Build Thread Want To Blow 5 Years And $50k On A Foxbody? Step By Step Instructions Inside!

[RacEoHolic330]

I forgot to post a finished picture of the hatch area. Came out pretty well, and now the interior smells like fresh carpet. Win.

The back area is attached with these square clamps. They fit snugly around the 1/2" square steel I used for the frame. Makes getting to the battery very easy. I also drilled a bunch of holes where the speaker sits. Seems to get the job done!

 

[02 281 GT]

That's so incredible! It's looks entirely factory!

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I believe I'm going to reroute my water pump and fan wiring. The water pump power lead is bundled in with my alternator wire and the fan wiring is bundled with the fog light wires. I can distinctly hear the PWM signal in my speakers. When I unhook the fan and water pump, there is no more noise. I installed a 200uF capacitor filter on the input of the controller, but the noise still prevails. Those high inductive loads need to be isolated better. The audio system sounds great when the ignition is in the accessory position though!

 

[bird_dog0347]

The interior looks great, that bumper looks very dirty...

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Looks like pollen is all over your car. O'well, some things will get neglected in the name of progress. Good work on the interior. Do you have any small fans, like computer fans, blowing over your amp or electronics under your wood hatch panels to keep things cool?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

The car is a mess of pollen and MDF dust, inside and out.

I'm going to keep an eye on how hot that area gets. It's easy enough to tap a small fan off a 12v switched source I have back there if I need to. I had the amps in the same area before, and they didn't get very hot at all.

 

[jrichker]

How much current does the audio equipment draw?
If it is less that 15 amps, a couple of toroid (doughnut shaped) ferrite choke coils in series with the DC power input will help a lot.

See Capacitor-input filter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia for a detailed description

 

[RacEoHolic330]

The receiver itself draws less than 15A. I was able to hear the fan in the front dash speakers prior to installing the amplifiers and other 4 speakers. The front speakers are powered directly off the receiver. I'll research those choke coils and give them a try!

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Not much to update at the moment. I haven't touched the car in the past 2 weeks. I've been on vacation and have had a lot of other stuff going on. I did receive a replacement water pump motor last week. I need to get that bolted on and then I can work on getting some miles on the engine before bringing it to the dyno again.

 

[89oem]

Aren't those the same coils you get with all the cable TV cat cables? If so you should have some laying around I suspect.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

They probably are the same. I'm just not sure if I have any that I'm willing to tear apart to put in the car. Lol

 

[jrichker]

Aren't those the same coils you get with all the cable TV cat cables? If so you should have some laying around I suspect.

See below...

OR

 

[89oem]

Computer monitors (the cable) use them too, maybe have an old one laying around?

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Thanks guys. I'll get something that will do the job one way or another.

I finished installing the new water pump motor as well as re-wiring the electric fan and water pump to the Holley instead of using the DCControl. I liked the DCControl and had no problems with it, but I liked the idea of simplifying things and having the ECU control as much as possible. I bought a 30A diode-protected relay at Napa to control the water pump as well as a giant 75A diode-protected relay for the fan. The ECU provides two separate negative triggers, one for each relay. The diode protection is important because of the huge momentary (microseconds) voltage spike that occurs when you switch off a relay off. That can create a backfeed to the ECU and damage it. A 20A fuse protects the 12V to the water pump relay and a 14ga fusible link protect the feed to the fan relay.

The nice thing about the Holley is that you have an unlimited number of ways to configure the fan and water pump based on certain inputs. I have my fan set to come on at 190 degrees and turn off at 180 degrees, but only when the engine is above 650 rpm. This keeps the fan from coming on when I turn the ignition on but don't start the car. I can also wire in a manual override switch to provide the grounded output to the relay if I decide I want the fan to run with just the ignition on for some reason. I can even use the VSS input I created to have the fan turn off at highway speeds. Cool stuff!

I'll hopefully have time tomorrow to start the car up and take it for a ride. I want to enable the closed loop and learn at idle to see how the car reacts to self-tuning the idle. I have the compensation limits turned way down because the car is relatively close to being fully tuned. The ECU was previously set to only enter closed loop and learn above 1800 rpm.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Thanks guys. I'll get something that will do the job one way or another.

I finished installing the new water pump motor as well as re-wiring the electric fan and water pump to the Holley instead of using the DCControl. I liked the DCControl and had no problems with it, but I liked the idea of simplifying things and having the ECU control as much as possible. I bought a 30A diode-protected relay at Napa to control the water pump as well as a giant 75A diode-protected relay for the fan. The ECU provides two separate negative triggers, one for each relay. The diode protection is important because of the huge momentary (microseconds) voltage spike that occurs when you switch off a relay off. That can create a backfeed to the ECU and damage it. A 20A fuse protects the 12V to the water pump relay and a 14ga fusible link protect the feed to the fan relay.

The nice thing about the Holley is that you have an unlimited number of ways to configure the fan and water pump based on certain inputs. I have my fan set to come on at 190 degrees and turn off at 180 degrees, but only when the engine is above 650 rpm. This keeps the fan from coming on when I turn the ignition on but don't start the car. I can also wire in a manual override switch to provide the grounded output to the relay if I decide I want the fan to run with just the ignition on for some reason. I can even use the VSS input I created to have the fan turn off at highway speeds. Cool stuff!

I'll hopefully have time tomorrow to start the car up and take it for a ride. I want to enable the closed loop and learn at idle to see how the car reacts to self-tuning the idle. I have the compensation limits turned way down because the car is relatively close to being fully tuned. The ECU was previously set to only enter closed loop and learn above 1800 rpm.

I'm just coming into that junk w/ my MSII. Both the WP, and cooling fan are controlled similarly the same way as yours except my ECU provides a very low amperage 12v signal that acts as the trigger for the relay.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Yup. I could do a positive trigger too. A negative trigger was easier for me from a wiring standpoint. It's a little simpler to wire in an override switch that way.

 

[Bullitt347]

All of this stereo stuff is boring................lets get back to the nuts and bolts of making HP! damn it! BTW, On my build, I made all of the switches that turn on one thing or another, a negative switched toggle. Everything has power to it and the switch provides the ground, much like the ECU provides the ground for the fuel injectors.

 

[Chuckman]

I have my fan set to come on at 190 degrees and turn off at 180 degrees, but only when the engine is above 650 rpm. This keeps the fan from coming on when I turn the ignition on but don't start the car.

THIS is what i need, fan keeps pulling enough amps on a warm start that it makes the battery weak enogh to well the solenoid contacts

 

[RacEoHolic330]

It's a nice feature to have.

I ran into an issue with the fan today. I started the engine up and the fan came on and stayed on. It wouldn't shut off, even with the ignition off. I had to disconnect the battery to shut it off. I unplugged the fan, reconnected the battery and confirmed 12v at the terminals from the relay. My guess is that the relay terminals welded themselves together. @jrichker, could having a worn out fan motor cause enough resistance to make the locked rotor current high enough to fry the 75A relay? The Taurus fan does spike to 100A for microseconds, but is supposed to have a locked rotor current of around 60A and a running current of 33A when wired for high speed. I haven't heard of people having issues with this fan and relay combination, so an old motor is the only thing I can think of.

In the meantime, I'm going to replace the relay with another one and then wire the fan for low speed. Not sure if it will keep the engine cool enough at idle, but I'll give it a try.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

So, my hypothesis of the relay being stuck closed was somewhat right and wrong. When I was unbolting it, I heard it click. After I got it out, I checked it's operation with a battery and it's working fine. It's not welded shut.

I still put the a new relay in and wired the fan for low speed. I did notice that the relay would click very quickly when I turned on the ignition. The ECU must be momentarily activating the outputs when it turns on and is initializing everything. That's my only guess. It only did it a few times when I cycled the ignition. Now the relay does not click when I turn on the ignition. I tested the fan through the ECU and it's operating correctly. I'll have to keep an eye on things to make sure it keeps working properly.