not for 75bucks, i tried recently to make my own kit last week but failed becasue i used a relay which i made constantly closed, which switch the VDC when the car started but it was always hot and if you didnt know when you hold the VDC button down for more than 5?sec it turns back off, so im still thinking of a way to make a momentary switch, was thinking about taking a lead off of the ignition wire, but how did you decided to do it?

 

I would buy one.



Larry Bushaw - 6MT coupe - "There's nothing a donut won't solve!"

 

My kit is my finger. It's pretty cheap, but it's not for sale.

G35 6MT/DG/Fully Loaded

 

LOL [img]/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/img] MASE, Please won't you sell it? I've always wondered what it would be like to have one...

-Jason
Laser Red '03 6MT

 

I'm just ribbing you Fiddler - I too wish the switch was Auto-Off. But at least we don't have to shift from 2nd to 5th under normal acceleration!

G35 6MT/DG/Fully Loaded

 

Why are you guys so interested in an auto-vdc off switch... VDC is a life saver guys, believe me. Unless your going straight the whole time, it be wise to leave it on.


-Blk/Blk G35c

 

its only a lifesaver if you dont know the limits of your car.....
especially in situations where you have cold tires or wet roads.
Otherwise its useless, especially for racing or every-day street driving.
Another note, for those with the 6MT, the VDC has been known to cause premature clutch wear, so whenever you feel like flooring it, make sure vdc is OFF.

<font color=green>-Rambo</font color=green>
G35c 6MT DG/Willow

 

Make it $60 and you've got a deal! [img]/w3timages/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Serious. $75 is a psychologically "Price Point" which makes one hesitant about buying something so simple.

But then again, I read your post on FA and I know that I could do it if 1) I were 20 years younger 2) I had glasses that gave me "Macro" vision (just had my 2nd cataract surgery and I don't have a lens perscription yet) 3) I didn't have shoulders that are 6" wider than the driver's side floor pan 4) I had more confidence in my "electronics" experience (I can wire and solder but only if someone provides pictures, drawings, step by step instructions and requiring tools I already own (I.E. I don't own nor have I ever used a voltmeter)). That's why I didn't run right out and buy the parts you mentioned the instant I read your FA post.

If you can tell me that what you're offering will take no more that 5 minutes to install with drawings and diagrams (your home phone number [img]/w3timages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]) and require nothing much more than a flashlight and a screwdriver, I'll shell out the $70 [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img], tear out the driver's seat, wedge myself into the footwell and do my best to install your "black box".

<font color=red>*Soapbox Mode On*</font color=red>

The VDC has GOT to go.

I've been driving without one for 34.5 years during which time I've "lost control" only once. And that one time, absolutely no VDC, TCS or ABS would have saved me. Only a 1 ton anchor could have kept me on the road, maybe. (We'd just had a "torrential downpour". I'd just "crawled" through about 5" of standing water. I accelerated up to ~45mph. I approached a high bank curve where there wouldn't be any standing water. Ha! Fooled me. Water had pooled into a small resevior on the high side of the bank and the Niagra river was running down across the road. It was wider than the length of my '67 Camaro. My Kelly G60/14" Bias Belted tires were good for their time, but they're nothing compared to the Michelin Pilot Sport AS tires I have today. Full, 4 tire hydroplaning situation. I pumped the brakes like crazy but still, the rear end came around. I turned into the spin. Nothing, Nada, I was just along for the ride. Then the front tires hit pavement and the car started to straighten out. But the CAM was still at about a 45 degree angle when the rear tires hit pavement. Even tho I was turned into the direction of the spin, the traction in the rear pushed the front tires loose and I went over a mail box, over a ditch and through a corn field. If anyone saw that Steve McQueen movie where he's a bounty hunter driving a Firebird, chasing a skip through a corn field, they'll know what I saw. Corn stalks getting mowed down by my car while ears of corn are flying over the top. Wild!)

The VDC on the G35 is erratic and unpredictable and it really takes away the fun of driving a "Sports Luxury" car.

The VDC prevents me from taking corners at the outside of the envelope. The G35 has a slight understeer. This means that the outside front tire gives us an audible clue when we are approaching the edge and need to back off or power through. But the VDC will kick in and pulse the brake to the outside front wheel long before that edge can be reached. And if you can get past the VDC and kick the rear end loose for a little throttle steering, the VDC will pulse the brake to the inside rear wheel. Both actions spoil the fun of owning a G35. (Last week I was driving along at ~45mph on a road that had about a 3 degree right hand banked curve. The road was dry and hot. My right rear tire picked up a little asphalt/gravel in one of those spots where nobody tends to drive and this effluvium tends to collect. The !@#$ VDC flashes the <blink><font color=red>SLIP</blink></font color=red> light and pulses the brake to that wheel causing me to slow down in an absolutely innocuous situation.

TCS? So far it has not worked when actually needed and worse, it kicks in when it shouldn't (read, "when I don't want it to"). In a sigma nu (sic?) situation, where one driving wheel is on a surface with a low "co-efficient of friction" (COF) and the opposite driving wheel is on a surface with a high COF, the G35's TCS does not work at all (which, I think is the reason that you can order an LSD for the G35). TCS should pulse the brake to the slipping wheel. But in this situation, the G35s TCS does nothing. My G35 does not have an LSD. When I had to climb a hill with my left rear tire on snow and my right rear tire on dry pavement, the left rear tire spun freely and TCS did not kick in, resulting in a very slow crawl up the hill. Fortunately, snow does not have a COF of zero else I would not have been able to get up the hill.

Unfortunately, turning off the VDC turns off the ABS. Now this is one system that is useful for folks who do not push the envelope but who do find themselves in a dangerous situation (E.G. some idiot cuts you off and you slam on the brakes in order to not ram him in the gas tank, resulting in locked brakes and a skid). One can learn the "brake threshold" of one's car but few folks do this so ABS is helpful to many. The other thing one has to learn to do when one doesn't have ABS is to go against one's nature and get off of the brake and either steer around the obstacle or pump the brake just like an ABS would do for one.

This does <font color=red>not</font color=red> mean that I wouldn't turn the VDC on when road conditions warrant.

<font color=red>*Soapbox Mode Off*</font color=red>

Screamin' Daemon - L5AT

 

>connect "black box" to power and ground<

Ah Ha!

The missing step! [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img]

I understand a 12 volt negative ground system. Finding an available grounding point is not a problem.

But since I don't have a voltmeter and I don't like to experiment with electronic systems, you'll have to suggest one or more "switched" power sources and how to tap into them. Perferrably without having to cut insulation in order to splice into an existing "switched" power source.

Include that in your instructions and I'm in.

I can't help <blink><font color=red>ranting</blink></font color=red> a little bit. I've spent my entire life searching for a car that I truly enjoyed driving. The G35 is very enjoyable. It would be almost perfect except for a couple of anoyances. The VDC, the "Paint Chips" and the "not quite there yet" amount of HP. (Which is why I have the Stillen exhaust and I've ordered the Injen Intake. (I got tired of waiting for that mysterious K&N FIPK someone was raving about a few months ago.) I'll probably get the Borla headers when they are available for the "G". I'm going to wait a while before getting the ATI ProCharger. That's too much money for a system which nobody can agree on whether or not it will or will not void the warranty or trash my "AutoTranny". I waited to order the Injen CAI because I kept seeing the same Dyno charts over and over again. Charts which showed an AT being tested in 3rd gear instead of the proper 4th gear. Now that Injen has published a Dyno chart for a 5AT run in 4th gear that shows 9.8rwhp gain, I'm willing to take the chance and risk "HydroLock" with the "slammed to the ground" intake.)

Screamin' Daemon

 

I kind of like reaching down and turing it off every time. Its like flying a plane..... "right turbing, left turbing, check flaps etc etc." but isntead "AC stereo VDC then wait for the car to warm up and were ready for take off."