First fox last week. Making it more reliable.

[Neltech]

Hi guys! Just got my first fox last week and I love it. I paid 3k cash and i think it was a good deal

Pros:

87 GT 5sp
Rebuilt motor and trans
maf conversion
.030 over
speed pro pistons
Trickflow intake
march ram air
MSD ignition
BKK headers
h pipe
flowmaster 40's
HID/smoked headlights
stock and fiberglass hood
new carpet
red interior was swapped/painted black
adjustable fuel pressure regulator
17" cobra rims

Cons
rats nest of wires in trunk from battery relocation
rats nest of wires under the hood
needs paint but no rust
motor wiring was really ****ty. the ground for the fuel pump was an alligator jammed into a connector.
power steering leaks
stupid platinum 4 plugs

doesn't start every time. something with the fuel. I pulled some stuff apart today and cleaned some more stuff (throttle body, iac, wasnt even pluged in)
i've only driven it a handful of times so i'm not familiar with the "tricks" to starting it.

needs shocks, maybe ball joints? front end clunks on bumps and it it leans just a tad to the drivers side.

 

[281pony]

address that wiring, jesus christ.

do a decent tune up, plugs, wires, cap/rotor, fuel filter, clean sensors, maf/iac, ect. go over timing, sounds like you are on top of this already..

tidy things up then address the remaining issues. kyb stuff is available at the local parts stores and is a decent shock for a driver. subframe connectors are good for stiffening the car up..

as far as reliable, i have only been stranded once by my fox from a fuel pump failure. the engines run forever, just get on top of the electrical portion of the car imo.

 

[Neltech]

Yeah im going to pull the maf tomorrow and clean it.

I redid all the wiring in the trunk. Thank god i know what i'm doing with wires (im an MECP advanced certified mobile electronics installer).

There are a few harnesses on the passenger side of the motor that don't go to anything. I may take a few pics of that and post it up here for some help.

The dude that wired it up didn't tidy any of the wires up so the harnesses fell on the header on the passenger side and started melting. good thing i caught this quick.

 

[281pony]

thats the problem with foxes..

they are cheap enough that joe dirt can get one and really leave some havoc for you to deal with. i have been there and done it with a few foxes now. just part of the game..

 

[S&B]

nice car good deal. sounds like you know what your doing have fun dont go crazy

 

[Cobra912]

looks like a fun project!

 

[Neltech]

she started right up this morning. idles like its got a cam in it, not complaining about that haha it sounds awesome. I'll try to get some pictures of the leftover plugs that are just chilling in the engine bay, hopefully its nothing major. some harnesses fell down on the header and melted the **** out of the loom, now i gotta clean that mess all up.

 

[Neltech]

well as far as i can tell the TSP is shot, voltage goes from 0 when i pull the wires out a little bit and up to 4.9 when i push them in towards the sensor

 

[RacEoHolic330]

If you can find one. Get your hands on an Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual. Worth their weight in gold for tackling wiring issues. They pop up on ebay every once and a while. It's a good thing you know what youre doing with wiring. You'd probably be way in over your head if you didn't.

Are you planning on moving the solenoid back to the front of the car? It really should not be in the back. Also, positive wiring coming from the battery looks TINY, especially with the battery being in the trunk.

 

[jrichker]

PM me your email address and I will send you a complete Ford Factory 89 Mustang electrical diagram set. The zip file is 2.5 MB and is too big to fit through Stangnet's email gateway. The 88 and 89 Mustang are very close to the same wiring scheme except for the body computer wiring harness. If yours is a Mass Air conversion, there will be even less difference.

89 Mustang wiring diagrams zip package–

They are in a zip file format to reduce the size of the package. You’ll need WinZip or other Windows archive tool to extract them from the zip file. See MajorGeeks.com - Download Freeware and Shareware Computer Utilities. - Download Freeware and Shareware Computer Utilities for a free download.

You will need the Adobe Acrobat viewer which is also a free download – Adobe - Adobe Reader download - All versions - Adobe Reader download - All versions

 

[Neltech]

Yeah it struck me today that the battery charging wire is way to small. The power wire is 2 gauge or so and its quality wire. The battery is grounded in the trunk and then there is another smaller wire (roughly 8 gauge) that runs up to the front and grounds where the motor ground meets the car. There are wires just everywhere! I'm sure I'll be moving the solenoid back up front if thats where its supposed to go.

A guy on a mobile electronics installer forum says I paid to much. I don't think i did. thoughts? the car had so many parts on it already that i couldn't not buy it.

PM sent!

 

[fiveohwblow]

Yeah it struck me today that the battery charging wire is way to small. The power wire is 2 gauge or so and its quality wire. The battery is grounded in the trunk and then there is another smaller wire (roughly 8 gauge) that runs up to the front and grounds where the motor ground meets the car. There are wires just everywhere! I'm sure I'll be moving the solenoid back up front if thats where its supposed to go.

A guy on a mobile electronics installer forum says I paid to much. I don't think i did. thoughts? the car had so many parts on it already that i couldn't not buy it.

PM sent!

Everyone will have their opinions on value. Sure, there is a general collective, but at the end of the day the most knowledgeable person can misjudge. If you are happy, you paid the right price

 

[Mintsick]

Other than the rats nest of wiring it looks like a solid car, I don't think $3k is too much at all. It also depends I think on where you live, for example if it's in the northeast prices seem to be a bit higher for something solid like that.

 

[jrichker]

Rear mounted battery ground wiring. Follow this plan and you will have zero
ground problems.

One 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from battery negative post to a clean shiny spot
on the chassis near the battery. Use a 5/16” bolt and bolt it down to make the
rear ground. Use a 1 gauge or 1/0 gauge wire from the rear ground bolt to a clean
shiny spot on the block.

One 4 gauge wire from the block where you connected the battery ground wire to
the chassis ground where the battery was mounted up front. Use a 5/16” bolt
and bolt down the 4 gauge engine to chassis ground, make sure that it the metal
around the bolt is clean & shiny. This is the alternator power ground.

The computer has a dedicated power ground wire with a cylindrical quick connect
(about 2 ½”long by 1” diameter. It comes out of the wiring harness near the
ignition coil & starter solenoid (or relay). Be sure to bolt it to the chassis ground
in the same place as you bolted the alternator power ground. This is an
absolute don’t overlook it item for EFI cars
Note: The quick disconnect may have fallen victim to damage or removal by
a previous owner. However, it is still of utmost importance that the black/green
wires have a high quality ground..

Picture courtesy timewarped1972

Crimp or even better, solder the lugs on the all the wire. The local auto stereo
shop will have them if the auto parts store doesn't. Use some heat shrink tubing
to cover the lugs and make things look nice.


For a battery cut off switch, see Moroso : Category Display
is the switch http://www.moroso.com/catalog/images/74102_inst.pdf is the installation instructions.
Use the super duty switch and the following tech note to wire it and you will
be good to go.

Use the Moroso plan for the alternator wiring and you risk a fire. The 10 gauge wire they recommend is even less adequate that the stock Mustang wiring.

There is a solution, but it will require about 40' of 18 gauge green wire.

Wire the battery to the two 1/2" posts as shown in the diagram.

The alternator requires a different approach. On the small alternator plug there is a green wire. It is the sense lead that turns the regulator on when the ignition switch is in the run position. Cut the green wire and solder the 40' of green wire between the two pieces. Use some heat shrink to cover the splices. See Ford Fuel Injection » How To Solder Like a Pro for some excellent help on soldering & using heat shrink tubing.

Run the green wire back to the Moroso switch and cut off the excess wire. Try to run the green wire inside the car and protect it from getting cut or chaffed. Crimp a 18 gauge ring terminal (red is 18 gauge color code for the crimp on terminals) on each wire. Bolt one ring terminal to each of the 3/16" studs. Do not add the jumper between the 1/2" stud and the 3/16" stud as shown it the
Moroso diagram.

How it works:
The green wire is the ignition on sense feed to the regulator. It supplies a turn on signal to the regulator when the ignition switch is in the Run position. Turn the Moroso switch to off, and the sense voltage goes away, the voltage regulator shuts off and the alternator quits making power.

The fuse & wiring in the following diagram are for a 3G alternator. The stock alternator uses a dark green fuse link wire that connects to 2 black/orange wires. Always leave them connected to the starter solenoid even if you have a 3G alternator.

See the following website for some help from Tmoss (diagram designer) & Stang&2Birds (website host) for help on 88-95 wiring
Mustang FAQ - Wiring & Engine Info Everyone should bookmark this site.

Ignition switch wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/IgnitionSwitchWiring.gif

Fuel, alternator, A/C and ignition wiring
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/fuel-alt-links-ign-ac.gif

Complete computer, actuator & sensor wiring diagram for 88-91 Mass Air Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/88-91_5.0_EEC_Wiring_Diagram.gif

Vacuum diagram 89-93 Mustangs
http://www.veryuseful.com/mustang/tech/engine/images/mustangFoxFordVacuumDiagram.jpg

 

[Neltech]

You guys on this forum are awesome. THANK YOU for all the information.

I found a guy on craigslist selling a throttle body with TPS, a fan w/clutch and shroud and a ford racing aluminum radiator with a small hole in it. He's asking $80 for all of this, I'm going to offer him $60 if its the same TPS

how many different TPS's are there for a stock TB?

 

[Mustang5L5]

A guy on a mobile electronics installer forum says I paid to much. I don't think i did. thoughts? the car had so many parts on it already that i couldn't not buy it.

PM sent!

Well, in this case looks like you bought the parts, not the car.

$3k might be a tad much IMHO, but if you are happy then don't think about it.

You do have a lot of work cut out for you with that wiring. Unbelievable that some people really hack things like that.

 

[Mustang5L5]

You guys on this forum are awesome. THANK YOU for all the information.

I found a guy on craigslist selling a throttle body with TPS, a fan w/clutch and shroud and a ford racing aluminum radiator with a small hole in it. He's asking $80 for all of this, I'm going to offer him $60 if its the same TPS

how many different TPS's are there for a stock TB?

For 86-93 mustang...just one. Throttle body's can be had cheap, with the tps, so consider you offer as mostly being for the radiator

 

[Neltech]

Well I picked up the parts today. got a TB w/sensor, fan w/clutch, fan shroud, and the radiator for $60 (and got to drive my buddy's z28 for a few hours)

put it in, disconnected the battery for a bit, reconnected, and she fired right up. took it for a spin, idled a little higher than normal, around 1k, but the idle was more smooth.

went home, parked it, tried to fire it up 5 minutes later and it wont start. grrr.

I'll have to go back through the "setting idle whatever" process and make sure I didn't miss anything.

I picked up an OBD1 scanner just now but i won't have time to pull the codes till tomorrow.