Randy V

Where can I buy just the remote key head?

Does it work in place of the fob on my early KE unit?

Simon928

I am not going to pretend to know the intricacies of how these units work as I am pretty ignorant, but my assumption has always been that each fob emits a signal which is paired to the module that you attach to the car. If that is indeed correct you would need some way to change the signal coming from the fob and I have no idea how that would be done. Smarter people than myself might have a better answer though.

Alan

Randy,
Unfortunately - I don't think it will work as a remote for the unit we installed on your car.

Alan

Alan

There are some reasons that make that harder... You have to defeat the ignition steering lock - either with a key always in the ignition - or with surgery to the steering column.

Personally I'd want to defeat the steering lock - so I could still have the car work either with the key (for door locks and ignition) or via keyless entry/ignition.

Keyless access and ignition systems do need to be more secure than a simple keyless entry (more is at stake) and also will lead to more parasitic current - which often trends towards an issue with our cars.

I actually think its an interesting idea - vastly prefer it on my more modern cars... but getting factory level quality is hard for an aftermarket solution and its always one more point of failure.

Tell us more when it is done

Alan

z driver 88t

Simon, in your set-up what key blank did you use? I read Alan had originally had a material failure at the drilled hole in the Huf blank. I'm wondering if you brazed the key blank to reinforce it as Alan did or have you just had better luck at not breaking at the drilled hole?

Simon928

I reinforced in the same way that Alan did in post #47. I modified Silca keys as both of my spare keys were of that brand. My original Huff key will now be my spare.

z driver 88t

Simon or Alan - One follow up question on the reinforced/modified key blank: Did you cut the original end off of the key blank and weld a metal tab onto the end that you then machined? Or did you only add metal to the original key blank that you then filed and drilled?

I've never welded, but I'd be willing to pick up an $80 wire welder from Harbor Freight to do this type of project if that would do the job. Keyless entry has been on my project list for a long time. I just never liked the idea of a key-chain transmitter. But an integrated key-head is very cool. I just want to make sure I understand what method you used to modify the end of the key blank. Thanks.

hacker-pschorr

That is what worries me the most. Some of the factory stuff is buggy. However, it is an awesome project I will be following. Actually thinking it would be fun to incorporate into my replica Cobra.

Simon928

I filed the back end of the key down until it was a little thinner than it needed to be and then I got two thin pieces of copper and then sandwiched them to the filed down key nub with some solder in between holding everything together. I then filed the key nub again to ensure a good fit. I didn't weld anything.

Alan

Depends a little where you start. The stock Huf keys are harder than the Silca orderable replacements - so are more difficult to work (but stronger). However there is insufficient material left for a strong mating surface to the keyhead - so it needs work.

You have to thin the key head thickness, and shorten slightly. The hole was drilled for this project - stock keys don't have it. I used high temperature silver solder brazing with good fluxing to extend (width) and reinforce the head between the existing tangs. It seems very secure. I also modified the keyhead a little to get even more material in there (Xacto knife)

Alan

jcorenman

Great info, THANK YOU Simon and Alan!
I got this pretty much wrapped up today, just ran into one wrinkle with the rear-hatch release:

So the red/black wire was not supplying 12v with hatch-release?

I connected the red/black wire to T11 to trigger the hatch-release, and changed the hatch-motor ground as you described. Worked like a champ with no external relay required.

What I did was move one wire on connector "T9" which is the light/alarm switch for the rear hatch. On the harness side I moved the brown wire from pin-1 to pin-2, to join the other brown wire (chassis ground). This means the hatch-motor is connected directly to ground and runs any time, doors open or closed. I am sure this violates some German safety rule since triggering the hatch release at 150 mph is probably outside the design envelope, but I am also sure that the S4 spoiler will keep the hatch closed... But for the factory to connect a brown wire to brown/white also violates half a dozen DIN standards.
The one remaining issue is that opening the rear hatch with the key-fob hatch-button with the doors locked also activates the alarm. Opening the hatch with the key turns off the alarm (and I think also unlocks the doors). "Aha", says I, "All I need to do is connect the pink wire (ground on hatch release) to the brn/grn unlock wire to unlock the doors (and turn the alarm off) when the hatch is opened". Perfect!

Did that, sort of worked except cross-connecting the door-unlock and hatch-open also opened the hatch when the doors were unlocked. Not good, but an added relay isolated those functions (as would a diode) and fixed that problem.

So here's the wrinkle: Opening the hatch with the car locked worked great, doors unlock also. But when you toss the shopping in the rear, close the hatch and press the "lock" button to re-lock the car, it doesn't lock.

Here's why: When the car is locked, pressing the "lock" button doesn't re-lock, instead it blinks the turn-signals 3 times as a "car finder" function. (Nice idea but we always know where the car is... whichever back corner of the parking lot is farthest away).

So wiring the hatch trigger to also unlock the doors works great, but the little box thinks the doors are still locked. Makes sense, IT didn't unlock the doors therefore they are still locked, and pressing "lock" again is the key-finder mode.

The options I see are:
(a) Go back to the original configuration: If you want to open the hatch then unlock the doors (and turn off the alarm) first (or suffer the alarm as a reminder); or
(b) Live with the quirkiness: If you want to re-lock the car after opening the hatch, the press the unlock button first, then lock (easily forgotten)... or
(c) Disconnect the hatch switch so the alarm doesn't go off when opening the rear hatch remotely with the doors locked. But then then the hatch is not alarmed, and popping the rear hatch is a first choice for lots of bad guys.

We've opted for (a)-- unlock the doors first, dummy-- but open to other ideas.

On keys: We opted for the head-head model (below) and used a Silca key from Keys4classics -- brass key with the molded head. I whacked away the plastic, machined the thickness down to 2.4mm (from 4.0), cut it shorter and trimmed a bit of plastic from the key-head. The two holes wound up just inside the shank, fit perfectly.

Alan

Jim,
On a GTS this functions differently, the hatch open doesn't unlock the doors - just suspends the alarm until you close the hatch. So at least one of your cars should work OK in this mode.

I didn't encounter this issue, not sure if Simon did?

You do need diodes (or a relay) to allow the hatch release to disable the alarm as you say.

On the hatch - it seemed Simon's unit was not working correctly - an external relay should not have been needed... this was a work-around.

Alan

Madturk

Sorry for the late reply.. This fell of the radar..
Below is the link. Cool system and it works perfectly on my 964.

http://www.advancedkeys.com/

Alan

So did you use the Smart Entry + **** Start System? or did you defeat the steering column lock physically to enable the Smart Entry + Push Start System?

Alan

Simon928

Nope, on my car when the doors are locked opening the hatch suspends the alarm and the doors stay locked.