Picked up a 1987 LX which has a full steeda body kit. Car is very clean, been a long time since I’ve seen one this nice. I had to buy it! The car has some cool things done but was also supercharged at one time. Whoever took the supercharger off, didn’t do what was needed for it to run right NA. Someone converted the car to mass air, it has a A9S ecu with a superchip in it most likely with a tune for the vortech. Has 42 lb green ford injectors which are way too big imo. Car runs and drives but will shut off for no reason and doesn’t idle well. The motor is forged bottom end, told a 363 but I doubt that. gt40 aluminum heads with downs bread box intake. I want to get rid of all this old stuff go with 24lb injectors and a Holley efi setup and Holley distributor. My question is aside from the Holley kit, what else should I get so I can make this all happen? This is my first fox body but my buddy knows these things and will help me put everything in but I don’t wanna bother him with picking out everything. I wanna look useful in some way . All help is greatly appreciated!
1987 LX, looking to go Holley EFi!
- Thread starter djdilliodon
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Nice car.
If you go with the Holley setup, you likely don't need to change the injectors. You certainly can if you want to but stand-alone tend to have a much easier time managing larger size injectors.
If you go with the Holley setup, you likely don't need to change the injectors. You certainly can if you want to but stand-alone tend to have a much easier time managing larger size injectors.
Second the large injector control with the Holley and I would suggest the Terminator series. Hell, I ran 42 lb/hr injectors on a NA 306 and still run them on the current NA 331 with an A9L with an SCT switch chip and the idle, part throttle, full throttle, etc. are all great.
The terminator is the exact kit I’m going for. I pulled the ecu out and it’s an A9S ECU with a super chip in it. So far the shopping listing is looking like this, anyone see anything I’m missing?
Holley terminator ford 5.0 liter kit
Passenger under seat ecu bracket
New oil pressure sender
New air charge and coolant temp sensors.
New temp sensor for autometer gauge (figure might as well do it now lol).
Holley dual sync distributor
MSD 6AL black
MSD tfi coil, I assume I can use this with the dual sync and Holley efi?
Accel 24lbs injectors. I’d rather do new injectors while I’m going into this. Figure I can sell off the 42’s for someone doing a boosted setup.
Anyone see if I’m missing anything?
Blower.........
Lmao. My goal is to drive it a couple years with this little 363 NA setup and then eventually get a new harness and do an LS swap with a T56. I know it’s lame but I wanna stay with an NA setup
I eventually have to swap it with something better suited for NA. The gt40 and the downs will definitely be going. There is some cool old school stuff. It has phantom gauges for everything but the tach is a cool old school svo ford gauge. I ordered a phantom to match so that needs to go as well along with the stock ecu, sct chip, pro M 92mm mass air, MSD box, distributor, ford 42lb injectors etc. anyone know what I should sell it all for? Be nice to recoup some cash on this expensive project
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So the A9S was one year only and came in 1989 5.0 5-speed cars. Some of the late 89's got the A9L. I will also say that Superchips were garbage at best and if was tuned for a blower than it will run like ass without the blower and the same tune. Option here would be to find someone that can tune SCT and get an SCT chip from them and put it on a dyno to tune it. Initially you will spend less doing this than anything else.
You will need to know a lot more about the motor so it can be properly tuned.
1) Is it in fact a 363 inch motor?
2) What is the compression ratio?
3) What cam is in it?
4) Have the heads been worked and if so what are the flow numbers?
5) What size MAF?
6) What size throttle body?
There is a lot going on here especially if a blower was pulled off and it was never retuned. I think you should get the existing combo sorted and running before you haul off and spend a bunch of money that may or may not solve your problem.
Me personally if you don't want to spend the money on another chip and tune then get one of these and learn to tune it yourself:
www.diyautotune.com
You will need to know a lot more about the motor so it can be properly tuned.
1) Is it in fact a 363 inch motor?
2) What is the compression ratio?
3) What cam is in it?
4) Have the heads been worked and if so what are the flow numbers?
5) What size MAF?
6) What size throttle body?
There is a lot going on here especially if a blower was pulled off and it was never retuned. I think you should get the existing combo sorted and running before you haul off and spend a bunch of money that may or may not solve your problem.
Me personally if you don't want to spend the money on another chip and tune then get one of these and learn to tune it yourself:
Ford Foxbody Mustang 5.0 1986-1993 MS3Pro PNP Plug and Play ECU
The NEW Ford Mustang MS3Pro Plug and Play ECU for the 1986-1993 Ford Mustang 5.0 and 1986-1988 Thunderbird 5.0, installs in under 1 hour.
www.diyautotune.com
So the A9S was one year only and came in 1989 5.0 5-speed cars. Some of the late 89's got the A9L. I will also say that Superchips were garbage at best and if was tuned for a blower than it will run like ass without the blower and the same tune. Option here would be to find someone that can tune SCT and get an SCT chip from them and put it on a dyno to tune it. Initially you will spend less doing this than anything else.
You will need to know a lot more about the motor so it can be properly tuned.
1) Is it in fact a 363 inch motor?
2) What is the compression ratio?
3) What cam is in it?
4) Have the heads been worked and if so what are the flow numbers?
5) What size MAF?
6) What size throttle body?
There is a lot going on here especially if a blower was pulled off and it was never retuned. I think you should get the existing combo sorted and running before you haul off and spend a bunch of money that may or may not solve your problem.
Me personally if you don't want to spend the money on another chip and tune then get one of these and learn to tune it yourself:
Ford Foxbody Mustang 5.0 1986-1993 MS3Pro PNP Plug and Play ECU
The NEW Ford Mustang MS3Pro Plug and Play ECU for the 1986-1993 Ford Mustang 5.0 and 1986-1988 Thunderbird 5.0, installs in under 1 hour.
I did a carfax and found where the car sold in 2022 online at a gallery. It was a vortech kit in the car with forged bottom end done NO stroker (guy was full of ish which is what I figured). It has ford svo heads and cam. Compression I don’t know. The reason I want to go Holley is all the wiring is beat up looking, the big main harness connectors are all hanging behind the engine touching, basically someone was a bit of a butcher. I have no problem spending the money, i want the car reliable, i absolutely don’t trust the stock setups. These things are almost 40 years old now, I’d like to update it so when the time comes to go LS I’m ready to go. When she is running, motor is solid, car pulls smooth as silk, but runs super rich! Cruise at highway speed in 4th or 5th gear for a bit and it’s like some turns the key off. Let it sit for awhile and she starts again. I drive it locally try to replicate it and it won’t happen lol.
Edited to add:
Throttle body is an accufab I have to measure it tomorrow.
Maf I have to take out as it’s in the fender well on the filter. The intake pipe is 4” I’m assuming it’s 92mm.
The mass air conversion was definitely butchered. Car doesn’t even have o2’s hooked up.
Full send on the Holley setup then. There is a guy or company that can prewire the Holley wiring harness to plug into the dash harness connector(s) by the brake booster so all of the factory gauges work correctly. I ran across this a couple times and never book marked it which I wish I would have now.
I gotta look for him! I only need to really use the speedo, voltage, and fuel level since the car has aftermarket for everything else. Eventually would love to do a Florida 5.0 gauge cluster (if they are even still around). If you end up finding him let me know! I think I have everything else I need in the cart and I’m gonna pull the trigger tonight
Edited to add: was wondering what seats are in this car and discovered last night it has mint flo fit saleen seats. Love these things! They look sweet and are super comfty!
I think its SorsCode (member here) that does Anderson Ford Motorsports' Fox Body wiring kit for the Holley. You might hit him up and see if he can modify the harness to work with the factory dash.
Decipha
Active Member
Skip the 24s those are the most useless injectors ever made.
The minimum injectors anyone should run is siemens deka 80s. They have BETTER than stock flow control and are ULEV certified. They are also OEM ford injectors. Good from 0hp up to 800hp. Theres absolutely no down side to them and Ive done hundreds of vehicles with them and never a problem.
The stock ecu runs them perfect, no doubt any aftermarket ecu can run them the same as well.
The minimum injectors anyone should run is siemens deka 80s. They have BETTER than stock flow control and are ULEV certified. They are also OEM ford injectors. Good from 0hp up to 800hp. Theres absolutely no down side to them and Ive done hundreds of vehicles with them and never a problem.
The stock ecu runs them perfect, no doubt any aftermarket ecu can run them the same as well.
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