late 80s 5.0 help needed

[CR144968]

I am new to this Mustang world. Brother raced a fox body but was killed in a wreck 10 years ago and, well, anyway...
I recently transplanted a 1987 EFI 5.0 engine into my 1960 ford falcon. Changed from speed density to mass air but otherwise pretty straight forward swap. Because of the year of the falcon I removed all emissions crap-no cats, not EGR-just motor.
I rigged a check engine light and it is losing its mind. Ran some codes with a test light and they are all coming back emissions related. Not sure what to do to bypass this.
Also, engine is running really rough and sluggish-even had a couple of mild back-fires. Had 1.3V on the tps so I fixed that, put new 02 sensors on, all plugs are new, everything was completely disassembled and cleaned during the swap so there is no clog anywhere. Used a new after market fuel pump that is supplying about 38 with car running which is a little low but within specs. Fuel regulator seems to be working well, timing is correct-but it just sounds like I have a big cam in it-sort of lopes and is FAR from the extremely loud but steady purr of my brothers former ride.
Like I said, just new to this. I have a 94 f150 with a 302 with only 100K miles on it and I could try some part swaps off of that as tests before I go buy new if I knew what to even test! I have had the falcon since high school (1987) and it had a gigantic 144ci straight 6 in it up until this past year-really would like to be able to drive it again...granted, I still have the drum brakes on it till I figure out how to modify for disks so if you are in phoenix try to stay at least 2 football fields in front of me so I have plenty of stopping room

 

[General karthief]

Some questions
where did the engine come from? Stock cam?
what wiring harness did you use? What computer are you using ?
are you using o2 sensors?

 

[LILCBRA]

Is your intake torqued down? Vacuum leaks? I had a MII way back in high school that had a bit of a lope to it, found out the intake manifold bolts were a little loose. Torqued them down and it smoothed right up. Another thing which may sound elementary, but you're on the right firing order and your timing is good?

 

[Blown88GT]

'87-'88 had no MAF & were speed density (SD). There are mods to the ECU so it won't throw certain codes. You just have to ignore the emission related codes.
Those years also had no CEL.
What ECU are you using?

 

[Potomus Pete]

Sounds like a big vacuum leak . Welcome to Stagnet nice to have you.

 

[CR144968]

Thanks for all of the feedback. My bro would have known all of these answers but him not being around means I have to lean on others like him. Appreciate your input.
I have wondered about a vacuum leak-problem is, like I said, I am used to motors that had enough room in the engine compartment for a family of 6 and a dog. All of my cars were older-just liked them more-so I just dont know a lot about this type of engine or where/how to check for vacuum leaks.
The manifold is torqued to specs, all gaskets are new.
The wiring harness, to answer some questions, is a Ron Francis RFW-Cobra 75, fuel pump is the MSD 2225, the computer is the one that came off the mustang-it was an 87 LX 5.0 that was trashed everywhere but the engine so everything that could be pulled from it was used. And yes it was modified from speed density to maf. I dont mind ignoring the codes, just seeing my make-shift check engine light always blinking is hard to deal with so I was trying to figure out how to get the car to ignore the codes as well. I know a guy with a shop who will look at it but that takes money and it is not easy to come by so I am trying to try a few things on my own. I have seen stuff on you tube but it is amazing how many videos are posted by morons and I hate sifting through them.
Thanks again for the feedback

 

[CR144968]

Thanks for all of the feedback. My bro would have known all of these answers but him not being around means I have to lean on others like him. Appreciate your input.
I have wondered about a vacuum leak-problem is, like I said, I am used to motors that had enough room in the engine compartment for a family of 6 and a dog. All of my cars were older-just liked them more-so I just dont know a lot about this type of engine or where/how to check for vacuum leaks.
The manifold is torqued to specs, all gaskets are new.
The wiring harness, to answer some questions, is a Ron Francis RFW-Cobra 75, fuel pump is the MSD 2225, the computer is the one that came off the mustang-it was an 87 LX 5.0 that was trashed everywhere but the engine so everything that could be pulled from it was used. And yes it was modified from speed density to maf. I dont mind ignoring the codes, just seeing my make-shift check engine light always blinking is hard to deal with so I was trying to figure out how to get the car to ignore the codes as well. I know a guy with a shop who will look at it but that takes money and it is not easy to come by so I am trying to try a few things on my own. I have seen stuff on you tube but it is amazing how many videos are posted by morons and I hate sifting through them.
Thanks again for the feedback

 

[CR144968]

I am not sure if it worked and sorry if I offend anyone for posting non mustang photos-but I just tried to attach a photo of the car, the engine and cutting in the new transmission tunnel. Not that it really helps, but maybe

 

[Dan02gt]

To my knowledge no 87s were mass air. If it is a 87 computer it's speed density and can't be modified for mass air. You'll need to get a mass air computer. Since you are running a auto the A9P would do the trick.

Also check your MAP in a SD car it connects to the intake manifold for vacuum. In a mass air car it becomes a BAP and has no vacuum line connected to it.

No offense taken. We love projects like this.

 

[2000xp8]

List the model of computer you have.

You need a mass air computer, not a speed density.

 

[General karthief]

#1 it is a ford
#2 it is not an LS swap
you're good!

 

[General karthief]

Let me add a couple things:
Is the cel blinking a code (blinking with a pause then blinking)
Did you duplicate the grounds? There are a couple that are important for the computer.

 

[CR144968]

I am trying to find the computer that it is in it to make sure I am not an idiot. I had a friend help me with a lot of the electrical stuff. He has a 9.6 second fastback and is restoring a 1968 convertible, factory purple that he is the original owner of and has built about 10 others from the grave to the trophy room so I trust he knows his stuff but he is not always responsive to my inquiries because old people like to pretend my problems are not the emergency that they really are . So it may take some time.
Light is just blinking non stop until I set it to dump codes (the one we rigged in actually blinks twice for every one a normal car would-not sure why- so when I jump the test ports to pull codes it is a bit harder to read-but it blinks like 8 pause 2 pause, 8 pause 4 etc (it actually blinks 16 pause 4 but we are assuming that's 8-2)

 

[Mustang5L5]

Sorry about your brother.

So am I correct in assuming you converted the car to mass air, and now it's going haywire? How did you convert it? What harness did you use? Did you repin the ecu? What directions did you follow? Finally, did you swap the ECU out when you did this? If not, then that is your issue.

Still, you need to pull the ecu and ID it. There's a 3-digit code on the box we need ot ID if it's an auto or 5-spd ECU. This matters in recommending which ECU to purchase, and how to jumper the o2 harness, although 1987 harnesses didn not use this jumper.

Did you use a 1987 harness? Or a custom aftermarket harness?

 

[CR144968]

I was just told the computer is the A9P.
the donor car was automatic and the wiring harness was the ron Francis RFW Cobra-75

 

[Mustang5L5]

So was conversion done, and then the car wouldn't run right?

Or was the conversion done a while ago and you've been driving it and now it randomly doesn't run correctly?


Just trying to identify any changes made to the vehicle that would affect how it runs.

 

[CR144968]

no, we did the swap and I haven't really driven it since. I drove down the street and it bogged bad and I check the in line fuel filter and it looked like it was full of rusted mud. So I realized a 60 yr old gas tank was stupid not to clean out first. So I got it all cleaned out (actually looked great once I scrubbed it all) and put on a new fuel filter and it just never really ran well. so over the past month I have been picking around with things as I go-it was loping really bad and so I put on new 02 sensors thinking that was it-not really a change. I checked timing, retarded it and it helped a little. I checked tpsand it was high (1.3V) so I fixed that down to .96. I checked fuel pressure and it was about 30 then went up to 38-thought maybe fuel pump was not big enough (after market MSD 2225) but pressure is within specs. Thought fuel pressure regulator was bad because it doesn't really climb that high when I unplug it but again all of this is new to me as my other cars didn't have all of this stuff so I am not sure if I am checking correctly. I got a code for the SPOUT and it had sort of come loose so that code went away and it ran a little smoother but still just rumbles and jumps a little too much. It would be fine if the engine was designed to sound like that but it's not...at least not yet!

 

[CR144968]

And just to review, the engine came out of a trashed 87 lx and is now in a 1960 falcon. It was a pretty easy swap. the conversion to mass air and the new computer was done in the process of putting it in the falcon. The LX ran but not great -so now that the engine was taken apart, cleaned, and put back together it runs a lot better than the donor car, but it just seems to need a tune up and that is where I need tips. I am a builder and can tell you about moisture in concrete slabs and framing requirements for truss loads and can also make a pretty good cheeseburger but this EFI MAF TPS BAP ECU MAP makes me say WTF?!?!?

 

[General karthief]

This should give you some guidance:

Help me create the "Surging Idle Checklist"

Updated 26-Oct-2019 to clarify creeping idle RPM increase as the car is being driven. Many of you are familiar with the "Cranks OK, but No Start Checklist for Fuel Injected Mustangs" checklist and the No Crank Checklist. They are very effective in finding and eliminating the problems by use of...

forums.stangnet.com

This is for a mustang but you can get an idea of how the components work and how to test them. Also will let you know if you are missing any relative sensors.
Of course you will have to adapt to the system you are using but will give you info.

 

[CR144968]

thanks. I was looking at this earlier and I guess I need to just spend more time going in depth.