DIY: a 05+ VSS/Transmission with an 02-04 Harness

[PapiTuyo326]

I know I know, there are a lot of DIY's written already on the switching tranny case,drilling/tapping for the 02-04 sensor, and gear swap. Those are proven to work, but ultimately the labor, tools, and knowledge required tend to steer people away from these great low milage transmissions. I have been running an 06+ Si transmission in my car (WITH a working speedometer) without having swapped cases (YOU WILL NEED TO SWAP THE SHIFTER ARM TO USE AN 06+ SI TRANSMISSION..)

Best of all, the parts for the rewiring cost me under 80 bucks. This writeup assumes you have a perfectly working harness with complete speed sensor input (IE you have a working 02-04 Sensor Plug on your engine harness, or at least the wires that lead into it)



Here is the key:


How does it work?
-Simply put, the Dakota Digital box is placed "between" your 05+ Speed Sensor and the Ecu. It reads the input signal and converts it to a matching signal that your ECU and speed can recognize.

Parts:
-A working 05+ Speed sensor and
-Dakota -Digital Universal Speedometer Signal Interface
-A soldering gun
-Electrical Solder
-Electrical Wire
-Electrical Tape
-A friend with another car

1) Wire Prep

First off you will want to run some wires and cut them to an estimated length. Run enough wire to go from your speed sensor, through your firewall, and then to your ECU. Be generous, but don't go too crazy. Do this with 2 wires. Run one into the input spot, and the other into the output 4 spot on the box.

Now youll want to cut the power and ground wires. I placed my converter right next to my ECU, so I needed under 1 foot of wire for the power source. I used one of the ECU mounting bolt threads for the ground. Its not the BEST ground source, but it works. Both wires ended up under being under 1 foot long.



2) Splicing/Soldering

Here is a pinout for the wire we are going to splice. This is one of the harnesses on the ECU.



We want to splice into Wire 1 for the power source.

You will want to remove the tape around the wires are expose them. Just take an x-acto knife, box cutter, or razor and take your time. Once the wire is exposed then solder the end of the power wire to #1 and use the electrical tape to cover your tracks.

For the Ground Source, choose a metal threaded surface and run a wire from the box to this surface. I chose the lower right ECU mounting thread.


Now for the Sensor Wiring. Here is a paint diagram lol.


Splice the Input wire into the wires labeled input. This should go from your dakota box to the wire on your old transmission's VSS.

Splice the Output wire into the wire labeled output. This should go from your dakota box to the wire on your new transmission's VSS.

Solder the remaining wires from the VSS's to each other as shown. The red connection is power and the black is ground. I used an exacto knife to expose the wires and soldered accordingly. Wrap em up with electrical tape.

3) Calibration.

You wiring is now complete. Turn on your car and check for proper connections. The green led on the dakota box should be flashing with your engine on.

Set switches 1,2, and 3 to the on position, set switch 4 to off. This will get you to within 5-10 percent of the actual mileage reading.

Now get your friend and his car on the nearest highway. Pick a speed and have him set the cruise control. Now match the other car's speed and use the up and down buttons on the dakota box to set your speedo to the appropriate speed. Holding the buttons results in a much faster adjustment.

Test your calibration with another speed. Your done. Sweeeeet.

[signalpuke]

Great post man
These things are a pita, and most of the time is in the guess work. Thanks for posting this

[onefstek]

Cool, I wonder if this will make the s2000 cluster work with the 02-04 signal.

[PapiTuyo326]

Should work for the s2k application too.

I forgot to thank bspcivic. That guy was the first to suggest using the dakota box.

[schumacher916]

Finally....I knew this day would come. It's just too bad I already sold my k20eg...I still got the z3 tranny and 06 tsx engine. If anyone is looking for 05 Type S tranny in mint condition, PM me.

[HNAperformance]

so you are leaving both sensors in the casing, if i am understadnign this correctle, either the 05+rsx and the 02-04 rsx vss or the 06+civic si and the 02-04 rsx vss, if thats the case why not just change the case and keep one sensor? Someone please enlighten me

[HNAperformance]

nevermind i am an idiot lol

[PapiTuyo326]

Splicing in the new sensor lets you revert to the 02-04 sensor easy. You basically end up with a harness with two sensor plugs (and a couple of wires routing back to the firewall).

[ILOVEKSERIES]

Originally Posted by PapiTuyo326

Splicing in the new sensor lets you revert to the 02-04 sensor easy. You basically end up with a harness with two sensor plugs (and a couple of wires routing back to the firewall).

im sorry but im pretty confused. Are you saying we need to use both the 02-04 VSS and 05+ VSS for this thing to work? Take me for example. I have an 05 type S tranny and an s2000 cluster. My speedometer works just fine, except its way off, by like 15-20mph. SO i figured I could use this box to dial it in, am I wrong here? What exactly needs to be done?

[nikos]

Thank you so much.

Question: What;s this about? "You need to swap shifter arms, but thats an entirely different procedure..) " ?

[PapiTuyo326]

Originally Posted by nikos

Thank you so much.

Question: What;s this about? "You need to swap shifter arms, but thats an entirely different procedure..) " ?

The Shifter Arm on the 06+ Si works in a backward manner. You can use the 06 Shifter Arms if you use the full 06+ SI shifter Box and cables. If you are using an EP3, RSX, or Prelude box then you are going to need to do some work. The 05+ RSX shifter works perfectly fine with exisiting boxes.

I detailed my experiences in a thread a while back. Here ya go.

[ILOVEKSERIES]

Originally Posted by ILOVEKSERIES

im sorry but im pretty confused. Are you saying we need to use both the 02-04 VSS and 05+ VSS for this thing to work? Take me for example. I have an 05 type S tranny and an s2000 cluster. My speedometer works just fine, except its way off, by like 15-20mph. SO i figured I could use this box to dial it in, am I wrong here? What exactly needs to be done?

maybe u missed this?

[PapiTuyo326]

Originally Posted by ILOVEKSERIES

im sorry but im pretty confused. Are you saying we need to use both the 02-04 VSS and 05+ VSS for this thing to work? Take me for example. I have an 05 type S tranny and an s2000 cluster. My speedometer works just fine, except its way off, by like 15-20mph. SO i figured I could use this box to dial it in, am I wrong here? What exactly needs to be done?

Your situation is different. Instead of wiring a new sensor into your existing harness, you simply need to modify your signal.

Simply CUT your blue output signal wire from your sensor.

Now run a wire from the blue wire on the VSS side to the to the INPUT box on the dakota box.

Run another wire from the harness side of the blue wire to the dakota box and place it on one of the outputs.

Youll likely need to play with the calibration setting to get it dailed in perfect, as using the calibration I just presented won't work for your application. The box will do it though, you just have to play with the settings.

[Slociviccoupe]

now here is a twist, I have a 02-04 ecu, want to run an 05 vss, and a s2k cluster.

my plans are to rewire vss for 5 volt power instead of 12 volts. send vss signal from the speed sensor to the input on cluster, then the output signal on the cluster to the ecu.

this should take care of the high/low frequency problem. using the cluster as the frequency converter for the ecu while sending it the signal it needs for the speedometer.

the 05 vss is high frequency like that of the s2k, and the output vss signal from the cluster is low frequency that the 02-04 ecu is looking for. I do not have k pro as of yet to change the vss signal. so this is the only way I can use what I have to make the cluster work with the ecu I have.
let me know if this sounds correct.
also is the crank sensor high or low frequency. I have a spare and it fits in the hole of the 05 vss.

[bossman032]

wowzer

[hybrid racing]

Great write up!

For those of you looking to just connect and go without doing anything we have a solution PM me for more info.

http://www.k20a.org/forum/showthread.php?t=45874

[03K20A3Si]

Nice! Wish I would've known this when I had an extra 06 Si trans around...oh well. Great write up!

[mustbenu]

im a little confused. do you cut the 02-04 plug off the harness and rewire up a 05-06 plug so you can plug it into the VSS on the 06 tranny. Other wise how do you have your vss wiring hooked up to the plug on the tranny

[hybrid racing]

Originally Posted by mustbenu

im a little confused. do you cut the 02-04 plug off the harness and rewire up a 05-06 plug so you can plug it into the VSS on the 06 tranny. Other wise how do you have your vss wiring hooked up to the plug on the tranny

The 2 connectors are almost the same so you can get the 02-04 connector to work on the 05-06 VSS by shaving down some of the guides on the sensor itself.

As for the wiring you will have to repin the 02-04 connector so that the right wires match up to the right pins on the new speedo.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about this and check out our speed converter box that is plug and play.

http://www.k20a.org/forum/showthread.php?t=47294

-Will

[geoscranny84]

ohhh yes................ I love this site!!!