Neil's Aventador Build

[wayne]

Great work Neil, your car is coming along nicely. I like the center controls and panel you made.

[Simple Man 2.0]

love the console coming along nicely!

[Neils88]

Thanks Dale. I find I have to put in a lot of extra effort to try to keep up with the high quality work of you and the others here!!

I did use some (ok... lots) poetic license on my design. For instance, I couldn't bring myself to use a 7" screen like the oem one... went with a 9" display since I thought it looked better. Also, I took a chance with the Huracan switches. They are all the correct switches, just with an updated look.... and they were much cheaper than the Aventador switches for some reason. I also have the matching light switch unit so most people won't notice. My display can start up with the Lamborghini logo. It also has a CanBUS input and is supposed to display oem climate control information. Haven't tried it yet, but that would be a bonus. I'm still working on mapping the MMI buttons and dials, but it should work well to control the display (which is also a touch screen so I'll have to figure out some bidirectional control).

[lambobuilder]

Spectacular work as always. Appreciate the updates.

[Neils88]

The bodywork is slowly progressing. At the same time, when I'm not sanding, I've been working on the interior components. I now have a "first draft" for the center console. It uses some oem Lamborghini parts (Aventador and Huracan) and Audi parts strung together using some 3d printed trim to simulate the full Aventador console. This is all topped off using a generic Android entertainment system (navigation, radio, phone, back up camera, etc).

I still have a bit more "hacking" to go so that I can make everything fully functional and appear to work as intended. I've also ordered some different color filaments for the 3d printer. I'm hoping that I can make the trim pieces closer match the oem parts.

[lambobuilder]

Now the fun begins.

[Neils88]

It's been a busy summer, so I haven't spent as much time on the car as I would have liked. I did manage to prep the car and get it covered with an epoxy sealer. I can actually (finally) say I've started the bodywork.

[Jets303]

You'll be surprised how much motivation it gives you when you first see the car in one primer color! Keep going! Cars looking great.

Just a little tip, when body working over those fiberglass patches you did, make sure you use a poly honey or poly resin to make your filler more viscous. This will help fill in the small micro pinholes from the glass process. You can even brush it on.

[wayne]

Dash cluster looks great

[lambobuilder]

Dash is really impressive! I'm no painting expert either but have picked up a few tips along the way. I documented my process on the Diablo. May be something useful, or not.... 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADDkudjD1So&list=PLaPE0IsfT25dlJhh9RsWSR7Z7fHS6oBLg&index=7&pp=gAQBiAQB

[Neils88]

Thought I'd post some updates just so you know I'm still here working on the car. After about 8 years of work on the car, I'm finally getting ready for doing the bodywork/ painting. I decided to build an enclosure to keep the dust and paint in.... and the wife's complaining out. It has air inlet and outlet filters and several box fans for air flow (with outlet ducts running outside). It took me a few hours to hang the plastic. After the bodywork is complete I'll change the plastic sheeting so there won't be any dust carryover for the final painting. I'm not a great painter/ body work guy.... but hopeful I'll improve as I go. Because of the mix of materials (fiberglass, smc, plastic, metal) I'll be starting with an epoxy sealer over everything before I get into the final bodywork.

Of course, due to health, I only can work a few hours at a time in garage. Of course I use the couch time effectively. I use the time to do any programming, electronics, 3d part design, fend off wife's complaints and research.

I've got the dash now mostly finished. Just needs a little more programming (specifically the 2 little side screens) and then some final fitting of the pieces. Eventually it will also get leather wrapped.

[Neils88]

Hmmmm.... I never seem to post any updates. Most under- panel work is complete... just getting ready to start the bodywork. Hoping to be painted by this summer.

I took a little time away from the garage (thanks to covid) but was able to start work on the some of the dash/ center console components. I priced the oem Aventador components and many of them were a little too expensive. However, I've managed to get a few oem, combined with some similar Huracan and Audi parts. I am going to put together a setup that looks close, and at a fraction of the price. With a little creativity and some 3d printing I'm hoping that when I'm finished it'll look and function close to oem. Of course I still need to get it all working so I'm just starting the process of decoding each individual component so that they can all communicate.

The light switches and the drive mode buttons all run on a LIN bus. The start button and the center console accessory button panel (power windows, hazard, esc, lift etc) are all basically hard wired (separate pins per function), the MMI uses RS232, and the climate control uses LIN bus and CANbus.

The LIN bus was fun to crack without access to running vehicles. I have the Aventador drive mode switches completely decoded (buttons plus leds). The Huracan headlight switches annoyingly use the same LIN bus address as the Aventador drive mode switches, so they'll have to run on separate buses. Next up will climate control.... that should be fun.

And no... the Audi forum guys were no help for anything.

Finding the LIN bus addresses is easy enough (only 60 possible).... but it is really tough to figure out the control codes. Audi helped create the standard for the LIN bus, but they don't bother following it themselves. I literally had to start pumping random codes to the switches until something happened and I could then narrow it all down. I almost fell off my seat the first time the drive mode switches lit up.

Once I have everything decoded, I'll try to put together an info sheet with all addresses and codes if there is anyone else wanting to go this route.

[lp670mike]

Wow! great setup you have there. Looks like you are set up for a wonderful retirement! enjoy

[Neils88]

Finally got the lift installed and set up. Melted my first hammer drill on the first hole. Clearly wasn't up for the job. 10 holes, 7/8", 5" deep. Bought a new Milwaukee rotary hammer. It had no problem with the remaining holes.

Now I finally have access to every part of the car! 

[Neils88]

I just received the new Wilwood Superlite 4 piston calipers. I had them done in Lemans yellow. I still have to order the rotors, hats and the electric parking brake calipers. The front rotors will be 14" and 13" for the rears. I'll be machining the brackets myself. (In case anyone is interested, the entire setup costs about $7k Cdn.... not including the brackets... ouch)

It'll be good to get rid of the stock Fiero rotors lol