Mass Air this weekend

tonys5.0

New Member

Sep 17, 2004

122

0

0

Jacksonville, FL

Dec 2, 2004

#1

• Dec 2, 2004

• #1

This Saturday I'm installing Ford Racing's mass air conversion kit on my stock 87 speed density. By stock I mean nothing more than 9mm FR wires, MSD coil and controller, X pipe, headers, flowmasters, MSD cap and rotor and underdrive pullies.

Anyone here done this and has it affected your car's performance at all?

 

jrichker

StangNet's favorite TOOL

In Remembrance. Thank you for your contributions

Mar 10, 2000

27,512

2,811

234

Dublin GA

Dec 2, 2004

#2

• Dec 2, 2004

• #2

Mass Air fixes problems with mods that radically change vacuum or airflow through the engine. If you are not having idle or driveablity problems, you won't see any difference, and may see a slight decrease.

Add heads, wild cam & intake system and it's a different story - Mass Air is almost a must to keep things running smoothly.

 

8

89 Saleen#455

Founding Member

Dec 29, 1999

519

5

39

New England

Dec 2, 2004

#3

• Dec 2, 2004

• #3

I did the Ford Mass Air Converstion Kit on my 87 GT about 7 years ago. Car was stock other than gears and exhaust. In terms of performace gains...the car didn't feel any different. However, the conversion kit seemed to smooth out my wandering idle problem. Installing the kit was a breeze. Pull out the old computer, put on the piggyback chip, run the harness through the firewall, and connect to the new Mass Air sensor that came with the kit. Couldn't be any more straight forward. Good Luck.

 

5LugFoxFanatic

LOVE AND PEACE!

Founding Member

May 5, 2002

1,058

0

36

Arctic Tundra Hell, Twin Cites, Minnesota, USA

Dec 2, 2004

#4

• Dec 2, 2004

• #4

not sure about it being a breeze. Having to pull pins out of the computer and having to solder and splice while in a really uncomfortable position is a bitch. I have done 2 mass air conversions by myself and I will die a happy man if I never have to do another one.

 

tonys5.0

New Member

Sep 17, 2004

122

0

0

Jacksonville, FL

Dec 3, 2004

#5

• Dec 3, 2004

• #5

TriGun said:

not sure about it being a breeze. Having to pull pins out of the computer and having to solder and splice while in a really uncomfortable position is a bitch. I have done 2 mass air conversions by myself and I will die a happy man if I never have to do another one.

Click to expand...

I don't blame you but with Ford Racing's conversion kit you don't have to splice or solder anything. They include a piggyback connector and harness.

Just plug and play.

I too have the wandering idle problem. This is the main reason I'm converting over to mass air besides intake/head/cam mods in the future.

 

DMAN302

My mom says thanks for the pearl necklace.

Nov 8, 2003

2,120

2

59

windsor, Canada

Dec 3, 2004

#6

• Dec 3, 2004

• #6

FMS is REALLY easy...plug and play...no prongs to move nothing but straight forward install. Hardest part is swaping the the EEC and routing the maf wire through the firewall. Excellent kit, 1hour install, looks absolutely factory, and car ran smother at idle than ever before.

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Dec 3, 2004

#7

• Dec 3, 2004

• #7

Peak performance shouldn't be hurt or helped. The car's ability to deal with changing ambient conditions should be slightly improved (extreme elevation changes, temp. changes, etc.). Fuel mileage might be a hair better.

 

89MustangGX

I have nothing productive to add!

Jul 3, 2001

10,262

1

0

Mill Creek, WA

Dec 3, 2004

#8

• Dec 3, 2004

• #8

I've heard something about possibly needing to run wires to a VSS (or even just the wire if your car doesn't have one) as well as the fuel pump relay. The Ford Racing kit doesn't seem to have any provisions for this -- and I would have figured they would if anyone would.

Any info?

 

89MustangGX

I have nothing productive to add!

Jul 3, 2001

10,262

1

0

Mill Creek, WA

Dec 5, 2004

#9

• Dec 5, 2004

• #9

TTT, any info?

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Dec 5, 2004

#10

• Dec 5, 2004

• #10

My car is mass air (from the factory - motor out of a 91) but has no VSS. While it can be used, it's not mandatory to make mass air work correctly.

 

89MustangGX

I have nothing productive to add!

Jul 3, 2001

10,262

1

0

Mill Creek, WA

Dec 5, 2004

#11

• Dec 5, 2004

• #11

Michael Yount said:

My car is mass air (from the factory - motor out of a 91) but has no VSS. While it can be used, it's not mandatory to make mass air work correctly.

Click to expand...

I'm assuming that the wiring harness you used has this connection though. What I've heard is that whether or not the car has a VSS, making this connection to this other wire supposedly helps drivability. Also heard that this other wire to the fuel pump relay is so the computer knows the fuel pump is getting power and doesn't throw a code.

This is why I'm wondering if this stuff is really necessary or if it really does anything or if it's just a waste of time.

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Dec 5, 2004

#12

• Dec 5, 2004

• #12

According to the wiring diagram in Probst, the VSS inputs just need to be connected to the #3 and 6 pins on the ecu. I doubt that part of the harness made it into my car (I've had motor and tranny out and didn't notice any missing plugs) - but I did research whether to put one in or not.

 

89MustangGX

I have nothing productive to add!

Jul 3, 2001

10,262

1

0

Mill Creek, WA

Dec 5, 2004

#13

• Dec 5, 2004

• #13

Michael Yount said:

According to the wiring diagram in Probst, the VSS inputs just need to be connected to the #3 and 6 pins on the ecu. I doubt that part of the harness made it into my car (I've had motor and tranny out and didn't notice any missing plugs) - but I did research whether to put one in or not.

Click to expand...

Thanks Michael.

I definitely know you wouldn't put up with any low speed drivability problems and whatnot, so I'm wondering if that's just a myth or a misunderstanding somewhere along the way.

Any input on the fuel pump relay issue?

Again, I am only questiong this because many of the 'do-it-yourself' instructions mention one or both of these things, and the Ford kit doesn't seem to have anything for these -- unless it's built into the piggyback connector.

Maybe tonys5.0 will come back and update us???

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Dec 6, 2004

#14

• Dec 6, 2004

• #14

The other part of mine that's not hooked up is the neutral switch indicator. That pigtail hangs lonely off the front of the tranny. To resolve that, all I need to do is run connections to pins 30 and 46 (working from recall this morning) and put them on a toggle say in the glove box. Whenever I want the ecu to know the tranny's in neutral, I'd just flip the toggle. That's more important as without it, the system won't allow a key on, engine running diagnostic/test routines to run.

Regarding return to idle, what I notice is that whenever I let off the gas, whether at speed (slip it into neutral) or rolling to a stop, it drops quickly down to around 1200-1300 rpm, and then takes a few seconds to ease on down to 850 rpm where I have the idle set by chip. Perhaps the VSS input lengthens that idle down period - but it seems about right to me.

I know on my wife's Bimmer, it idles around 650 rpm. However, while rolling at any speed above about 2 mph, it won't drop all the way down to that if you slip it into neutral. It only drops down to about 900 rpm. Dropping completely back to idle only occurs when you come to a complete stop - so I know it's paying attention to it's VSS. Also, it could be that I'm missing out on some fuel efficiency possibilities here - the combination of neutral switch and VSS functioning could allow the ecu to completely cut fuel under certain deceleration modes -- assuming the ecu is programmed to do that. Seems I've heard from others it will - now I've got to drag Probst out and see if he addresses that. I've got to get under it this winter anyhow to re-route positive battery cable in preparation for having a true dual exhaust fabricated. I could tackle this while I'm under there I suppose...

 

tonys5.0

New Member

Sep 17, 2004

122

0

0

Jacksonville, FL

Dec 6, 2004

#15

• Dec 6, 2004

• #15

***UPDATE***

Ok, the conversion is done and the car fired right up. I let it idle for a few minutes before it died on me. I noticed the fuel pump wasn't kicking in when I tried restarting.
I had the same problem with the fuel pump last month after installing a trunk mounted battery. I had replaced the fuel pump relay thinking that was the culprit and the pump worked fine. Now I personally believe the pump was bad all along and destined to quit on me again. I'm just glad it happened in my driveway and not somewhere on the open road. I will replace it after the holiday.

Now because of the fuel pump situation I was unable to adjust the timing to smooth out the rough idle, which is what the instructions required. I guess I won't know now until I replace the fuel pump but as far as the mass air conversion is concerned, everything was pretty straight forward, easy and took about an hour to accomplish (i'm slow).

 

R

ratrapp

New Member

Apr 24, 2004

510

0

0

buena vista,va

Dec 6, 2004

#16

• Dec 6, 2004

• #16

check your fuel pump inertia switch first.just because it hasn't popped up doesn't mean it's not bad.i had the same problem when i changed my car to mass air. i replaced the realy then the pump before i replaced the switch.

 

tonys5.0

New Member

Sep 17, 2004

122

0

0

Jacksonville, FL

Dec 7, 2004

#17

• Dec 7, 2004

• #17

ratrapp said:

check your fuel pump inertia switch first.just because it hasn't popped up doesn't mean it's not bad.i had the same problem when i changed my car to mass air. i replaced the realy then the pump before i replaced the switch.

Click to expand...

Good advice, I will check it this weekend to see if it's drawing current.

Thanks!