Commodore Thermo Fan Fixed

I've successfully fixed the thermo fan on the Commodore. It was just a power feed from the ignition relay to the fan relay, which was not getting power. Always look out for dodgy connections on these cars, I've found that over 12 years, some of the connectors have lost their shine and have a bit more resistance than they are supposed to.
So it all works now, I've botched it up, and I'm going to put a new thermostat in it tonight and solder the connections up properly.
I've also acquired a laptop which will serve as an ALDL interface. It's a bit better than what I had in mind ( and more expensive) but it's good really because it will be useful for other things. Laptops always come in handy. I will post the results of the ALDL analysis and some data streams up here when I've got all that happening.

Nissan Exa Turbo

My mate has a 81 Nissan Exa Turbo. It's an interesting car, if contraversial. Many people have a lot of negative things to say about the Exa, but I've found it to be quite a fun machine. It's very light, weighing in at 900kg, and has a lightweight engine, a 1.5 litre turbocharged unit that will have this little car torque-steering across two lanes in first and second gear. It's quite a lot of fun, beats any naturally aspirated 4 cylinder, and gives 6 cylinder falcadores a run for their money. The handling is good (as long as you don't have too much power on) and the build quality.... well, being an 81 car, it's a bit late to say anything about build quality, but all indications are there that is was pretty good from the factory. I wouldn't expect less from Nissan. The engine is fuel injected, which in my opinion is the only way to feed a turbo, and the turbo comes on at about 2000rpm, right through to the top. The wastegate is adjustable via a thread on the actuation arm, and with an intercooler, the boost could be easilly taken up from the standard 5-6 pounds (With the necessary extra fuel, of course).
I have heard of these things running 15 second quarters with a simple air filter and a decent tune. If my VP is meant to run a 15.5 in standard trim, then I believe it.

Thermo fan not working on the VP Commodore

Ever since I got this thing, the thermo fan has not been working. The thermo fan in this car is controlled by the ECU. The ECU reads the engine temperature via the coolant temp sensor. It uses this data to activate the fan at the correct time. The fan circut consists of a relay, drawing power directly from the battery to power the fan, and the relay is actuated by a feed from the ignition relay which is switched at the ECU, before going to earth. I've found I have no power from the ignition relay at the actuation pin on the fan relay. I plan on testing this tonight, and if this is not the problem, it has to be the wire back to the ECU. I don't care if I have to take the whole loom out. I will fix this irritating problem.

Almost there with the data link

I'm still getting this ALDL link happening with this Commodore. The laptop I was going to use doesn't work anymore unfortunately, so I'm going to hook it up with a PC for the time being, which is a bit limiting because apparently, the ALDL cable can only be 8 metres long. After a quick trip to Dick Smiths Electronics, I have all the necessary parts. Nothing compares to Dick Smith Electronics here in Australia. Tandy seem to no longer sell individual components, and there aren't many Radioshacks or Jaycar places here. They did give me a 10ohm resistor rather that a 10k one, but other than that, they are pretty helpful. I'm going to try and get another old laptop on Monday, so it can sit on the passenger seat.

No more Benson and Hedges Extra Mild - Now it's Benson and Hedges "Smooth"

Unfortunately I smoke.... well, I guess it's not that unfortunate, as it is my choice. I have been smoking B&H Extra Mild for years. The name is about to be changed to "Smooth" because cigarette companies are no longer allowed to use words like mild, light etc. because it has been argued that these names imply that they are not bad for you.
If someone was to be stupid enough to believe that because a packet of cigarettes says "Smooth" instead of "Mild" the cigarettes are worse for them, then their stupidity is much more of a threat to their health than their smoking.

ALDL Links and how to release the drive belt on a VN-VR Commodore

I've just found out I can plug my laptop into the engine managent computer in my car to get a readout. The data link is called ALDL (Assembly Line Data Link) and allows error fault codes to be read, along with various other information including live sensor output and other useful data. I have the software, all I need now is the cable, which I plan to make myself.

Also, I had hassles working out how to get the main serpentine belt off the engine. I couldn't find any clear info on how to do it on the internet. All you do is get a ratchet and correct size socket on the bolt in the middle of the pulley, and lean on it. You can release the tensioner enough to get the belt off. It's very simple. Thanks to the guys at West Ryde Ampol Service Centre for helping me out with this.

The reason I need to get it off, for anyone that's interested, is that I need to replace the temperature sensor which is situated underneath the alternator. The thermo fan does not come on, and it definately works, the relay is new, all the wiring has been tested. In the VN+ Commodores, thermo fan function is controlled by the ECU (Engine management computer) which gets it's information from the sensor. Hopefully, the sensor is giving a false reading which is causing the ECU to think it is always at operating temperature. If it's not that, I will be double checking the wiring, and then looking into reading the ECU to see if it's giving any fault codes. It might be as simple as a bad connection on the sensor, I'll find out when I get the alternator off.

Don't censor the internet

Just for the record, I just want to state where I stand on this topic. I believe that there should be no censorship of the net in any way, shape or form.
The internet is the only medium left not under the control of people with vested interests. If we allow it to be censored, we may as well just watch the evening news and accept it as truth.
To the religious fools that want to impose censorship on us: GO AWAY! Religion is used as a method of controlling the masses, basically thought control. I will decide my own religion as truth is revealed to me through the course of my life. Anyone attempting to deny me this experience has many issues that they should deal with within themselves before they have any right to scrutinise me.
Children need to be protected by their parents. It is the parent's duty to explain and protect their children from the dangers of the world. If they can't do this, they are not fit to be parents, and need not blame lack of internet filtering but their own lack of parenting skills, and should be worried about a lot more than their children finding a nasty site on the internet.
The other thing, if you don't like it, leave the site. Click the close button, open up a new browser window and go somewhere else. It's just like on TV, how you change the channel when a program comes on that you don't like. Quite simple really. That way, the people that do want to view that particular thing can still do so, and you don't have to. Everyone wins.
Don't censor the internet. Ban religion to make the world a more enlightened, loving, free and open minded place.

This blog is a good example of how not to get traffic to a web site.

It just occured to me that this little blog site is probably the best way to illustrate a site that receives virtually no traffic, and look at the reasons why. I don't put any work into this site other than writing posts and the occasional clean-up, but lets look at what I would do if I had the time.

At the moment, the topic of this site is scattered. I've got a bit about Commodores (cars) a bit about world affairs, Schapelle Corby, and quite a lot of material that is totally unrelated to the subject of the bulk of the text in this blog (web development and design). Although in the context that this site is about me and my life, it is all revevant, but to the search engines, it is off-topic. If I wanted to drive serious web developer traffic to this site, I would start by getting rid of everything totally unrelated to web development. A look at the Adsense ads at the top of the page is a good gauge as to what Google currently thinks this page is about. At the moment it's totally about used cars and Holden Commodores.

Backlinks to this site are sparse. Collecting backlinks to a site takes a bit of work. It's just a case of contacting succesful sites of a similar content and asking them if they would like to swap links. Once you get a few hundred, things start looking up. There's a catch, you don't want to gain links too fast, and you don't want to link to any banned sites. Most search engines have an algorithm in place that tries to detect webmasters that try to push their sites to the top artificially. You don't want to get caught in that, at all costs, so take it slow and think who you link to.

This is quite a small site, and there are many other sites with much more text on the same subject. Assuming I am chasing webmaster traffic with this site, one look at what I would be up against shows why there is no traffic here. There are sites with tens of thousands of pages targeting webmasters. I'd need a lot more material here to compete.

Because the aim of this site is not to bring in traffic, I'm not too fussed. I am going to keep adding to this site over the years and it should gradually build traffic. It's about gaining critical mass, once a site reaches a certain size, it is much easier to continue growing. Trying to get a money making site off the ground (for example an online store) can be like flogging a dead horse for the best part of 9 months, then if everything is right, it will start to turn around, but even that is a slow process. The days of making money overnight on the web are all but gone. Web design is now a long term craft requiring strategic thinking, planning, patience and staying power. The flipside to this for web surfers is that there are more quality sites, and the bad, spammy ones (although there are still a few) have and continue to fall into oblivion. For webmasters, it means you have to be good, really good, if you want anyone to arrive at your site at all. Personally I like a challenge so bring it on.

Back to the topic this blog is supposed to be about - Web development

This is a blog about web development, not a blog about Holdens and HSVs, but the Ad thingys at the top of the page think otherwise.
To be honest, I don't have much to write about right now in the way of web devevelopment. Last week was lost getting the car ready, so I've hit the ground running this week trying to catch up on lost time. It's mainly a massive backlog of products to go on the retail site, and it's pretty tedious when there's a lot to type and a lot of items.
I am looking at animated GIF programs to get my banners more up to date, because everyone is using them and animation does attract attention when used correctly. I don't like the idea of Flash for simple on-page animations because it requires a browser plug-in. Flash does have many purposes beyond dispaying animations though. I am not very good with flash, so I will steer clear of it until I can learn it properly. I used to use Microsoft GIF Animator years ago, but I have to do some research and find out what the go is now, as I'm sure there's programs that can produce various transitions and other effects quite easilly these days. I will let you know what I end up using.

The old Subaru has finally died

I went to leave work today, fired up the trusty old Subaru GL station wagon, wacked it in first gear, gave it a bit of gas, let the clutch go and BANG! no more gear box, car does not go foreward any more (or backward for that matter). It still moves when in low range, but I don't trust it enough to drive it home. So it's still sitting there. I think it's time for a new car. There's a VP Commodore down the road from work for $750 that looks pretty good. I heard I can convert it to a manual transmission for $1000 and it needs rego. I think it might be a goer. I really don't want to have to borrow money for a car right now and I like big V6s. At least it will be a car I can keep and spend some money on to make nice. The Subaru was always a temporary solution after some low life junkie scum stole my RX-7. I'm not going to have another sports car to drive to work in every day, as nice cars seem to attract morons like cow dung attracts flies. Now I just have to work out how I'm getting to work tomorrow.