Progress Thread Hoopty v2.0 - It All Snowballed

[hoopty5.0]

I ordered the speedmaster kit for $26. ARP was $64. For something that get very little torque applied, I couldnt justify the premium.
I also ordered parts to build a steering shaft. The one I found in my garage hits one of the primaries and sticks at inopportune times and is scary, LOL.

 

[95BlueStallion]

Could also just use 4 old bolts with the heads cut off as guides to mount the intake, then remove and replace with nice bolts once the rest are in.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Could also just use 4 old bolts with the heads cut off as guides to mount the intake, then remove and replace with nice bolts once the rest are in.

Yeah, thought of that but Id like to just do this once, LOL. Tracking says I should have them tomorrow, mid day. Ill just try and stay occupied until then.

ALSO.... my damn distributor was bad, so had to order another one of those things for $100. The shaft is really tough to spin. I may try taking it apart and see what the deal is since the new one is on the way. That wont be here til FKN TUESDAY even though I paid more to have it here this weekend! lameee

 

[AeroCoupe]

If the distributor is OEM then I would pop it apart and clean the varnish out of it. I used WD40 and a brass tube brush to clean the body and then some 0000 steel wool to clean the distributor shaft. The shaft will have grooves in it so make sure to get those cleaned out as well. Some info in this thread with me babbling about differences between the two that I have:

Engine Thread '86-93 V8 Distributor Collar Differences'

Feb 15, 2025

It appears that some distributors came with two different styles of collars. This is part #12 in this distributor diagram (I know the diagram is for a 94/94 car but you get the idea):

Item	Part Number	Description
1	388483-S2	Screw (2 Req'd)
2	—	Armature (Rotary Vane) (Part of 12127)
3	—	Shaft Assembly (Part of 12127)
4	N801293-S36	Screw
5	—	Stator (Hall Effect Vane Switch Assembly) (Part of...

• AeroCoupe
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Fox 5.0 Mustang Tech

I did not take pictures of the shaft before it was cleaned up but here is one of it clean and one where you can see the grooves I am talking about:

I used a small pick to get most of the crud out of the grooves then I finished them up with a small brass brush and WD40.

 

[hoopty5.0]

If the distributor is OEM then I would pop it apart and clean the varnish out of it. I used WD40 and a brass tube brush to clean the body and then some 0000 steel wool to clean the distributor shaft. The shaft will have grooves in it so make sure to get those cleaned out as well. Some info in this thread with me babbling about differences between the two that I have:

Engine Thread '86-93 V8 Distributor Collar Differences'

Feb 15, 2025

It appears that some distributors came with two different styles of collars. This is part #12 in this distributor diagram (I know the diagram is for a 94/94 car but you get the idea):

Item	Part Number	Description
1	388483-S2	Screw (2 Req'd)
2	—	Armature (Rotary Vane) (Part of 12127)
3	—	Shaft Assembly (Part of 12127)
4	N801293-S36	Screw
5	—	Stator (Hall Effect Vane Switch Assembly) (Part of...

• AeroCoupe
• Replies: 17
• Forum: Fox 5.0 Mustang Tech

I did not take pictures of the shaft before it was cleaned up but here is one of it clean and one where you can see the grooves I am talking about:

I used a small pick to get most of the crud out of the grooves then I finished them up with a small brass brush and WD40.

Ill have to try that today. I really had no business spending $100 on a distributor. BUT it would be cool to have a spare so maybe Ill just throw it on the shelf.

 

[nickyb]

I don't know what brand distributor you got for $100 but I went through three bad new ones and soon found out the new ones are All made over seas and use cheap electronics. The one I got that did work was a dragon fire brand and also made in ROC.

 

[hoopty5.0]

I don't know what brand distributor you got for $100 but I went through three bad new ones and soon found out the new ones are All made over seas and use cheap electronics. The one I got that did work was a dragon fire brand and also made in ROC.

Yeah these are Cardone overseas units. I'm not shocked in the slightest, but I'm not in the position to drop $800 or whatever a name brand costs.

 

[AeroCoupe]

Hands down you will not beat an OEM unit except for taking the MSD unit and replacing the PIP and TFI with OEM or like quality parts. I only say this as the MSD has a bearings instead of bushings in the body of the distributor. Over time the bushings will wear and create wobble in the distributor shaft which is no bueno.

I bought a Performance Distributor back in 2007 that was similar to this one only TFI:

One moment, please...

I checked my receipt (I have just about every receipt for all of my cars) and I paid $200 to my door. I will tell you that I put the PIP and TFI off my old distributor on new one as I was having a high rpm miss and it was due to the bushings on the OEM body being worn out and there was too much play.

Now they only offer it in their "Hot Forged" but if you are going to spend that kind of money then there are other options and the reviews on their electronics are hit and miss.

The PIP and TFI replacements have been discussed on here quite a bit and there are some replacements out there that are good but that supply is drying up.

 

[hoopty5.0]

So thanks to @AeroCoupe, I pulled my existing distributor apart, cleaned it, lubed it, and returned it to service, Ill return the one I bought and get my $100 back. I put the intake back on with bolts, the studs got lost in the mail and still arent here...

So that brings me to my next issue. Obviously, the car runs VERY different with the massive vacuum leak fixed. After a good bit of struggle and some direction from a couple of buddies, I got it to idle, but not well.

I found it curious the wideband was pegged lean and there was still raw fuel coming out the exhaust at idle so I decided to calibrate the WB and see if that changed anything. Well, when you unplug the sensor from the controller, you should get an error message before it goes into CAL mode. It didnt do that. It just reads 14.6 with no sensor which is wrong. So, I'm guessing my wideband is bad. Awesome.

I walked away from the car this weekend. Burned out from sitting at the 99 yard line. I need to get paid for a wood project I did for the neighbor before I can continue throwing money at this thing.

 

[RaggedGT]

You’ll get it sorted out man. Go play with the Bronco for a bit lol

 

[hoopty5.0]

Update-ish.

Bought a new AEM wideband controller. AFRs now doing what they are supposed to. However, in true whack-a-mole fashion, the CLT values in Tunerstudio are erratic, jumping from 30-175 degrees with the car warm, throwing it in and out of Warm Up Enrichment which adds fuel. Hard to tune idle when fuel is intermittently getting dumped in. Tried unplugging the CLT and no real change so Im hoping its not something else. Ordered a new sensor anyway, should be here today.

Car still smokes randomly so that's mildly concerning but wont be mad about it until I get a few hundred miles on it.

Also, I found a steel 2" cowl hood a few miles from the house for $375. Very high quality and should alleviate clearance issues well enough. May still try and get the stock hood to fit but nice to have a plan B.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Man. Tough day trying to get the Mustang up and running. Temp sensor was on the fritz, ordered a new one. Still not right. After a bit of troubleshooting, it was a loose pin. Then had to re-scale the table because the temp values were all wrong. Put the engine back together, realize the upper intake isn’t seating because of a bolt being too high. Put a plug in, put the intake back on and start it. Runs ok for a few seconds then dies. Start it again, smell fuel. #5 fuel injector spraying fuel everywhere.

I’m burnt out. It’s been an absolute beating trying to get this car across the goal line.

 

[bird_dog0347]

Man. Tough day trying to get the Mustang up and running. Temp sensor was on the fritz, ordered a new one. Still not right. After a bit of troubleshooting, it was a loose pin. Then had to re-scale the table because the temp values were all wrong. Put the engine back together, realize the upper intake isn’t seating because of a bolt being too high. Put a plug in, put the intake back on and start it. Runs ok for a few seconds then dies. Start it again, smell fuel. #5 fuel injector spraying fuel everywhere.

I’m burnt out. It’s been an absolute beating trying to get this car across the goal line.

That's rough man, I know the feeling well... This too shall pass. Drink a beer and then get back at it.

 

[hoopty5.0]

Still no luck on the car. Went ahead and ordered a new plug for the CLT sensor since the plug broke and the pins move around. But, something else is still wrong. I have the correct resistance values plugged into the software for the temp values but at room temp, its still reading 200 degrees. When you unplug it, the temp jumps around. Need to ohm out the wires next, I guess?

 

[AeroCoupe]

I’d unplug the ECU and check continuity on those wires. Almost like one is going to ground or they are touching somehow?

 

[hoopty5.0]

I’d unplug the ECU and check continuity on those wires. Almost like one is going to ground or they are touching somehow?

It's gotta be something like that. It does it even with the S&P shaker connections unplugged. The new plug comes today so Ill look at running new wires altogether.

I always like to point out that @TOOLOW91 has told me for YEARS now to get rid of the factory harness and I always shrugged it off because "mine is fine" and here we areeeeeeee.

 

[TOOLOW91]

It's gotta be something like that. It does it even with the S&P shaker connections unplugged. The new plug comes today so Ill look at running new wires altogether.

I always like to point out that @TOOLOW91 has told me for YEARS now to get rid of the factory harness and I always shrugged it off because "mine is fine" and here we areeeeeeee.

I know nothinggggg

Nah for real though I just want to see you get this all sorted out

 

[hoopty5.0]

I have decided that in the interest of time, I'm going to use a new connector and pigtail, new wire, and just run it all the way to the ECM connector and splice it in there. I dont have the interest in troubleshooting as much as I want to move on to other projects.

I have the parts to build a new steering shaft. Current gets caught on a primary at random times. Thats fun.

Going to try this week and get stuff done in short order to move on to finishing up the bronco so I can sell it.

 

[hoopty5.0]

I re-did my steering shaft last night. Other one was hitting a primary and would randomly catch.

Wiring tonight. Maybe drive this weekend if all goes well.

 

[hoopty5.0]

So I wired in a new ECT plug/pigtail and used new wire to bypass the harness. I cut and spliced into the LT GRN/RED wire at the 60 pin and then just tied into the BLK/WHT for pin 46 since so many other sensors tie into it. Same results.

I really think think the bias resistor in the A9L is bad. This is the old, OLD megasquirt that piggybacks into the stock ECM vs having the standalone unit.

Of course, I HAD a backup MS PNP that I traded away for the powder coating. I asked to borrow it to see if that cures this whole thing then ill try and buy it back I guess. The damned AMP units are $1350 now!!! Holy smokes.