I finally got around to mounting the ECU for the active wing. It has four feet with mounting holes so that should be simple, right? Nope…
There are no instructions regarding mounting the ECU and when I went to install it, I realized that it had a cooling fan. I called Aeromotions and they confirmed that the ECU will not tolerate any moisture. Front-engine cars mount the ECU in the trunk and the Ferraris mount it under the passenger seat, neither of which is feasible in the SL-C.
The ECU must be in one of two orientations for the accelerometers to work and you need access to the control panel. The only location was under the dash where a normal car would have a glove box. I already hate doing anything under the dash and that’s only going to get worst when the interior is finished which made it important that the control panel was easily accessible. I considered hinging the ECU, but there wasn’t enough space for it to pivot in place. The solution was a dual motion bracket; (1) slide down to clear the bottom of the dashboard and (2) pivot to provide access to the control panel.
Laser-cut 0.060” stainless steel and stainless-steel piano hinge. I subsequentially added slots to the glide plate to provide access to the guide rail mounting screws.
As mentioned above I really don’t like doing anything under the dash, so I looked for a quarter turn fastener that didn’t require a tool and could be easily released without seeing the fastener. I found these AeroLoc fasteners with bail handles at Pegasus Auto Racing. Unlike winged Dzus fasteners, the bail handle can be flipped flat (and they stay that way even if the fastener is inverted). I can reach under the dash, flip the handle down and twist it a quarter turn without needing to see anything.
To implement the sliding motion, I considered machining slots on the glide plate and fabricating flanged bushings on the lathe. However, I didn’t want things rattling so I used low-profile sleeve bearing carriages and guide rails from McMaster. The carriages apply a small amount of pretension to the rails which provides smooth motion and prevents rattling.
Bracket installed on chassis and locked in place with AeroLoc fasteners. I need to trim the tops of the guide rails a bit.
ECU installed
ECU slid down and rotated to provide access to the control panel. The guide rails are clearly visible.
Well, that was several orders of magnitude more work than what I expected, but the results were worth it.