torstai 10. lokakuuta 2013

Parts galore



So I've got plenty of parts now. A vacuum pump from VAG (Audi), a blue funny-shaped pressure bottle also from an Audi, power steering pump from a Peugeot 307 (just like my daily driver!), a couple of 80A relays for the charging connector and some trailer connectors I was thinking I'd use for plugging in the charger. That way I could put the same connector on my motorcycle as well and switch chargers between the two at will.

For the power brake setup I'm still waiting for a vacuum switch to arrive which would allow me to control the pump via relay to switch on and off based on amount of vacuum in the bottle. The pump itself works great and doesn't make too much noise. It had a three pin connector, but once the plastic around it got removed along with a little relay board, there were just two normal connectors on the pump, which simply take 12 volts to run the pump.

The power steering is a bit less clear cut at this point. The pump has a metal tube coming out of it for the high pressure output. That needs to be somehow made to fit the original plumbing in the car. Luckily I have some contacts to a local hydraulics company so I'm guessing they might of help there. The pump also has a number of wires in addition to what are clearly the main 12 volt power lines. I tried to plug the 12 volt wires directly into a 12V battery, but nothing happened, so there must be a board with some logic somewhere in there. I'll have to try to find a pinout for the connector with all those little wires or take the damn thing apart to see if I can find a way to "hot-wire" the pump into action.

Other than that the only thing that I don't have parts or a plan set in stone yet for is the heating. The current thinking is to replace the pollen filter with some PTC heating elements. The simplest, yet the most expensive solution, would be to get a ready made hot water system and plug it into the existing plumbing. But we don't usually go for the expensive-but-easy solution, now do we.