Black Jack: Engine vibration guessing

New blower motor:
Don't know if I've mentioned this in here, but with my blower switch set to high, the knob, which is billet, gets literally too hot to touch. I have melted the plastic backside switch connector and replaced it. At the time, I thought it was a bad switch. A few weeks ago, I smelled burned plastic and saw a tuft of smoke come up from the steering column. Since then, I've been babying it by keeping the blower set on 2 or 3 out of 4. So, today I decided to replace the old blower and see in that brings the amperage back down to normal.

Just a heads up if you ever have to do this, the rock auto motorcraft part is not an exact match. I had to cut and solder the wires, since there's no connector on the motor. I also had to cut and modify this rubber pipe, because the cooling port hole on the motor was in the wrong spot. I'm no fabricator, so this is the best I could do:


Hey, it works... Used a little garden hose, duct tape and zipties. McGuyver would be proud.

Quarterhorse Time:


Then, I realized while I was in there with the blower box out, it would never be easier to access the EEC. So, here goes, nothin'. I'm cleaning up the wiring, connecting the analog WB O2 wire into the #27 (EGR) pin, and then swapping in the EEC IV I bought from another stangnetter & the QH that I've already installed into the J3 port.

I'm hoping either the A9L.BIN or Decipha's A9L2 bin file will keep it running exactly like it currently is so that I can validate the QH works right, & ease into tweaking the tune. I really only want to make small changes.

If it doesn't work out, I can just reinstall my original A9L and get right back to driving. With all the warnings about how you can brick a computer, I really didn't want to mess around with my only A9L. Plus, it's nice to have a spare for troubleshooting.

Edit #1: Though I had Binary Editor installed, it wouldn't connect. I figured out I needed to load the QuarterHorse drivers into my old tuning computer. It connected and I learned which strategy I needed to load for the A9L (GUFB). Then, I loaded A9L.bin that, as it sounds, is supposed to match the base A9L tune that was already in Black Jack. I installed it in the car, and when I switched the key to the on position, the fuel pump wouldn't stop priming. I tried cranking and it actually fired up but idled terribly and smelled of fuel. I unplugged the QH and tried it on the A9L box alone, the pump primed as it should, and the car started right up. That was a nice validation that the used A9L I bought is working great.

A little research indicates either a bad J3 connection, or no tune loaded would cause a continuous fuel pump prime. I think the former must be the case, because without a tune, I don't see how it would've run. But, it's an easy check with BE. I'm out of time, tonight. More tomorrow.

Edit2 (24JUN): I spent a couple hours after work tonight learning about a peculiarity with the QuartherHorse. Leech's videos have been pretty helpful, and I followed along with this one while I went through the initial install of the A9L.bin file. However, as stated above, I had problems that led me to believe the FB-marketplace-purchased QH was defective, because I went to one I bought from Decipha as a backup and loaded the same bin in exactly the same way. That one worked! I concluded that the first QH was kaput, but I kept nugging on it and trying different things. I must have made about 30 trips back and forth to my laptop with it when I finally came across a suggestion to go from the basic configuration into the advanced configuration in the 'Hardware' tool, and set it to 'mode 2' which allows for up to 8 different tunes. Then, I loaded A9L.bin onto all 8 slots. When I put the chip back into the car, it worked!

With everything working, *knocks on wood*, tomorrow should be a simple reinstall of the computer and blower fan.

Edit: Finished up last night and took for a test drive. ECU is working great. Fan sounds great, but hardly moving any air at the vent. Must be leaking or lacking a seal somewhere.

Edit2: I took the blower motor back out and reinstalled the original. Airspeed is definitely back up, but I'm not sure it's 100% what it was... My mind may be playing tricks on me. Anyways, I found a couple wires melted together behind the switch panel. Not sure how it happened in the first placed, but I separated them, taped em off and ordered a new switch connecter with wires, new ignition switch, and new ignition switch harness. After separating them, the temp on the switch knob is better.

I also added freon. Screw the recommended amounts. I just let it pump in until the compressor stopped cutting off. hi-side read between 300-310psi. Lo-side was at ~24psi. Hopefully this restores black jack's previously awesome a/c system.

I came across these and wondered if it would help me with my fender liner rubbing. Thought? @Warhorse Racing

Thanks! That's helpful!

Wow... I know nothing about this stuff. Glad to have folks on the forum that do. Thanks, fellas.

Suspension education commencing. Book #1:

It was only a matter of time. I've always attributed the fact that I've never hit a deer in my life, despite having always lived around them, to luck. This time I was still lucky, but I didn't get through it unscathed. On the road just outside of my neighbohood, last Sunday night, I was returning home from the gym and a saw a doe running across the road while I was going about 50-55mph. It was already coming onto the road about 20-30 feet in front of me when I noticed her. If she didn't freeze up, it looked like I could clear her by shifting right and getting behind her, until I noticed the 5-6 more that were coming across with her. After I got the car angled right, I was in full-on panic stop mode, and the brakes did what they could. I tried to squeeze between her and the one right behind her, but there just wasn't enough room. Luckily, I only hit going maybe 20mph on her hind end, and it did this:



All things considered, I was very fortunate. Somehow, the other deer managed to avoid running into my passenger side. Unless it broke her leg, I'll bet she survived it, too. The worst of it was driving around with the damage for a week. I don't want my '90s car looking run down & busted up. Ordered a new LMR light assembly, and when I got in there, it turned out I only needed to replace the adjustment screws that had bent over and the blinker housing: