Off road minivan: Your roof is being bent

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Off road minivan: Your roof is being bent

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

And for all you tire lettering obsessives, KO2s are not available with white letters in 215/75R15.

Time to go to 235s then.

Also, thanks for the link about the lost germans in death valley (in the OP). I didn't know I wanted to spend my morning reading that, but here we are.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2021 23:35

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 20:45

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

I sketched some nifty aluminum parts to hold a quick release pin so I can mechanically lock out the brake levers. This seems prudent for road use, and will also look cool, esp when anodized bright blue.

but then I was quoted $850 to have them made.

Lemme see if I can make something cool out of plastic instead.

Are these flat, or is there a third axis bend as well as the kink on a 2d axis? How thick is this aluminum? Ballpark me on the size of these (it's tough to tell), because, even with a dxf (prototrak life, whattup) I could bang these out pretty quickly in down time here at work.

Anodizing is something I've played around with- I think we even have Caswell Blue dye on hand already, but without knowing the size, I can't commit to the anodizing as our benchtop power supplies are rather woefully underpowered for larger stuff. Fwiw, I haven't had great luck getting a 'professional' looking anodized finish other than black. Got a sharpie?

# ¿ Jul 16, 2021 15:13

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

Ha ha, now I want a cargo rack that bolts to the passenger seat mount points. I figure there are two reasonable approaches:

1) Pay Califabrication shop to weld up some aluminum.

2) Make it myself out of carbon fiber, and bill the materials to my employer under the guise of learning composite fabrication.

But really, the question of whether to permanently remove the passenger seat is a false choice. It's four screws and an electrical connector, I can swap the seat in and out in 5 minutes.

3) junkyard seat rails and connector with occupancy sensor circuit shorted to keep the light off the dash, big box sourced metal basket, zipties. Hose clamps if you're feeling fancy. Bolt in and out like a seat.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2021 19:08

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

And did you just suggest stealing a shopping cart for the cargo basket?

Actually, no. I was legit thinking of something along the lines of this, readily available at the evil empire, bed bath and beyond, etc...:

Upon further reflection, I think the proper path would be to take Kastein's approach. The juxtaposition of a shopping cart sitting right next to two blingy, red anodized handbrakes makes me giggle.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2021 22:55

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

I don't think there's another source for wheel pulses. The cruise control also gets its speed info from the ABS ECU. I don't see any pulse output from the transmission, for example.

The 1st generation, base model Sienna is not a complicated car. Take the brake lights: No ECU controls them. They aren't even on a relay. Toyota just runs the full lamp current runs through the pedal switch.

I'm 95% sure that if I put a switch in the brake signal going to the ABS ECU, it'll go idle and ignore the wheel signals altogether. But I don't want to cut up my ABS wiring harness to test this theory right before the van has to drive to the fabrication shop. I will, however, reserve a dash switch for this function.

Apparently there IS a trans speed sensor under the battery and air box:

Despite the accent, I'm pretty sure this guy is in the US and the Sienna in the video is a USDM one (Sensor location in the video is around 3:20):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veu-noYIOCo&t=200s

E: poo poo, maybe not, the earlier ones (99-00, I can't remember the MY of yours) apparently have a blanking plug for the speed sensor port, as described in post #4 in this thread. I probably should have kept reading before posting. :shrug:

glyph fucked around with this message at 14:44 on Sep 30, 2021

# ¿ Sep 30, 2021 14:41

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

I've mentioned I want a tach. And now that I think about it, a battery voltage meter would be nice, too. I have about 5 ways of measuring the van battery voltage already, but having a dash gauge might have saved me some hassle a couple times.

For these normal gauges, I'm starting to think I should just use...aftermarket gauges. In particular, I like the tachometer products that talk about having a stepper motor or air core motor inside, rather than the galvanometer inside my Simpson meters. A motor seems like a better way to drive a needle in a bouncing van.

Please give me your car gauge experiences and info!

How savvy is the OBD in these cars? Torque app and the absolute cheapest amazon BT OBD adapter could show realtime (ish) revs in my 03 accord, as well as coolant temp, fuel trims... Because a cheap burner phone with bluetooth could be an excellent digital dash as long as you didn't need it on and working the instant you closed the main power relay.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2021 20:01

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 20:45

glyph: Apr 6, 2006

ryanrs posted:

Cup Holder Chat!

The OEM cup holders don't work now because the handbrake master cylinders are in the way. So I guess I need to 3D print some new cup holders?

Major mechanical constraints:
- Existing cup holder needs an inch or so more height to clear the handbrake master cylinder.
- Non-folding replacement cup holder will restrict seat adjustment for short drivers.

Do you like your seating position? Can you lift the seat with spacers and longer bolts and keep the cupholders as they are now?

# ¿ Oct 26, 2021 15:22

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