any way to tune my computer?

Foxfan88

My Grandpa has great wood.
Sep 13, 2004
2,487
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Miami, Ok
Hey is there any chips or a plug in control that i can change my comupter settings? There isnt a dyno or anything around here and i dont have any money for a custom tune and chip.


would a mild engine like mine benefit from a tune?

also should i change my 180 stat for a stock 195?? my car likes to load up and seems to run in closed loop alot more. If i had a tune i could specify a 180 stat, so the car wouldnt try to compensate since its programmed for a 195 stat right??
 
Foxfan88 said:
Hey is there any chips or a plug in control that i can change my comupter settings? There isnt a dyno or anything around here and i dont have any money for a custom tune and chip.


would a mild engine like mine benefit from a tune?

also should i change my 180 stat for a stock 195?? my car likes to load up and seems to run in closed loop alot more. If i had a tune i could specify a 180 stat, so the car wouldnt try to compensate since its programmed for a 195 stat right??
Explain load up? and describe what you mean by closed loop? A 180 stat should have no bearing on how the car is running given the temps are normal the computer is happy aslong as temps are above 170's. What kind of problems are you having? Have you pulled the codes? O2's could be done and causing A/F issues. What is your timing? What is the F/P? A hand held tuner is going to cost 500plus and likely not show you much return with a mild combo like yours...get the codes and see where that leaves you.
 
Foxfan88 said:
Hey is there any chips or a plug in control that i can change my comupter settings? There isnt a dyno or anything around here and i dont have any money for a custom tune and chip.


would a mild engine like mine benefit from a tune?

also should i change my 180 stat for a stock 195?? my car likes to load up and seems to run in closed loop alot more. If i had a tune i could specify a 180 stat, so the car wouldnt try to compensate since its programmed for a 195 stat right??

You have described a TwEECer pretty well.

The temp setting is a little different than you are envisioning.
There are tables that determine how timing and spark are influenced by the ECT output. There is no T-stat Rating Scalar though.

You will want to get the RT version, assuming you go the tweecer route.

I would go back to the stock stat, provided your coolant temps will still be in an acceptable range.

Check out the 5.0 Fox Tuning Forum. If you have more questions they will get answered there.
I think there are several of us who check that forum regularly, even if it does not see much activity.

EDIT: As soon as you get injectors and a MAF, a tuner will be worth it (my opinion).

jason
 
my car will sort of act like it wants to cut out when i give it a small rev. Like its running rich....

hopefully it may be the 02s, i have never changed them b4 and one of them was hanging on the ground under the car for a couple days and got wet and nasty. i was stupid not to change them but i will get to it! and post the results!
 
A tweecer would be way above and beyond what you need.

Get an Adjustable Fuel pressure regulator, and a rail mounted gauge.

Chips/computer tuning don't solve problems on a 5.0 mustang. And if they do, something else is messed up that you missed.
 
Foxfan88 said:
my car will sort of act like it wants to cut out when i give it a small rev. Like its running rich....

hopefully it may be the 02s, i have never changed them b4 and one of them was hanging on the ground under the car for a couple days and got wet and nasty. i was stupid not to change them but i will get to it! and post the results!
Yep, that ones toast! Wet and nasty O2= done
 
hehe yeah it got wet. got degreaser and simple green on it, gasoline most likely.

you can say it was exposed to the elements!

thanks guy i will change the o2s ASAP.

so heres a another question.

in the mustang computer, is the stock cam programmed in the system? like would my car think its running a stocker while i really have a bigger cam? does the stock computer know what cam its supposed to be running, does it know what injectors it has? or does it not car, does it just read the sensors and change fuel and spark accordingly?
 
Foxfan88 said:
hehe yeah it got wet. got degreaser and simple green on it, gasoline most likely.

you can say it was exposed to the elements!

thanks guy i will change the o2s ASAP.

so heres a another question.

in the mustang computer, is the stock cam programmed in the system? like would my car think its running a stocker while i really have a bigger cam? does the stock computer know what cam its supposed to be running, does it know what injectors it has? or does it not car, does it just read the sensors and change fuel and spark accordingly?

The short answer is "kinda"

There is no entry in the EEC where cam specs are specified.

Obviously a big cam will cause the engine to perform differently.
The biggest concern would be injector timing.
With long overlap cams the injector can fire while the exhaust valve is still open.
Obviously this leads to fuel being dumped straight out the exhaust.

With the tweecer I noticed that injector timing had the biggest influence on how the car idled, over all other changes I made.

Hope that made sense.

It sounds like you are pretty curious about the workings of the EEC-IV.
This is cool stuff, so I can see why.
Here are a couple of resources, if you have not seen them already.

The TwEECer software is free to download. You will not be able to tune without the hardware, but you will be able to look at the parameters that can be changed in CalEdit. This may help you understand how the computer works, atleast a little.
Download CalEdit here.

On that page you will also find a link to download the GUFB.
This is the Ford document written for Engineers who had to program the EEC-IV.
It is tough reading, but all the details on how the A9L is programmed is contained there.

There is also a document called
Technical Notes on the EEC-IV MCU written by Tom Cloud.
This is pretty informative.

Good Luck,
keep asking questions,
jason