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Welcome to my digital home! There are lots of articles you might find helpful buried in this site on topics such as modifying an Alfa Romeo 159, rebuilding a Lotus 7 (Robin Hood 2B), not to mention a ton of stuff on technology in general. It’s all here somewhere, so use the search function or navigate using the menu structure. if you want to talk, reach out via the contact function, I usually do answer!

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Alfa 159 / ElectronicsThis is the final update to the schematics and overall design and concludes the R&D aspects of the project. What I have now is a good mix of design good practice and intelligent thinking that results in a solid architecture for a production run. So far I have just prototyped the design into the car using readily available breadboards, however, the next step is to move to a manufactured circuit board that will give much better longevity and easier assembly. Content relocated to Project PageRelated Images: [...]
RH2B Build DiaryThe original seats in the 2b were a little worse for wear when I bought the car, but I had mistakenly thought that it would be a relatively cheap thing to fix. Little did I know that trimmers charge a small fortune for their skills! In fact, I was being quoted around £200 per seat to have them fixed, and new seats were about £200 per seat! So, well, you know….. I bought some new seats! That said, I wanted to minimise the cost here as I had hemorrhaged way more than I initially budgeted to get it ready for the summer, so I set about some ebay stalking, and after several back and forth’s on buying expensive branded, quality seats vs something secondhand and cheap, I found a seller with a new pair of the exact seats that were in the car currently (retro style buckets) but in plain black vinyl. The best part about this find was that the seller was clearly just a regular guy that thought he would get rich selling motorsport parts on ebay but clearly didn’t have the roaring success he planned for and was sat on some stock he needed to shift. This presented an opportunity for a cheeky offer! So an offer was made, and accepted, that got me 2 brand new seats for £260 delivered 🙂 #Result! New Seats As part of the change I also wanted to put in new low profile, double lock rails, so that added another £50 to the bill but it was necessary to get the seats fitted in the best possible way. Double lock low profile adjustable rails Once I had modified the rails to fit the bolt pattern of the new seats (nothing is plug and play in the kit car world!) I offered the seat into the car and sat in it for an initial test. This is where my heart sank. I was a good 4 inches over the top of the windscreen at eyeline 🙁 Not an ideal seating position by any means. It turns out these new seats had a 6″ pad in the base that meant I was 4″ higher than the set that came out. This was not going to do, so after several emotional responses from frustration to anger to sadness, I decided there was only one option….. heat a large carving knife up till it was glowing red and trim the foam! Its not that difficult to do as it stands (although i do recommend breathing apparatus as you get very dizzy very quickly!). Just pop the staples off the bottom on one end, remove the foam seat base, heat the knife, slice (like butter) through the foam, then reinstall the foam, glue back on the cover, staple the excess material out of sight and your back in business… all be it a lot lower to the ground! Its not perfect, but I do plan on a major rebuild this winter, and I am likely to be looking for some better / more modern low profile buckets as part of that so this is just for the summer. Once I had the seats ready for install it was onto the floor. I wanted to reinforce the floor where the seats mounted to as the floor had developed flex in one corner of the seat mounting position whcih made the seat seem loose and rock. To solve this I decided to replicate what the builder had already done to reinforce the floor in the front seat mounting location. Essentially adding a 25X25x3mm angle iron from side to side. Again, this was a seasonal fix as come the winter I want to weld in a lowered floor to gain an inch of height inside the cabin. Front (existing) and Rear (new) angle iron reinforcements A purchased a 25x25x3mm 2m length of stainless steel angle iron and cut it to size. I then mounted it on the front edge of the 3mm steel subframe mounts in the rear floor location whcih was the right daytum to provide me a straight line side to side I could use as the rear seat mount. After measuring, cutting, drilling several holes, painting and bolting it all in with M8 stainless bolts, I had the perfect strengthening part that meant the weight of the passengers was spread evenly across the chassis on both sides via the subframe mounts and in the middle via the tunnel mounts, so therefore would not move. Floor reinforcement rail Now the seats, floor and seat runners were all ready, it was just a case of making a cardboard template, measuring, drilling, and then bolting it all together with M8 Stainless bolts. The finished article is great IMO. they look period to the car and are much less garish that the ones that came out, which had some interesting colours and the word “dubollox” embroidered in…. Old vs new seats Related Images: [...]
InfoSecThis is a short video explanation of how the UK Cyber Security Challenge’s launch cipher was put together, and subsequently how to break it! C4Odla8I0Hs Related Images: [...]
InfoSecI work in a world of standards, opinions, controls and countermeasures, all encompassed in a foreign language of “InfoSec” and “ItSec”. This of course, while entertaining, is of little use to the world. I would like to propose a simple concept, probably high level, and I am sure my peers would argue is “inadequate”, that said however, hear me out: Ok, so the basic concept is simple, setup three primary work streams or “functions”, 1 is a Risk Asssesment and Classifcation Function, 2 is a People / Process/ Awareness, and 3 is Controls, both protective and detective as needed. The idea is that the risk assessment process runs in a cycle with inputs and outputs at the core of the system which serves as the engine for security. Its easier to explain in a diagram, take a look: Genious or Madness, its your decision, I like it because its simple and can be applied to any situation. Of course I agree with arguments such as “where is the governance?”, “what about strategy” etc, but quite simply, thats not what this is. This is a simple security process that allows you to feed information in and get solutions out. Related Images: [...]
RH2B Build DiaryAnother big issue with the hoody was the tune. It was all over the shop. really rough and just a bit shit. This was an easy fix though, I just needed to add a 14point7 Spartan 2 Lambda to the Megasquirt ECU and get some help! Lambda ready to go in! The main issue with the current engine setup is the horrific ITB’s (f you can actually call them that). They are difficult to balance and will eventually be replaced with a whole new setup I am building on a new engine. That said, they needed to work for this summer so I called up a guy called Shaun who runs MS2 Tuning and knew the car from its previous owner. Shaun is awesome. A really friendly guy that gave me, a total stranger, support and advice over the phone and then came over to help me to a basic setup tune on the car for beer money. You dont get much better than that in this game. After about 3 hours playing, diagnosing and fixing some earthing issues, we had the ITB’s balanced, the AFR dialled in, and the engine was purring. This was exactly what I had hoped for and the potential I knew was in the car when I bought it. I do love an underdog! Related Images: [...]
LiveMixesOldschool Hard House from the archives https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/Jabawoki_16022001_Euphoric_Hard_House.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Related Images: [...]
LiveMixesWell, this one is definatley better quality, on all fronts!! Music, mix & production. Let me know if you like it! https://jabawoki.com/wp-content/mp3/DJJD__ElectroFied__04082008.mp3 Podcast: Play in new window | Download Related Images: [...]
GeneralWell, its been a while, but after nearly a full year of ownership I thought I would share my thoughts…….. I bought a pair of Rokit RP6G2 Limited Edition (Yellow) Speakers nearly a year ago now and after a lot of use I can confirm they are truly an awesome sounding set of speakers. The honesty of the reproduction is not sacrificed to provide a “decent” sound from multiple digital sources. In fact, they sound just as good playing an Mp3 encoded at 192Kbps as they do outputting a raw track from Ableton, yet do not loose the accuracy or quality required to pick out the levels and sound scape….. truly an accomplishment. The acoustics of your room is of course a variable…. I had them initially in a small room and that increased the low frequency response ten fold, vs now, when I have them in a much larger room, where the bass is sacrificed somewhat, but not to the extent that its a problem I might add. If money was no object (and they are on my Christmas list), the icing on the cake for these speakers is clearly a KRK 10S and the acclaimed ERGO system. The addition of these items would make the overall sound from this configuration truly something to be reckoned with. Related Images: [...]
Alfa 159For the last year or so, since I have been pushing the power limits of the Q-Tronic Gearbox, I have had an issue that has been getting progressively worse, as the power increased. For those that don’t know, the Q-Tronic gearbox in the Alfa 159 is actually a Aisin Warner TF80-SC, also known as the AF40-6. This is a complex automatic 6 speed gearbox that has the combined use of a conventional 5-pinion planetary gear-set and a compound Ravigneaux gearset which makes it incredibly light and compact. This combination is known as a Lepelletier arrangement. The shifting of gears is managed by a computer programme which oversees a clutch-to-clutch actuation. Gear changes are accomplished by one clutch engaging the instant the clutch from the previous gear disengages. (Source https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWTF-80_SC). This gearbox is used in an extensive list of modern vehicles and is a very strong and versatile unit. While the power being fed into the gearbox was within manufacturer tolerance, i.e upto 450-500nm everything was just fine and every gear-change was silky smooth, however, as soon as pushed the power north of 500nm I started to have issues. Essentially, the problem manifest as one of two common issues often associated with a worn or damaged valve body. These were: Shift Flairs – The gearbox engages the first clutch to allow for the second gear to be engaged and takes a few milliseconds longer than it should to disengage the first clutch and engage the second resulting in the RPM’s have a 500rpm flair on the gear change. Missed Shifts – The gearbox engages the first clutch to allow for the second gear to be engaged and takes a few seconds longer than it should to disengage the first clutch and engage the second resulting in the RPM’s hitting the red line and staying their until the clutches caught up with each other resulting in the next gear being SLAMMED in from 5K RPM to 3KRPM. Neither of the above problems are particularly nice to experience and needed resolving. In about May 2015, I noticed that the issues were related to me “driving in a spirited manner” and as such I decided to monitor the gearbox temperatures to see if that was part of the issue. This quickly showed that the issues only manifested once the gearbox oil exceeded 90 degrees C. The following data log graph shows the temps hitting 98 degrees C in under 20 minutes of “spirited driving”: As soon as I pushed the power into the gearbox it became unusable. Some research into the oil used in the gearbox showed why heat was the problem. The following extract from the technical specifications of the oil I use in my gearbox (Fuchs Titan ATF 4400), clearly shows that the Kinematic Viscosity of the oil at 40 degrees is 37.3 mm2/s while at 100 degrees it is 7.3 mm2/s. That is a big difference! So, if my oil temp hits 98 degrees the efficiency of the oil to be useful and lubricate is negligible, and in cases where I have seen the temp up to 110 degrees C, I essentially was lubricating the gearbox with water….. http://www.fuchslubricants.com/titan-atf-4400 This became a real issue in September of 2015 on a trip to the Nurburgring. A combination of an aggressive track and blistering heat meant that the gearbox hit 110 degrees within 1/3 of the track and after only a few corners I was having to limp through gear changes to keep the car moving. Not the most pleasant experience to have on the ring. From this point onwards I started to research exactly how I could solve the issue. The gearbox oil cooler is a Laminova type cooler that uses the engines water cooling system to pass water through a block attached to the side of the gearbox that has an oil circuit in it. This allows the water to cool the oil through proximity. all you need to know about oil coolers is here on Mocal’s site: http://www.mocal.co.uk/FAQ.html. After much thought, the plan was simple. Make the oil cooler a traditional air cooled external unit of larger size so that the harder I pushed, the greater the airflow and the more cooling was available. To do this, I needed the help of my friendly mechanics, the much trusted and respected Autolusso. Ned and his team have been the ones who do all the work on my car and with the exception of the odd tweak here and there, have been responsible for all of the major modifications made to the vehicle to make it the monster it is today. I enlisted Ned to help me find and/or design an adapter plate that would allow me to remove the oil cooler that was bolted to the side of the gearbox and replace it with a set of pipes off to a cooler mounted up front. After many conversations with a few different suppliers, we pulled a few different cables, pipes and parts from different makes and manufacturers together and started the research. We quickly established that there was nothing available or even close to what we needed, so the best shot we could find was a set of oil cooler pipes of a 3 series BMW. These fitted backwards! so at least we had something to play with. We continued to research and plan over the xmas period until, after a dyno night, I realised my car was about 50 horses down on power from where it should be! This was not amusing, and as such I spent a few weeks looking through my many iterations of the map until I found the one table that I had not carried forward. To cut a long one short, my total injection was being limited to 100mm3 where as it should have been at 130mm3. After a couple of tweaks and a test to 120mm3, the car was flying again, but the gearbox was now very unhappy and it only took a 0-100mph run (not on public roads) to make the gearbox temps over 90 degrees C !!! So Ned and I decided to bite the bullet and just crack into the mod to see where we ended up. A suitable cooler was chosen out of a small selection Ned had put out for me: And we took off the original Laminova cooler to see what the options were. After some initial head scratching we decided what we needed to do was to use the existing cooler as a plate to weld on some BSP fittings, so Ned grabbed the biggest grinder he could find and proceeded to destroy the unit in the name of research! After a quick session of destruction he disappeared with the remains of the part and resurfaced about 20 minutes later with the finished prototype: This meant we could bolt the remains of the original cooler back onto the gearbox safe in the knowledge that it would not leak or  fall off or otherwise fail! All that was left was to fit the selected oil cooler in place and run some pipes: To do this a bracket was manufactured to allow the cooler to live off to the side of the FMIC where it could get a decent airflow (as I had already removed the fog lights and modified my front bumper for greater air flow). We also had to relocate the horns next to the FMIC but this was a straightforward move. I found the basis of the bracket in one of the many parts bins and assume it was part of a former Alfa that no longer needed it and subsequently donated it to me 🙂 One final mod was to remove the water cooler circuit that went from the EGR to the old cooler and back to the engine. To do this all we had to do was remove the pipes and cut one to make the 4ft of hose now 4 inches! All that was left was then to put the front bumper back on, top up the fluids, run it round the block and see how it performed! I decided to data log the run home. a Good 90 minutes of M1, A421 & A1 in rush hour traffic, so mixed driving, on and off power and in and out of standing traffic. In order to push the gearbox I deliberately pushed power as much as I could do so safely and often sat in the wrong gear to get things as hot as possible!! The following graph is of that 90 minutes of mixed driving: The first thing to point out is that the max temp reached was 76 degrees!!!!!! and the lowest temp, often observed at speed was 63 degrees! This is as perfect an outcome as I could of hoped for as it means the kinematic viscosity of the oil is well within tolerances and effectively lubricating the solenoids so that they can engage and disengage the clutches efficiently!! The gearbox worked perfectly at all speeds and power levels throughout the entire journey! Time will of course tell, but early data says this mod is a must have for any owner of an automatic gearbox that wants to unleash the power that their engines are capable of delivering. Trust me when I say, that these gearboxes just lap up the power! (as long as you keep them cool 😉 ) ” podPressPostSpecific=”” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″] Related Images: [...]
InfoSecThis is a debate I regularly get into with my team. Personally, I think that yes, credentials can bring credibility with an audience, or with a prospective employer. Lets look at how this works: C|EH (Certified Ethical Hacker). Anyone who has been in that area of work for a number of years will state that the C|EH is rubbish, and, of course, they are right. Having done the qualification, I can vouch for the fact that it is a tools based approach to hacking, with a heavy slant towards using windows as your attacking platform (which is wrong for so many reasons). It does however, give you the basics, and teaches you about basic methodologies etc. …..So, you might ask, why do I say I am a C|EH, if I know its pointless? Simple. To a purist hacker, its a waste of time, but commercially it has value as it is recognised by clients and companies alike as the de facto standard for hacking. This difference in perception is a prime example of how a qualification can bring credibility with the audience you want. All of my team are C|EH, because, when I write a proposal for a client, I can say, all my team are “Certified Ethical Hackers”. They of course understand this and as a bonus, the first two words add a level of “comfort” to what sounds like a venture into the dark side! Now, let’s look at another qualification (CISSP) “Certified Information Systems Security Professional”. This is about the best baseline security qualification in play today. It is very broad in it’s syllabus and well maintained through its CPE “Continual Professional Education” requirement. This qualification really does work on both sides of the fence. Clients like it and so do the professionals What it doesn’t do is guarantee that the holder of the qualification is a deep specialist in a given area, but what it does very well, is mandate a baseline of knowledge with real width in the subject of security. Here are my views on how they pin together: Some example credentials that mean something to your peers: GIAC’s (Any of them!) CITP OSCP Some example credentials That mean something to your clients or employers: ITiL PRINCE2 C|EH CCNA Some example credentials that mean something to everyone: CISSP CCNP This is not the most exhaustive list, but is a start. The underlying piece of advice here is, when your picking a credential to study for and invest in, think how it will add value to you and your situation, and see if there is a better option available. Knowledge can be learned for free, credentials have to be bought! Related Images: [...]

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