Zafira B GSI Turbo CANBUS Project

[NitrousVauc]

Hi All,

I have been working on cars in a DIY fashion for a long time and the time has come for me to finally upgrade my Nova (or Corsa A) 1986 from C20XE power to Z20LER power, approx 150bhp to 200bhp but with turbo this time.

I have brought a Zafira B GSI donor and stripped out the full loom, engine box etc. I have the passcode, vauxcom and eeprom programmer / reader and been trying to get to grips with the canbus system. I have the UEC, REC, CIM, etc.

My plan is to mate the engine and wiring loom into the Nova with a lot of work for driveshafts etc. I can do general wiring and have been into the programming of the car so far.

The one issue I had so far was the CIM was not communicating. The car did run and drive even with this.

I have a couple of queries and could do with a bit of help if anyone is able to?

- As the Nova is 1986 and I have not taken the air bags from the doner, I would like to (instead of the resisters) remove the wiring and the module completely. I have found the module and I can trace the wiring from the loom. Can I programme the can bus network to ignore it or remove it from the can bus physically by unwiring it and looping the high / low canbus?

- The other features such as traction control / ABS I also dont have on the Nova, however I took the parts from the doner. My plan is to fit the ABS pump and connectors to keep the can bus, I wanted to know if anyone knew of other ABS sensors I could use to give a speed signal? Ideally I would wire the four sensors to the singular abs sensor.

- Traction control, I have been told I can deprogramme with the Vauxcom. I didnt manage to get the light off yet.

- Ideally I would like to use the full Zafira wiring loom as it is in much better shape than my Nova (1986) one, but I wont have for example, the rear doors etc. Can I programme these out of the system?

- I want to use the old Nova dash and switches for the interior fan and the lights etc. I have both sets of wiring. I have made the assumption that I would just test the wiring to the plugs, work out which wires carry the signals to the lights etc. then re wire them to the old school switches. Is this possible?

- I have been advised that to fully utilise the least amount of the loom and run it standalone, I would need to get the immo off? Having looked around I couldn't find a solution for this. Suggestions are is not really possible due to the canbus, is this correct?

- I do like the idea of the can bus and the data and elements that can be added to the system. Overall I think for the future it would be good to keep the canbus, but I do need to be able to get it through an MOT in the UK and as such need solutions so I can get the dash lights off as I would like it to be a track / road legal car.

Sorry for the long list, just looking for some help.

[sebage]

As far as I know, I will try to answer the questions in order:

- I assume that you can remove the physical module, then join the wires on pins 35, 36, 37 and 38 (depending on the equipment maintained on the car) and now access all the modules on the Low Speed CAN bus (CIM, UEC, REC, Display , Instruments, TPMS, AC) to program in each Airbag module as not present;

- I do not see the meaning of the ABS module, as long as you will not be able to meet all its conditions. As long as you want to simulate the pulses from the sensors on the wheels, the speeds declared by these simulators will be inconsistent with the actual speeds of each wheel correlated with the steering wheel angle, so that no function on the ABS module is functional, moreover, you will wake up with aberrant reactions from ESP;

- traction control I think you find it on both the ECM and the ABS (maybe on the Instruments), when you operate a modification, you have to do it in all the modules involved in that function, otherwise there are no correlations;

- almost every function has its specifics, strictly for the back doors, you just have to keep the contact for the door closed and everything will be ok;

- if you have air conditioning with manual control (from zafira), it will be relatively simple, but if you have air conditioning with automatic control, it gets a little more complicated, you may have to improvise something. In principle we have the schemes (you can find them in TIS), if you don't have them, we can help you with what you need;

- I have no idea about immo off on that ECU, but I would try not to do that, as long as possible in the original configuration. A colleague who knows about an immo off may also intervene;

- Basically, if you have the ambition to make the changes correctly, I think you will not have problems with lights on in the dash, and in the worst case, strictly to pass the checks, you can cover those areas with opaque tape on the side inside the instrument foil.

Good luck and keep us posted, I like the project.

[NitrousVauc]

Thank you so much for your reply. I added some further info to try and clear up a few issues.

- I assume that you can remove the physical module, then join the wires on pins 35, 36, 37 and 38 (depending on the equipment maintained on the car) and now access all the modules on the Low Speed CAN bus (CIM, UEC, REC, Display , Instruments, TPMS, AC) to program in each Airbag module as not present; - I assume you mean join the wires together?

- I do not see the meaning of the ABS module, as long as you will not be able to meet all its conditions. As long as you want to simulate the pulses from the sensors on the wheels, the speeds declared by these simulators will be inconsistent with the actual speeds of each wheel correlated with the steering wheel angle, so that no function on the ABS module is functional, moreover, you will wake up with aberrant reactions from ESP; - On the Zafira and Vauxhall models that dont have a gearbox transducer, they use a ABS sensor in the wheel bearing and the ABS module modulates that signal and sends the data to the dash for the speedo signal. This means I wont have a speedo, which for most uses of this car not an issue, however for road use it would be good to have. My plan is to fit an ABS ring and ABS sensor from an opel Corsa B and feed that signal into the ABS ECU. The pipes wont be connected to the ABS module so it wont do anything to the braking system but should give me a speedo.

- traction control I think you find it on both the ECM and the ABS (maybe on the Instruments), when you operate a modification, you have to do it in all the modules involved in that function, otherwise there are no correlations; - Agreed. I'll redo the opcom when I have the loom livened up and remove it form all modules, when I get the CIM to connect.

- almost every function has its specifics, strictly for the back doors, you just have to keep the contact for the door closed and everything will be ok; - Back door contacts? I will need to check the TIS wiring looms and make sure the door contacts are earthed so that i can avoid any issues with that.

- if you have air conditioning with manual control (from zafira), it will be relatively simple, but if you have air conditioning with automatic control, it gets a little more complicated, you may have to improvise something. In principle we have the schemes (you can find them in TIS), if you don't have them, we can help you with what you need; - i understand its manual control, pump gone anyway so will have to live without it.

- I have no idea about immo off on that ECU, but I would try not to do that, as long as possible in the original configuration. A colleague who knows about an immo off may also intervene; - I have been told quite a few times now no immo off solutions, so I need to satisfy the need of the CANBUS to make sure I get all of the modules correctly.

- Basically, if you have the ambition to make the changes correctly, I think you will not have problems with lights on in the dash, and in the worst case, strictly to pass the checks, you can cover those areas with opaque tape on the side inside the instrument foil. - Agreed. Likely i will have to do this or unsolder the LED lights behind, either is an option.

First I need to fit the engine, gearbox then the loom and see where I end up.

Thank you