Progress Thread Darn Stock Block Problems - Getting the Engine Together

Thanks for the kind words. At this point there's no reason to even have a wallet. :D Money pretty much comes in and immediately gets spend on more parts and materials. Oh, and that annoying mortgage, food bills, car payments, electric, ect....

But in all seriousness I got fortunate this year with my work and Christmas bonus which is what is allowing me to quickly move forward with this whole thing. That and an understanding wife who let me put all of it towards my hobbies. I didn't want to touch any of the cash I had saved for the 89' build and have been able to stay true to that so far.

My other build is on hold until I get this car back up and running. I just don't have the time or desire to handle two at once. I'm hoping to have this car up and running by end of summer so I can try to get some shakedown runs at the drag strip to see what the new combo does. Goal is to always keep this a tolerable street/strip vehicle but to hopefully dip into the 9's once I get the new combo sorted. Seeing @TOOLOW91 getting his combo together is giving me some good motivation to keep moving forward.
 
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Concerning the custom MS3 EFI harness I am making. Has anybody sourced new sensor connectors or is it general practice to just reuse the old connectors by cutting them off and splicing them into the new wiring coming from the ECU? I've been looking around for new but it appears it might be cost prohibitive to use all new connectors, plus finding them has be a pita.
 
Concerning the custom MS3 EFI harness I am making. Has anybody sourced new sensor connectors or is it general practice to just reuse the old connectors by cutting them off and splicing them into the new wiring coming from the ECU? I've been looking around for new but it appears it might be cost prohibitive to use all new connectors, plus finding them has be a pita.
What sensors are you planning to use? it would be pertinent to source new ones.. you may look into GM alternatives as they are cheaper and the connectors are readily available. in some cases the sensor will even come with the necessary connector and crimp pins.
 
What sensors are you planning to use? it would be pertinent to source new ones.. you may look into GM alternatives as they are cheaper and the connectors are readily available. in some cases the sensor will even come with the necessary connector and crimp pins.

Damn that was quick, didn't even have to tag ya :)

I'm still going over all the details and mapping out my harness, but in short:

MAF
Air temp
Coolant Temp
Injectors
VSS
TPS
IAC (Gm?)

I figured I would need the GM connectors needed to connect to the coil harnesses for each bank. The other sensors/controls are going to be aftermarket so I can deal with those individually (wideband, crank sensor, fuel pressure, ect).
 
Dude, perfect! Those links you sent were exactly what I was looking for.

While I have your attention.... I'm leaning toward the MS330-KIt w the mapdaddy upgrade with the MS3+ expansion VS the pre-built MS3X box. Not so much because of price but because of the ability to customize the unit. Anything I'm missing here or would lose by going that route?
 
Thanks for the kind words. At this point there's no reason to even have a wallet. :D Money pretty much comes in and immediately gets spend on more parts and materials. Oh, and that annoying mortgage, food bills, car payments, electric, ect....

But in all seriousness I got fortunate this year with my work and Christmas bonus which is what is allowing me to quickly move forward with this whole thing. That and an understanding wife who let me put all of it towards my hobbies. I didn't want to touch any of the cash I had saved for the 89' build and have been able to stay true to that so far.

My other build is on hold until I get this car back up and running. I just don't have the time or desire to handle two at once. I'm hoping to have this car up and running by end of summer so I can try to get some shakedown runs at the drag strip to see what the new combo does. Goal is to always keep this a tolerable street/strip vehicle but to hopefully dip into the 9's once I get the new combo sorted. Seeing @TOOLOW91 getting his combo together is giving me some good motivation to keep moving forward.
I’m glad I could motivate you trust me I had to push myself to get done as much as I did so quickly . I’ll be watching out for your progress for sure !
 
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Dude, perfect! Those links you sent were exactly what I was looking for.

While I have your attention.... I'm leaning toward the MS330-KIt w the mapdaddy upgrade with the MS3+ expansion VS the pre-built MS3X box. Not so much because of price but because of the ability to customize the unit. Anything I'm missing here or would lose by going that route?
IMO if your budget allows... MS3pro evo

now if your building it the ms3x is a obvious must you have the basics covered already.
IMO some cheap-o transducers for oil pressure and a simple voltage divider for fuel level ?
Using PT4 you can connect the factory VSS sensor for vehicle speed [depends on the sensor used]
and IMO go ahead and use a Digital HZ in [you have a bunch] and wire a cherry hall sensor up to watch the wheel studs or reluctor wheel [if you have 5 lug spindles with one] this way you can do traction control.
 
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IMO if your budget allows... MS3pro evo

now if your building it the ms3x is a obvious must you have the basics covered already.
IMO some cheap-o transducers for oil pressure and a simple voltage divider for fuel level ?
Using PT4 you can connect the factory VSS sensor for vehicle speed [depends on the sensor used]
and IMO go ahead and use a Digital HZ in [you have a bunch] and wire a cherry hall sensor up to watch the wheel studs or reluctor wheel [if you have 5 lug spindles with one] this way you can do traction control.

Can I ask why you're saying the MS3pro evo over the MS3+? Technically, I see the MS3pro has a ton more features and I/O available but I didn't see the need to upgrade from the MS3+ platform for what I was planning on doing. Not saying there isn't, I just didn't see it yet. My future goal is to go with a digital dash setup and clean up my interior but it looks like the MS3+ will support that also.

Those are some good suggestions, I forgot about wanting to look at doing traction control and keeping in mind if I want to go digital dash, I will need to plan for a fuel level sender, oil pressure, ect. I'll add those to the schematic I am drawing up for all this.
 
The ms3pro just makes things simple, nothing hardware wise to deal with.

If you plan to use one of the DD-EFI drop in units for the foxbody you most def want to think about things like
Oil pressure
Fuel level
Fuel pressure.. ect.

Some other cool options you have is to use a digital out and a pwm out for fan control.
Both are needed to set things up the way I like. Basically you use a relay(digital out) to control the power to a SSR, the SSR is controlled by the pwm out. In this configuration you can shut the fan off for wot vehicle speed ect. With the digital out, the fan is pwm so the speed will vary based on the output, no hard load on the system to cause idle issues.
I use closed loop temp control with the pwm fan, target 200 and let the ECU ramp the fan in and out to reach target. Works great no more than a 2* offset from target.
 
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Makes sense and thanks for clarifying all that that. I will have to look more closely at the pro to see if it's worthwhile for what I'm planning. Got lots of reading to do.
 
Plan is to mount the ECU in the cab under the passenger seat. I was seriously looking at the pro a month ago but when I started to go through the details it seemed the MS3+ was going to do all and more then what I needed (PWM fan control, PWM fuel pump control, sensor inputs for engine and dash control, COP, ect, ect). But I'm not opposed to spending extra to get something that will be easier to work with and have additional capacity. Seems I'm at the point I need to map this all out and make a decision.
 
K-member and control arms are installed and squared. I'd heard the "horror" stories from people describing the process they went through to get the k-member squared, so I was prepared for a fight. Hung my plumb bob off the suspension points, made my marks on the floor, and did my measurements. Right off the bat the X measurement was only 1/8" off and the front to back was only a 1/16" off. A couple light taps with a dead blow and all was good.

I did end up making an 1/8" aluminum spacer plate to put between the frame rail and the top of the K-member. When I was mocking everything up there was between an 1/8" and 1/4" gap between the top of the k-member and the frame rail when the lower bolts were fully tightened. I didn't feel comfortable pulling the k-member up that far (it would have to bend at the lower mount) so I made a spacer to make up some of the space on each side.

I think my strange 10-way struts are shot since they don't have any rebound. Need to order a new set of those so I can get the rest of the suspension on next week. It looks like I could get them rebuilt but the cost to do that is not much less then a brand new set from LMR.

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Well, only 5 months since my last update.....

I've been concentrating on cleaning everything up in the engine bay, replacing all the steel screws with that were used to mount the cable/hose clamps with SS, fixing all the various firewall holes that were never properly covered, fixing the wiring and getting ready for the MS3x install, rerouting all the fuel/vent/cooler hoses, repainting mounts/accessories, ect ect.

I opened up the hole in the firewall for the powerpipe and installed some trim. I did this will all the holes that were being used for fuel hose, brake lines, ect to provide some protection.

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Cleaned up, smoothed out, and re-painted my power pipe. I couldn't stand the half-assed tig welds that were done on this thing. This is the color I've been painting all the accessory brackets, charge pipe, ect

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Got my new 10-ways and the rest of the suspension installed. Re-painted the brake calipers and replaced all the hardware. Also replaced all the hose clamps with SS clamps and rerouted to my liking.

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Got the steering rack, my MM bump steer kit, and MM steering shaft painted and installed. I fit the new engine mounts, made a new mount for the catch cans and mounted them, made a cover for the clutch cable hole, rerouted the hose, replaced all hose clamps with SS ones, replaced the throttle cable, ect, ect

Ignore the closest catch can. I've never had aluminum that wouldn't polish, but no matter what compound or technique I used, I could not get that catch can to polish up nice. The other one polished up really easy. I'll replace it down the road but I want to keep things rolling forward.

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Also got my main power distribution block and wiring finished.

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I was still surprised at how much core shift there was between the lower intake and the upper intake on my Systemax II, so I got the porting kit out and did some work on the lower portion of the runners. I didn't touch the upper portion of the runners much since it didn't seem they needed any attention.

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I forgot to take a before picture of how the ports aligned with the gasket before I started porting, but like my earlier picture of inside the ports showed, there was quite a bit of shift. I had to take quite a bit of material out. Here is the final result with the gasket on.

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I opened up the TB to 80MM for the new throttle body. And yes, I broke through the floor of the intake throat here. I barely touched this area before I broke through so it was really thin to start with. Shouldn't be a big deal but I'm going to get some Moroso A&B epoxy and fill it in.

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The PO did a really good job of integrating the aftermarket ignition system/ect into the existing ECU harness so you didn't even see the mods, which is great for aesthetics, but really sucked for figuring out what all was modified. Plus, he wrapped EVERY factory harness under the hood and in the wheel wells in electrical tape which was a bear to remove. I got it all taken apart, figured out, and rerouted since I needed to take the factory fuel injection harness and ECU out for the MS3x install.

Since the fuel injection harness was already hacked up, I hacked it up more and reused the factory firewall grommet to route the MS3x wiring into the engine bay.

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Lots of wiring to do with the new ECU. I'm trying to keep every wire that I don't need to go into the engine bay, out of the engine bay.

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I'm integrating with the factory harness to drive the stock tach, get key on power for the ECU, get a VSS signal for the ECU, ect to keep everything as clean as possible.

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Trying to keep all the non-engine related wiring hidden or in the wheel wells.

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Any other extras you want? I can give advice. What ignition system are you planning?

I'm planning on running COP ignition. I have the LS truck coils and brackets already, and have everything pre-wiried for it in my harness. I have the explorer cam sensor but havent figured out what I'm going to run for the balancer/crank sensor yet.

Appreciate the offer for help, I'm going to need it as I keep moving forward. I have some more progress pics to post for all the wiring/ect that I haven't posted yet.

I should be getting my MS3x kit on Monday. It's been on backorder for 3 weeks since the expansion card was on backorder from DIY autotune for awhile. I got the v3.0 kit so I can learn the controller circuitry a little better.