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Slogging through the mundane...

Got most of the engine wiring done (at least under the hood). Structuring the wire is by far the most time consuming part of the deal. Making sure that every wire splice is exactly as long as the other conductor so that the wire will bend uniformly. Couple that to the fact that I do stuff twice (or more) if I don't like something, and seemingly I spend all day to do little of nothing.

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It looks all tranquil and peaceful-like now. In that wire bundle is the VR signal from the EDIS, power, and ground for the same. CLT temp, MAT, TPS, FIDLE, TACH, water temp, oil press, and six injectors. Version 1 had the injector harness wrapped in about a mile of black tape. I shoulda reminded myself before hand, that I absolutely HATE wires wrapped in black tape. So I cut it all open, and did it over. (one example of me doing something twice). I still have to add the water pump, and the cooling fans. They require a relay, and are wired back into the MS board in a place I'm not yet certain.

On the passenger side I'll run a separate grommet for the A/C compressor, and the electronic boost control solenoid, on the Driver's side, the wires for the WP, Cooling fans, brake light switch, and all of the chassis related junk will come out there.

Counter to the tranquility under the hood, is the mounting Chaos that is starting under the dash.
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I figure I'll bite into it a little at a time, and do each area (i.e. the engine bay) one at a time.

Fortunately, I built the dash to be easy to wire. The relay board actually mounts upside down (when it's mounted) that way a fuse can be seen by removing the lower right panel. But until then, I'm able to wire the thing standing up.
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Tomorrow won't be so easy.
 
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More wiring done today, but no pics to prove it. This is mostly just a ramble.

On Saturday Night I opened up the MSII to modify the thing for an electronic boost control circuit. The assy, of the entire MS is well documented on their website. So well in fact that most of the questions that come up are answered for you. Everything is laid out in fairly plain english, with a small explanation if necessary to why you have to do something to the board one way or the other.

Evidently, the boost control circuit is too simple for that. I have looked for hours for a similarly easy wiring diagram, WITH explanations for why you do what you have to do to make the thing work.

No luck. Just a schematic. No "hook this here", and "jumper this there" instructions when you go to "boost mod wiring diagrams" on the DIY autotune website.

If there is a complaint coming from me about megasquirt, how you are relegated to ask for help (via email) is LAME.

Evidently, however many guys are working to resolve the questions are not enough, and where as you might be on hold for an hour waiting to talk w/ some other tech,...you can wait a day, or more to get your question answered, God help you is the answer still doesn't make sense, or they didn't answer all of your questions. I bitched the guy out I'm working with for glazing over my questions, and only offering the most cut and dried answer his poor little tired fingers could muster. Over the last ten years, I've bought three of the damn things, spent close to 2 grand on do it yourself "kits" and when you try to get more than a one sentence answer for their tech guys,..you're asking too much.

Oh well. I guess I'll wait till he gets good and ready to respond.

In other text related news....If you remember, I painted, and subsequently ruined the AC control plate. It's a adhesive backed piece of Mylar. I melted the damn thing trying to wipe the paint off it. The entire control panel is only 50.00, so I thought id Vintage Air would just sell me the cover plate, it wouldn't be that bad.

Wrongo.

After calling V.A. and having dude confirm for me that they did in fact sell a replacement face plate for the control head,...I about hit the floor when he tells me that the face plate alone was 31.00. The four little black knobs that I melted two of add 7.00 to that. Hmmmm,....that's a tough one for me. Buy an entire brand new unit for 50.00 from Summit,...or buy a face plate, and some plastic knobs for 38.00.

New unit.

I did paint the center main gauge bezel black. ( I actually let it sit for an entire day, and painted it w/ a new can of paint that dried to the touch in 3 hours, and could be "handled" in 5. So I was golden.

The only pic that will be featured in today's update will be of the gauge pod, now dressed in black, w/ a different boost gauge that more closely matches the Innovate.

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Kinda says......."Dave,......are you there Dave?"
 
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^^ This look like the beginning of an animatronic trash can, honestly I'm a little freaked out. If I was out in the garage working over the car only to turn around and see this trash can tapping me on the shoulder, I would likely pee my pants.

All kidding aside, I really like the way the gauge pod turned out. I also feel your pain with the wiring, it's one of my least favorite things to do for sure!
 
Ever watch Doctor Who? Looks like an Alabama Dalek.
Evidently, an "Alabama Dalek" is a robot w/ a trash can for a body that got ran over in the street and has no lid because of that?;)

^^ This look like the beginning of an animatronic trash can, honestly I'm a little freaked out. If I was out in the garage working over the car only to turn around and see this trash can tapping me on the shoulder, I would likely pee my pants.

All kidding aside, I really like the way the gauge pod turned out. I also feel your pain with the wiring, it's one of my least favorite things to do for sure!

It never looks that way when you are taking the pic, but when you actually look at the "rendition" that's when see stuff like robotic trash cans w/ antiqued, leather covered gauge pod heads.

But thanks for pointing that out to me,..now my already "vivid" imagination will allow me to create an imaginary artificial intelligence living organism in the shape of a busted ass trash can that I can talk to in the garage while I'm working.

I think I'll name him Trashy MacPherson.:rolleyes:
 
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Just an idea (and maybe I voiced it before, around the same time as what led you to F up the VA plate), but how would it look if you simply painted the trim ring around your head unit silver to match the silver ring on the VA face? I still think all black would look nicer, but to avoid more havoc, that would be a simple solution to the do dads in Blinky matchy matching.
 
Just an idea (and maybe I voiced it before, around the same time as what led you to F up the VA plate), but how would it look if you simply painted the trim ring around your head unit silver to match the silver ring on the VA face? I still think all black would look nicer, but to avoid more havoc, that would be a simple solution to the do dads in Blinky matchy matching.

No disrespect towards your wife intended here, but she much not be a big woman.

Living with a big woman you learn that there are certain "strategic colors" that when worn, supposedly help to offset the portly dimensions. i.e: Do these black pants make my big ass look any smaller?

Now my wife #2 is anything but big, but wife #1 weighed more than me, and was 5" shorter.
So you might say I speak from experience.

All of this goes to say that by painting the silver trim ring on the HVAC plate black, the difference between the two will be minimized visually. Conversely, painting the trim ring on the head unit silver (much easier in comparison, since it's removable) will accentuate that difference.

Besides,.Winkin is now all black, Blinkin needs to keep up appearances.
 
Just thinking out loud here... If you gauge cluster and HVAC controls have names, what else in the garage or kitchen for that matter is named? Is there a conversation that happens with them in the garage? I'm just trying to play this all out in my head
 
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Just thinking out loud here... If you gauge cluster and HVAC controls have names, what else in the garage or kitchen for that matter is named? Is there a conversation that happens with them in the garage? I'm just trying to play this all out in my head

For the record:

Only for the sake of keeping the two sorted out, and to keep things shorter when referring to them in the thread, (Cause I'm always about keeping everything I say as short as possible) :rolleyes: do the two pods have names.

Other than that, just the usual stuff everybody has names for.

The work truck, my wallet, my Dewalt 18v drill, The part of a woman's leg that just starts to become a butt, The 7th wave in the ocean,........You know,.....nothing special.
 
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It's weird.

I had a really good day today. Absolutely perfect weather ( Why can't it always be sunny, 75 degrees, and very low humidity?) Yet to tell you what i did in the perfect weather,...another day with very little to show for it.

Although I have no pics (again) the wiring is still plugging along. While some may find the prospect of completely having to rewire an entire automotive electrical system daunting, I actually find it.........peaceful. As of now, the entire car is 60%.

Sitting on a roll around creeper, while tying each circuit in one at a time takes for freaking ever, but at this point, I'm in no rush. I actually think that the notion of being able to start the engine at the end of this "phase" is a little intimidating for me.

I never did hear back from the Tech department at Megasquirt ( I believe that I'm on a "black list" with them since my last reply to them was kinda testy) Not only is the one guy not answering my email inquiry's, now a completely separate question to a completely separate individual has gone unanswered. In lieu of that, I went ahead and completed the circuit the best of my understanding. I'll tell you this much, I hope it's just because somebodies on vacation, and the tech dept is covered up because of it. If they have truly decided to let me languish around because I expressed my frustrations from having to deal w/"online tech" as opposed to having a live phone tech to answer questions,...they are probably gonna wish they'd just answered my questions.

But I digress.

Everything is getting really tight under hood. I woulda thought that an I-6 in a fox engine bay would've been like a small fish in a big pond, but it's turning out more like a whale in a swimming pool. Everything I'm doing now seems to interfere w/ something that was done months earlier.

The vacuum log is one case in point. There is a 3/8"NPT female pipe fitting at the back of the intake manifold that was intended for a vacuum tree screwed into it from underneath. Between the myriad of hoses that now live under there now, and the recently added engine wire harness going through the firewall back there, adding that vacuum tree proved challenging at best.

If I can get a camera up there to do that any justice you'll see that for yourself. But for now you're just gonna have to take my word for it. It's getting to be a real pain in the ass.
 
On a different thread, I said something that would lead somebody to believe that I was days away from being able to actually think about starting the car. Now, 5 days deep in the rewire, that may have been a little.......ambitious.
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At this point, I'm about 12 hours in the fuse panel and it still looks like this. The biggest issue w/ me is my lack of understanding the current path. I think that the fuse panel has a main 12v feed coming to it, and everything attached is going out.

Not true.

the circuits flow both ways in alot of circumstances. Take the Ignition switch for example. There are about 10 wires hooked to that dude from the factory. The Ron Francis fuse panel only needs half of that. Trying to figure out what goes in, and what goes out when using a Haynes wiring schematic in the back of a Fox Mustang repair manual has proven to be confusing.(And I'm damn sure, NOT gonna buy a separate one dedicated to a Fairmont considering they are the same car)
The RF panel has one wire that is supposed to have switched power going to it from the column that has both crank, and run on it.

The Ford connector has 4 wires that have either crank OR run, but none that have both. Can I combine two of them?
I think it will,....Then sit around and fret about the "what-if's". What if I combine two of the wires,.....wont the starter stay engaged all the time then?

I call Ron Francis.

Evidently, they don't. So I hook it up, and leave 4 wires dangling. It works.

Now while it only took a minute for you to read that, it took me an hour (or more) just to get past that one circuit.

Yeah,....."T-Minus" alright..........T minus a year.:nonono:

I come back into the house and hook my Megasquirt to the "Stim" board I also built form a kit to verify that the thing works, now that I am programming in variables.

i.e. The water pump stays off until the engine reaches 150 degrees. There is an additional "condition" programmed in that will not let it come on even after the engine reaches 150 or above IF the engine RPM is below 500. (i.e while it is being cranked to start/restart it)

i.e. The cooling fan comes on at 180, and goes back off at 170 (I'll probably up those numbers after I get it running right) Additionally, there is still the same condition to restrict it's operation below 500 RPM.

i.e at any engine temp below 145 the fast idle solenoid opens, and closes @155.

Most will remember that I was waiting on MS tech to respond to my questions about the boost mod. Although they did eventually respond, the damage was already done. I had went ahead w/ the circuit mods on my own. If it don't work right I'll deal w/ it, for now I buttoned the thing back up.
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This is what the boost mod looks like. Any mod made to accommodate the user configurable parameters looks like this. The four black wires turn the
IAC stepper provision into those programmable outputs instead. Since I'm using a more primitive "on/off" idle valve, I don't need the IAC stepper. Not using that lets me re-purpose those outputs so that two of them now drive relays that control the water pump, and the cooling fans.

All this to say that now the ECU is hooked up to the stim to check all that junk out. (didn't I say that already?)

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The stim looks like this. All of the knobs and lights there to simulate a running engine. This is an upgraded version that even allows you to duplicate an EDIS-6 ignition system.

So the test begins.
My Injectors are batch fired, w/ 3 of them firing at once. In programming, you can opt to have each bank of three fire simultaneously, or alternate. I chose to alternate them.
I start Tuner Studio, turn the knob that simulates RPM, and the led's that represent start to ping-pong, indicating that each bank is firing alternately.:nice:
The led that simulates that the fast Idle solenoid is open, and letting in additional air is lit. I turn the coolant temp knob up till the gauge in Tuner studio says 155, and the light goes out. 2 down :nice::nice:
The fact that the tach gauge on my computer responds to the RPM knob means that the modifications to accommodate EDIS as my ignition system is successful. :nice::nice::nice:
I turn the coolant knob back down below 150, and put my multimeter on the output that simulates one of the now re-purposed IAC outputs. Turn the knob up to 150, and the output sends a 12v signal to my meter. That means that the water pump just turned on. Check :nice::nice::nice::nice::
I continue to turn the knob up past 180 and check the other port now dedicated to the relay for the cooling fan,... the meter again reads 12v. I turn the knob back down to 170, and the meter goes back to zero. I'm Golden.:banana:

The entire ECU is set, it checks out completely. I can now put it in the dash. Huge load off me.

I called Aviaid. They are the MFG's of my external pump. I called him to ask for procedure to prime the engine, and for reassurance that the pump will live as long as I want it to.
"How long do you want it to last?" he asks. "I just want to be sure I'm not depending on some "race-only" oiling system to keep my one of a kind, Fordphadite engine alive on the street" I reply back.

"Look, the only difference between this pump, and a SBC pump it's modeled after, is that your's is built better, it's outside of the engine, and there's a belt driving the thing instead of a shaft. It'll last as long as you need it too, as long as you don't start running nuts and bolts through it."

Well alrighty then.

"As for priming the thing, you can hook a drill motor to a 1/4-28 bolt screwed into the pump shaft, or you can turn the thing by hand. In about three minutes of hand turning, you should be able to generate 30-40 p.s.i.. Otherwise, if you don't want to kill your hand, a 1/2" drill should generate the 75p.s.i. outlet pressure the pump is factory preset at."

Again,......I'm good.

So I've got a small contract job that will take 3 days to complete before I can get back on the thing, but now, I'm way more confident that when i turn that key, this thing's gonna start.:cool:
 
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I love reading your posts. It's reassuring that somebody way smarter than me can spend all day doing nothing, except reorganizing the Gant chart, or removing brand new parts that have been inadvertently obsolete-ized.

You're like digital Mylanta.
 
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I love reading your posts. It's reassuring that somebody way smarter than me can spend all day doing nothing, except reorganizing the Gant chart, or removing brand new parts that have been inadvertently obsolete-ized.

You're like digital Mylanta.

I'm no smarter than anybody else here, and way dumber than more than a few. I just ain't afraid to do something,...especially if there's a book w/ pictures and words to tell me how to do it.
The problem for me sets in when that book ONLY has pictures.

Imagine a cook book w/ pictures of ingredients for a Cheese Souffle' and no instructions of when, how much, and how to add them.

I'm thinkin' Cheese Frisbee.

I really hope you fire up the Go Pro on start up day. Enjoy your time off at Work :rolleyes::D

You know I got one,.....I just gotta get one of those head band attachments to be sure that I never cross in front of the lens. (I'd just freeze up, and stand there)

I've thought about it, and maybe if the thing was attached to me where it didn't get in my way, I'd use it. We'll see.

Fingers crossed, Mike. I'm sure the first turn of that key will be a real butt-puckering moment.

That is no understatement.
 
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I imagine there must be quite a look on your wife's face when she sees you hunched over a table getting all excited about a bunch of blinking lights on a circuit board.

Haha. Anyway, glad to read that everything checks ok. Nice to know the worrying was much ado about nothing. :)
 
I was gonna title this update "The Good, Bad, and the ugly".

Problem is,....the ugly is so freakin' ugly it's makes the bad seem good, and the good, too good to be true.

But we'll start off with the good part nonetheless.

I was needing a yoke for the 4R70W so that I can get a driveshaft built. This morning I jump into the truck, and head for the salvage yard. I get there, ask dude for a DS out of a 2000 and up Mustang that came w/ an auto. He tells me that he has one and it'll be 100.00.

I have him go get it. Before I left the house, I slid under the car and measured from the rear DS mating flange of the rear end to the rear of the output shaft on the trans to get an idea of how long a DS would need to be. I was hoping a later model Mustang would be longer than the Fox shaft I have standing in a corner. That measurement was 53". Now that the 4R70W is in the car, my old Fairmont DS is way too long, and considerably smaller in diameter than a Mustang driveshaft, so I was hoping that when dude brought me that DS I'd be pleasantly surprised. He presents the thing, and I ask him if he has a tape measure. He does. I measure the shaft, and discover to my disappointment that the New edge shaft is exactly the same length as the Fox shaft. The only difference between the one now in front of me, and the one back at the garage, was this one had the correct yoke on it to fit my transmission. I tell the guy that it's too damn short, and I'm needing it more for the yoke than anything else.

He says, that if all I need is the yoke, he'll sell it to me for 50.00 instead. I said done deal, and expected him to take it back and remove the yoke and bring that piece back to me.

Nope. He just takes my fifty, and says goodbye.

This is the "Good" part of the story.

Kinda burnt out on the wiring, I decide to work on some of the mechanicals instead. The goofy assed vacuum log I talked about last time still needed mounting, so that was job 1. I had painted the thing, and assembled the fittings on the outside first.
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Since I have an old school vacuum modulator living inside my 4R70 I now have a vacuum line running up front. That modulator is part of a Transgo kit, and in addition to some other mods, and re-wiring, that is how I can manually shift a once fully computer controlled transmission.

Problem is, That vacuum modulator can't see one pound of boost. Months ago I bought a kit (sold by Transgo) to remedy that situation. It's basically a check ball in a tee w/ a .060 restriction in line that will allow boost to vent to atmosphere. That kit had to go in my vacuum tree. One port dedicated to the MAP, and boost gauge, and the other to the BOV, The waste gates will get their boost signal from the compressor housing (Seeing as I now have a small boost leak in the manifold) The bottom port goes to the power brake booster, where ther is also a one-way valve inline to prevent that diaphragm from seeing boost also.
With some cussing and grunting, I get the thing installed, and plumbed

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The replacement HVAC control head came in during the week, and I disassembled it the right way this time, masked it properly, painted it, and let it dry completely before putting it back together, and back into Blinkin'.
It looks much better.
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I removed my oil drain line, and wrapped it in some left over heat shield crap I've had laying around for 10 years, and put it back on.

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No longer concerned about melting it.

I plumbed the oil feed line to the turbo, and installed the transmission dipstick tube.
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All of this so far is still in the "good" category. From here on, the bad, and the ugly go hand in hand.

I decided to prime the engine, and that required that I fill the engine w/ oil. Not knowing the true capacity of the engine now that I have a Frank-N-Pan, a remote oil cooler, 10' of line, and an external oil pump I bought 8 qts of Valvoline non-detergent SAE 30 as a break-in oil.

I start adding that stuff to the open engine (valve cover off). I pour qt #1 in, and slide underneath, watching closely for any signs of seepage.
None.
so I add qts 2,3,4,5 and pour each qt, over the springs, and down into the lifter valley directly on top the the lifters, and camshaft. I slide back under, and I still got no leaks.
So far, so good.

Time for the bad.

I'm supposed to be able to literally hand turn the external oil pump to prime the engine, so I remove the drive belt and start spinnin' that gear. It didn't take me long to realize that there wasn't any oil getting to the pump. I assumed that just like a internal oil pump, this pump would be able to suck the oil up, and over to where it is located at the front of the engine. Evidently, I may be wrong in that mindset,.....this pump may need a gravity feed in order to prime, and stay primed. As it is now, the oil has to travel up (I don't know,....4-5") and then over horizontally about 24". If the thing needs to be lower than the oil supply for a true gravity feed it would be so low it would be road kill in a minute.

I may have a bad pump, I just don't know. I'll call Aviaid on Monday to see what the deal is.

But again,.....despite the problem w/ the pump, or it's location all of this is rosy, not the end of the world stuff,......not like........The ugly.

I look under the car, and there it is,.....a drip. Actually a 2" diameter circle of wet oil.
Where the hell is that coming from?

The head gasket.

That stinkin', I knew this was gonna happen, piece of flaming crap, copper head gasket is seeping all along the outside edge of the lifter galley.

And this is happening w/ a 30 weight oil, at 66 degrees, w/ no crank case pressure. Who knows what would've happened if i would've poured water in there.
I sealed that head gasket w/ Hondabond,...advised that using it would make taking the thing back apart........."difficult", but by using it, It should seal the engine against water, and oil leaks.

Yeah,.....right.

I have to remove the head. I gotta buy a different gasket. There is no such thing as a good gasket for this engine. I should've built an LS.
 
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