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Installation Guide - 350z DE - D1 Spec GT Throttle Controller


Hodaka

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How you guys finding it?

 

Am loving it makes every gear from the start pull and super sensitive but got caught out on sport mode 10 on a hill start haha basicly kangarooed back and forth like three times cause I over revved lol

 

Haha, yeah S-10 is pretty sensitive. :lol:

 

I'm liking it a lot. Still haven't had a proper "spirited" drive with it, but I've started using it in S-1 for daily driving as I find it more suited to me than normal. :)

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Great guide, I wish it existed when I fitted mine.

 

My 2p - a small cable tie is probably safer than tape for securing the plugs together if they do not clip (which seems to be the norm).

 

I love this mod, makes Z feel noticeably faster and less lazy, especially when you floor it in 2nd. :)

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My 2p - a small cable tie is probably safer than tape for securing the plugs together if they do not clip (which seems to be the norm).

 

Hmmm good point. Might put some on on top of the tape. Rather be safe than sorry! :)

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Not sure I understand how it works? Surely putting it on ultra sensitive mode should mean it does exactly what the throttle peddle tells it to do, meaning it should then be exactly the same as a stock car? Unless in standard form Nissan have built in some lag between peddle and car, which I would assume is not the case. I thought the idea was that you could make the peddle less sensitive rather than more so, making it easier to drive in poor conditions. While this is my understanding, I've never actually looked into these so don't really know the point of them. If they actually add throttle input above that which you apply, as people are suggesting, then firstly it's taking some control out of your hands and also just means if you wanted to go faster you just need to press the throttle harder/faster, or when driving normally but in a sensitive setting you just press the throttle a tiny bit less than normal. It would still be using the same amount of fuel etc - so what have you gained?

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Not sure I understand how it works? Surely putting it on ultra sensitive mode should mean it does exactly what the throttle peddle tells it to do, meaning it should then be exactly the same as a stock car? Unless in standard form Nissan have built in some lag between peddle and car, which I would assume is not the case. I thought the idea was that you could make the peddle less sensitive rather than more so, making it easier to drive in poor conditions. While this is my understanding, I've never actually looked into these so don't really know the point of them. If they actually add throttle input above that which you apply, as people are suggesting, then firstly it's taking some control out of your hands and also just means if you wanted to go faster you just need to press the throttle harder/faster, or when driving normally but in a sensitive setting you just press the throttle a tiny bit less than normal. It would still be using the same amount of fuel etc - so what have you gained?

Im pretty sure it just makes the car think youre pressing the pedal down more than you actually are?
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On 09/02/2016 at 01:59, Hodaka said:

Hey everyone,

 

My first guide, wooo~ :wiggle:

 

I recently bought myself a D1 Spec GT Throttle Controller from Adrian, and I thought I'd write a guide to clarify the installation process. Hopefully this will be useful to anyone struggling to understand the instructions (although it was quite good, some bits were a tad ambiguous), but more likely for those of you on the fence as they're not sure if they can install themselves. I'm a novice when it comes to car DIY, so have faith - you can do it! :thumbs:

 

Note - I have super limited lingo for car parts. Apologies in advance! If you can let me know the actual names of the parts, I'll update this guide.

 

Experience level required

Beginner

 

Time spent

~1 hour depending on how "clean" you want the installation to be. In this guide I'll be installing the control unit by the A-pillar, but if you don't mind it elsewhere, it will be much quicker.

 

Plus I say 1 hour, but I did do this tonight outside in gale force winds, with pretty much no light (penlight used) and while taking photos. :lol:

 

Which leads me to my next point - sorry the photos aren't the best quality. I did what I could with what I had, but to make matters worse, my phone screen was broken which meant I couldn't turn on the flash on my phone :surrender:

 

Things you need

Everything you need is provided to you in the box, but I would recommend:

  • Double-sided tape
  • Electrical tape or similar

Enough waffling already!

So first things first, what do you get?

 

5aa8581ed3676_throttle1.jpg.ace5dd96f3e3b78cff88c3752d04275b.jpg

 

You'll get 2 boxes - the one on the right contains the actual unit itself, whereas the one on the right contains the harness that's specific for the 350z.

 

throttle 2.jpg

 

From now on, I'll refer to this pic as the reference pic.

 

And this is what you get inside. Everything you need is provided, however during my research prior to buying it some have found the double-sided tape to be somewhat lacking in stickiness. I experienced the same thing, so as I mentioned before, I would recommend that you get some better quality double-sided tape beforehand.

 

Step 1 - Leave your car to rest for 10 mins

The first thing you'll need to do is ensure that you shut off your engine for at least 10 minutes. I have no idea about the validity of this, but the instruction manual states that it could lead to the Check Engine Light to come on.

 

Step 2 - Detaching the gas pedal wire

Move your driver's seat back and get your head in the footwell. If you look up by the gas pedal, this is what you should see:

 

throttle 3.jpg

 

The thing you need to disconnect is the white plastic connector. There's a plastic clip on the opposite side, i.e. the side closer to your door. You'll need to press on this clip and pull towards the back of the car to disconnect the white connector. If you're not sure about where the clip is located, take a look at the connector in your Throttle Controller kit. It's the part to the top right in the reference pic. Only one of the connectors will have a clip, and that's identical to the one you're trying to remove.

 

One you remove the connector, it should look like this:

 

throttle 4.jpg

 

Step 3 - Connect the D1 special car-model connector

This special car-model connector (as D1 calls it. It's the part to the top right of the reference pic) consists of 3 ends - 2 large grey connectors, and one small white connector. The large connectors basically needs to connect between the 2 you just disconnected. I started by connecting the white connector that we just removed, to the special car-model connector. One end is female and the other male, so you can't really get this wrong. In theory, they should clip together, but I couldn't get it to "click" and lock into place. I did read that other people had this same issue. I therefore pushed them together, and used some tape to ensure the connection lasts.

 

I would have liked to have used electrical tape, but I literally just ran out, so had to use some packaging tape for now until I get some more electrical tape.

 

This is what you should end up with:

 

throttle 5.jpg

 

You'll then need to connect the bottom, free hanging connector, to your electronic throttle.

 

throttle 6.jpg

 

This is what you should end up with. I tucked the connectors to the side to keep it out the way (in the pic, you can see it behind the wires), and then left the smaller connector dangling down in the footwell so that it can be connected to the control box later.

 

Step 4 - Removing the A-pillar

As I say, I personally wanted the main device to sit by the A-pillar. My plan was to put it at the top of my windscreen, where it'd be easy to see/access, but keep it out of my main line of vision.

 

I find that removing the A-pillar trim can be a slight PITA, but in case you haven't done it, it's held on by a few clips. You'll need to grab the trim at the top, and start popping out the clips diagonally downwards (towards the handbrake-ish), working your way down. Once you've unclipped all the clips, you'll then need to lift up the trim towards the roof.

 

As I say, a little bit of a PITA, but you'll get there eventually. I didn't take a pic of this step, so best look up a guide if my explanation doesn't make sense. If I get time this weekend, I'll take it off again and take some pics.

 

Step 5 - Feeding through the main device wire

Once you've removed your A-pillar trim you'll notice that at the bottom of where the trim was, you can see right down into the footwell.

 

There's probably a better way of doing this, but what I then did was to take some relatively thick gauge wire and feed it between the 2 areas. I started by feeding in the wire from the top (i.e. the bottom of where the A-pillar trim was) until it's about 1/3 of the way down. Then I got into the footwell area and looked up through the gaps, and guided the wire all the way down. Note that to avoid any possibility of short circuiting anything, I taped up the end that I was feeding through.

 

Once you've successfully fed it through, you should have something like this:

 

throttle 7.jpg

 

Might be a bit hard to see, but it's the black wire I used. If you look carefully, you can see it in the footwell area with a white end (the tape). From here on, I'll refer to this wire as the feeder wire to avoid confusion.

 

Now we need to pull the connector & wire from the main device through from the A-pillar to the footwell. I took the top end of the feeder wire, and taped the wire from the main device to it. I wrapped a bit of paper around the main device wire near the small white connector, just to make sure the tape didn't stick there and damage anything during removal of the tape. Once you're happy they're secured, pull the feeder wire from the footwell to pull everything through. You should then end up with the wire from the main device in the footwell:

 

throttle 8.jpg

 

This white blob is the wire from the main device, taped up to the feeder wire. Now that it's through, you can remove the tape and get rid of the feeder wire.

 

Step 6 - Connecting to the control box

The control box has 2 white plugs on it, as well as an OBD connection. Connect the 2 small white connectors from step 3 & 5 to the control box. They differ in size, so you can't connect them incorrectly.

 

throttle 9.jpg

 

Step 7 - Connecting to the OBD port

This step is nice and simple. Connect the OBD connector to the OBD port, which is next to the petrol cap release button.

 

Step 8 - Stick on the control box

You can decide where to put this, but my personal choice was to put it near the petrol cap release button as shown here:

 

throttle 10.jpg

 

Degrease the area (I use IPA), and use the double-sided tape to stick the control unit on. This is where the double-sided tape failed for me (hence the finger holding it on for the pic!). I'll be using some stronger tape tomorrow to stick it on properly.

 

Step 9 - Stick on the main device

I used cable ties to carefully secure the wire to the A-pillar, just to try and keep things neat.

 

throttle 11.jpg

 

I then stuck the main device to the top of my windscreen. It's worth noting that you should keep a little slack, so that you're not stressing any of the wires/connectors.

 

Step 10 - Tidy up!

Use the cable ties provided (and any extra if you need) to tidy up your wires. You don't want some wire dropping down into the footwell while you're driving now would you?

 

Once you've cable tied everything together, put the A-pillar back on.

 

This is how the main device sits on my car:

 

throttle 12.jpg

Step 11 - Initial set up

Before you can take your car for a spin, you'll need to configure your new throttle controller (TC). The steps are as follows:

  1. Put your car in neutral
  2. Turn your car on, without starting your engine. This is the second click/position as you rotate your keys. Your TC should display "nor" for "normal"
  3. Press and hold the SET button until you see a countdown
  4. Release the button once it reaches 0
  5. The screen will display a value starting with "L", followed by the voltage reading
  6. Ensuring that you're not pressing on the gas pedal, press SET again. This seems to set the "Low" reading, i.e. when you're not pressing on the pedal
  7. The display will now show a value starting with "H".
  8. Press down on the gas pedal fully, and while holding it down, press SET again. Your TC should now show "100"
  9. Release the gas pedal. You should see the value decrease until "nor" is shown again
  10. Done!

If you want to test everything is set correctly, press fully on the gas pedal and release. You should see the display go from "nor" up to "100" then back down to "nor".

 

In case it helps, here's a video I took. I wasn't initially going to talk over it, but I thought it would be more useful. Sorry, I find it pretty awkward to talk to myself on camera :lol:

 

 

Now you're ready to go have some fun! I didn't get a proper chance to play with it tonight, but even from my little "play time", I could tell how much more responsive the gas pedal was. I did, as I'm sure many others have, put it straight on sports 10 though :lol: A little wheel spin and a "woah" later, I had a big grin on my face :)

 

I'm now at the office and don't have the instructions handy, but one important thing I noticed in the instructions is that it says you shouldn't hold the OSPI button for longer than 5 seconds as it'll throw up an error. Not sure what that's about, but just don't do that I guess!

 

Great guide mate, I've ordered one too so this is well handy, great job :thumbs:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well.......I fitted mine today using Hodaka's guide, thank you very much mate appreciated. Done in about an hour ish with the help of my son.

 

Full sport 10 mode........waaaaaow such a difference, be careful though it makes it really tail happy :scare::D . Great wee bit of modding, love the feel of the car even more now (can't wait to get decats and remap done).

 

And thanks to Adrian @ Torqen for the group buy discount :thumbs:

Edited by Irn Bru
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Not sure I understand how it works? Surely putting it on ultra sensitive mode should mean it does exactly what the throttle peddle tells it to do, meaning it should then be exactly the same as a stock car? Unless in standard form Nissan have built in some lag between peddle and car, which I would assume is not the case. I thought the idea was that you could make the peddle less sensitive rather than more so, making it easier to drive in poor conditions. While this is my understanding, I've never actually looked into these so don't really know the point of them. If they actually add throttle input above that which you apply, as people are suggesting, then firstly it's taking some control out of your hands and also just means if you wanted to go faster you just need to press the throttle harder/faster, or when driving normally but in a sensitive setting you just press the throttle a tiny bit less than normal. It would still be using the same amount of fuel etc - so what have you gained?

 

I'm not sure what it does but plugging in to the OBD port and having the magic box plugged into that obviously overrides the stock settings of the throttle control. But I can assure you it doesn't take any control out of your hands (or right foot), like any performance enhancing mod, you just have to re-adjust your driving style when you fit it. It's a great cheap to buy mod that puts a massive :teeth: on your face and one you can do yourself easily thanks to Hodaka's guide, which make it even more enjoyable.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the guide! It was so easy to follow and I managed to get in done in under a couple of hours! I somehow managed to set off the EML (I think I was too eager to fit it as soon as I got back from work), but I've also mastered the pedal dance so thats all sorted.

 

I've put it in the same place as you and I can't wait to go for a drive!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been thinking about getting one of these for a while now, I've just bought and fitted a new catback exhaust and also a pair of front tyres both of which were needed for its MOT, so now my Doctor has confirmed that the best treatment for my chronic case of Zeditis is the purchase of the throttle controller which he Azures me (pun intended) will relieve my symptoms for a brief period. Thanks Hodaka for a concise and easily understandable write up, a good job well done.

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Im currently on the fence gents.

I want to get the D1 Throttle Controller but I also want to do a tablet install and wanted to have a bluetooth OBD reader that I will connect and have different gauges displayed on the tablet while driving.

Only problem is only 1 slot for the OBD reader or the D1 Throttle controller.

 

What are your thoughts guys?

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The D1 throttle controller can be hard wired in. If I remember rightly its only using the OBD socket for Live and Earth. Just find a decent live and earth elsewhere, hard wire in and free up the socket...... Remember you will need a "Switched Live" as you want the controller to go off when you turn power off.

 

Just about to do this to mine so I can use the Bluetooth reader in the socket all the time.

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