB-connected device, to allow you to modify the shift points?  That might be very helpful in tuning.

On the box, thanks!  I don't have a 3D printer, so couldn't use the CAD file.  Oh wait, I could send it to a commercial printer, like I've done before.

But, I don't know that I'll need the relay board so the box wouldn't need to be that big.  I think I'm just going to want to drive a display, if I can find one the right size, that reads out in the top of the medium-duty radio bezel's opening.  I just want to do away with the aftermarket gauges that are hard-plumbed, so taking the gauge bezel off is a huge pain.  But I'll discuss that over in BB's thread when the time comes.

Gary Lewis wrote

"Yes, the sketch should be pretty simple.  Are you going to have any input, like from a bluetoothed cell phone or USB-connected device, to allow you to modify the shift points?  That might be very helpful in tuning.

Yep, that's why the USB port is exposed.  Once the truck is ready to drive, I expect we'll be making a number of passes up and down the highway by my brother's house, with my laptop plugged into the Arduino so we can adjust the shift points until we're happy.

But, I don't know that I'll need the relay board so the box wouldn't need to be that big.  I think I'm just going to want to drive a display, if I can find one the right size, that reads out in the top of the medium-duty radio bezel's opening.  I just want to do away with the aftermarket gauges that are hard-plumbed, so taking the gauge bezel off is a huge pain.  But I'll discuss that over in BB's thread when the time comes.

Once I'm done with this project, I'll be doing cases for other purposes...among them an Arduino-only case.  So when the time comes I expect I'll have a small case that would meet your needs...and if I don't, it would be a quick matter to put one together given that I already have all the measurements needed.  I'll also be doing a Raspberry Pi case, plus a properly-sized case for the voltage regulator that I use to power my ham radio with my robotics batteries.  The current case is HUGE, and inspired my previous complaint about case sizes.

That's a serious voltage regulator.  And I can see how useful that would be with a ham radio.  And a purpose-printed case for it would be ideal.

And thanks for the offer on the case.  Not sure that I'll do it, but it I do I'll surely take you up on that.   

It's been a while since I've updated this thread, so I thought I should swing by and let people know that this project is not actually dead.

Current status is that the transmission and engine are both cleaned up/updated/ready to go.  He also has picked up a frame from a 2003 F-250 4wd that has the axles and suspension components with it - he's going to graft them onto the '95 frame.

Right now the delay is shop space - he doesn't have a good place of his own to do this type of work, so he's been waiting to get it into the shop of a friend of his.  Unfortunately, said friend is way behind on whatever project he is working on, so now this project is behind as well.  My brother is planning to build his own shop at this point, and it may well be complete before this truck is the way things are going.

As for my part in this?  I haven't done anything since the last update, truth be told.  It's robotics season at the high school, so all my spare brain cycles are going toward that - organizing a bunch of teenagers to write competent robotics code is not a trivial task.

Great to hear from you Matthew!

I'm sure the kids are keeping you busy.
They're obviously fortunate to have a coach/mentor as dedicated as you.

Yes, it is good to hear from you, Matthew!  And tell your grandmother hello from me, please.

I understand about being behind on projects, so sympathize with your brother's friend as well as your brother.  But having your own shop is by far the way to go.

As for the robotics and kids, I agree with Jim - they are fortunate to have such a caring mentor.  Good luck!

Thanks for the kind words, guys.  I'm not sure the students agree with you right now, though...we just got done reading the student leadership the riot act over their refusal to do anything because of Covid.  Although once we explained that if they didn't want to actually build a robot we'd find a leadership team that would, they suddenly discovered that maybe they wouldn't all die after all if they wore masks and used hand sanitizer.

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

My brother gave up on waiting for his friend with the shop to clear him some space...and with the supply chain disruptions and other political and Covid-related nonsense going on, he has put off building his own shop.  So this will be getting done in his garage.  Harbor Freight was sold out of the engine stand he wanted to get, so that is on order and should, if all goes well, be delivered late this week.  He's decided to twin-turbo the engine so he's in the process of picking out a turbo kit.  Once he installs that he'll be ready to pull the old engine/transmission out of the truck and install the new setup.  

I'm not sure where the 4wd conversion stands...he's got that 2003 donor he's going to pull the parts from, but he made it sound as though he's going to do that sometime later on.  I would think it would be easier to do after he's got the old engine out and before installing the new, but of course I know nothing about conversions.

Meanwhile, I need to get back to work on the transmission controller.  I still have all the parts and whatnot sitting around, but it's been a while since I've thought about it and I don't recall exactly what we decided about how it should work.  The goal is still the same, though...use as much of the original Ford interior switches and indicators as possible, to avoid goobering up the dash with a bunch of add-ons.  

So that's it for now...not much, but I am hopeful that once the engine stand arrives we'll start seeing some real progress on this truck.  I'll keep folks posted as it happens.

Thanks for the update.  Hopefully y'all can make some progress, soon.

As for the controller, you should consider selling them if it works well.  Baumann makes big bucks on them.

Dorsai wrote

It's usually a bad sign when someone keeps coming back to a thread to declare a project isn't dead, without progress happening in the meantime, but...this project isn't dead, honest.

So this will be what, the third time I've come on here to comment that the project isn't dead? Well...it isn't. And there is progress to prove it!

I mentioned a while back that the project had been delayed due to a friend of my brother's being delayed on *his* project, so no shop was available. The plan was then to do it all in my brother's garage, but there wasn't enough room. So...he built a shop. It's not super fancy but it *is* big, and has a lift in it. That's actually why I was there this week to take photos - my son's car has been having knock sensor issues, so we brought it over to take care of that (and the coolant leak that killed the sensor).

As you can see from the photos, the engine is in, as is the transmission - the truck is fully driveable. The turbo plumbing was a bit tricky and in fact may not be in its final location just yet, but otherwise there was relatively little difficulty in getting everything in place. As for the transmission controller I was going to build, James was able to get a deal on a commercial controller, so he's using that instead. But the parts won't go to waste, as he needs a controller of some kind to control the grid heater for the Cummins. That's even easier than the transmission controller was going to be, so I am putting that together now - the last piece I needed was a temperature sensor that arrived just yesterday.

Now that the drivetrain is pretty much done, he's moved on to interior work...the inside of the truck was a complete disaster zone. He's got new carpet and door panels in, and has procured new-to-him seats as well, which need to be reupholstered. Once those are done and go in, it will be fairly well habitable in there.

After that comes the 4WD conversion. He still has all the parts I mentioned in earlier posts, but I don't know what the plan or timeline is there.

Good to hear from you Matthew!

Happy New Year

And a happy New Year to you as well!

I'm going to try to be more active here for the coming year - I haven't lost interest in my truck or anything, but it's been on the back burner thanks to switching jobs, high school robotics, etc.  Time to get back to it!

Happy New Year, Matthew!

The truck is looking good, glad it is coming along nicely.  Hope your brother gets it finished up soon.