Mustang5L5’s progress thread - Rear window fun

Mustang5L5 · Dec 7, 2024

AeroCoupe said:
@Mustang5L5 - I asked in an email a little over a year ago and they responded with any spare analog input so I would say D or F.

Thank you. That makes perfect sense

Mustang5L5 · Dec 8, 2024

On mini side project first. I want to dye these red belts black.

Reached out to Rit and they suggested using a little green as well. The green and red will combine to form brown, which when combined with black should result in almost a pure black. If I just dyed with the black there might be a purple hue to it. We will see.

Need to steal one of my wife’s pans and boil some water and dump this concoction in.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 9, 2024

FastDriver said:
Why those years?

Only year you could get black lap belts in a Fox Mustang. Remember, my back seat is a sort of hybrid. I added the 90-93 3-point belts, but didn't change the buckles to the 90-93 style because they are shorter and mount in a different spot. I don't want to modify any of that so i'm limited to using 79-89 style buckles.

I should see if there are lincoln buckles that will work

Mustang5L5 · Dec 11, 2024

Well, they are black.

Fresh out of the boiling water and rinsed. Still wet, so let’s see what they look like when they dry out. I think I might see a little tinge of red. Might repeat the process one more time if that’s the case.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 13, 2024

2000xp8 said:
Why not just buy the seatbelt seat trims and cut the fox belts into those seats?

The buckles don't mount in the same spot on the 90-93 cars as they do in the earlier cars. The older card mount more towards the rear to come up over the cushion like in my pics. The 90-93 buckles mount to the trans tunnel and come up. The 90+ buckles are actually a little shorter as well.

So it wouldn't reach if i came up like they should. Also, in case of an accident (not that i plan on getting one, nor having anyone in the rear), there would be a loop of slack so it wouldn't really be ideal.

Regardless, i've spent way too much time on this than i'd like to. I'd like to move onto real stuff. I'll run the semi-purplish black belts for now and keep my eyes out for a set of grey 87-89 buckles. I imagine a more neutral color would dye better.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 13, 2024

Ok. Enough dilly dally with seatbelt.

New Carbon Fiber clutch kit. The clutches in my axle are actually original. Car still lights up two wheels pretty nicely. Entire rear ends been gone though before and when I did my gears, but this is probably the last thing to really upgrade/replace

Mustang5L5 · Dec 13, 2024

AeroCoupe said:
Are you going to soak the carbon fiber clutches in the friction modifier? I know that was the practice with the older friction clutches.

Yes. That’s still the practice on these.

Mustang5L5 · Dec 31, 2024

Decided to put my recapped ECU in to test it.

Car fired up fine. Took a ride around the block bring my 2024 mileage total for this car to…..4

But outside and back on the polished cobra wheels. Still dirty from summer duty on the SN95. It’s on my list to clean and polish this up and ceramic coat them. I’m still on the fence on what wheels I want for this car.

If LMr would release a 17x9 or 17x10 for this wheel, I’d be all set. I like the style I just want a 275 or 285 out back.

Anyway took apart the previous ECU and it was actually in decent shape. Zero corrosion on the caps. I’ll like recap it anyway due to cap values possible changing after 30 years.

Hopefully I can recap it and test it before I swap the MS3 in…which is coming shortly.

Put the car up on race ramps. Oil change needed (been 2 years) and I need access to the o2 sensors to put the wide bands in. Kinda getting excited to finally do this.

Mustang5L5 · Jan 29, 2025

I guess it's time to dig into this...

Mustang5L5 · Feb 1, 2025

Noobz347 said:
Hooooooooooooooooooly . That writing on that new ECU screwed with my eyes [hard].

It says “Capacitors replaced, not tested”

It’s an A9L I replaced the caps in. I wanted to test it before I put the MS in. It works. So new label on it now. Two good A9Ls squirreled away just in case I ever need to go back for some reason.

Mustang5L5 · Feb 4, 2025

I did a part 1 of what’s in the box.

View: https://youtu.be/S_023FSdCHI?si=bMoJiCOoQgn5Sczz

Currently starting the install on the ECU and vac line. Widebands will follow. I’m hoping I can breeze through this but a lot of my free time is being taken up studying for a few tests I need to take.

nickyb · Mar 15, 2025

Yes please post how you wire up the wideband controller, since that's the most intimidating to me doing my MS pnp 2.
The vacuum line is simple as is the r and r of the a9l.

Mustang5L5 · Mar 23, 2025

So here’s my plan on the o2 sensors. I plan to install two, but I’m going to start out with a single sensor, wired through the main harness like the directions call for. I figure let me learn how to walk before I run.

I’m going to prep both sensors now, but only wire one into the ECU for now.

From what I can see, I just need these 4 wires. I don’t need the brown wire ( simulated narrowband) and don’t beleive I’ll need the blue (sensor temp reference) as I’ll be using the factory bung which seems to work well for others.

I bought a set of o2 extensions that I will cut and splice to the above, run a separate ground for the heater, and use the remaining factory wiring. The MS3 will accept one input through the 60pin connector. Quick and gets me up and running fast.

Any problems with this that anyone can see?

Mustang5L5 · Mar 23, 2025

Later on when I run both sensors, my plan was to de-pin the two wires from the 60pin connector with the signal from the wide-bands, and then connect those into the options port on the MS3. Should keep the wiring pretty clean and allow me to go back (if ever needed)

I also think I’m going to wire in a fuel pressure sensor as well. The fuel rail is 1/16” npt and it seems I can only find 1/8” npt sensors. So I’ll need an adapter. No biggie.

So that means I’ll need 4 wires out of the options connectors.

2-wires for future wide band use
1-wire for pwm fan control
1-wire for fuel pressure sensor

Wife and kids are off to Sarasota FL this coming weekend, so I really want to get this fired up.

Mustang5L5 · Mar 30, 2025

Look Ma! No mass air meter

Plugging away. Not quite done.

Need to identify four pins. 2 for wide-bands when o go to dual. One for PWM output to e fan, and one for fuel pressure input.

I’m thinking D and E for the wide bands. F for the fuel pressure sensor input and L for the PWM fan control.

Mustang5L5 · Mar 31, 2025

ok. So I wanted to have this thing fired up this weekend. I had 3 days to do it…and only spent an hour working on it.

Instead I drove around to 6-7 different dealerships, sucking up almost 3 days worth of time, and ended up getting this.

‘23 Explorer ST. Just over 20K miles

gkomo · Mar 31, 2025

Very nice! They feel pretty quick? They have like 400hp right?

Mustang5L5 · Mar 31, 2025

Yup. 400HP. It moves. I’m surprised at just how quick it goes for something so big.

Mustang5L5 · May 21, 2025

Man, had to go looking for this thing.

Ok, the newness of the ST has worn off. It’s been a fun car to drive around. Absolute beast off the line. I also did another track event last weekend in a 911 GT3. Not to toot my own horn but my skills have been improving and I actually had a very satisfying run. I’m debating selling the SN95 and getting some sort of track car to go play with.

Anyway back to the fox. Finally got around to wiring up the wideband. I’ll post some details later on but I did a single WB on the pass side for now. I’ll wire in the 2nd once my MS tuning skills improve.

But now to install the base tune, update the firmware and fire it up.

I also have not driven the SN95 yet this year. It just rains every weekend and during the week I’m cruising in the ST. Even now, another noreaster is coming in tomorrow and Friday and a wet weekend.

SN95 is seriously being considered for sale. Let me drive it a bit this summer and decide.

Mustang5L5 · May 22, 2025

Did some thread cleanup. Had a lot of side chat so wanted to clean it up so folks coming in after the fact can follow better.

So how did I wire the wideband? Well, my original plan was to do DUAL widebands, which require me using the extra wiring connector for the MS. After thinking about it, i decided to learn to walk before I run, so I'm sticking with a single wideband controller setup for now. Basically installing it as the instructions say.

Wideband is installed on the passenger side. There's a jumper on the MS board you need to set to specify this and I believe that's how they ship.

I snagged a set of O2 extenders. You can also clip the wiring off the factory O2 since you won't need that anymore. I opted to keep them since they were brand new.

O2 extension harness on the right, stock-style narrowband O2 sensor on the left. You can see the yellow wire on the extensions is not needed. Black wire is the sensor ground and connects to the ground (black wire) on the stock harness. This is not a good ground to use for heater ground.

Mustang O2 sensors have 3 wires. 12V Power, Electronics Ground, and your signal wire. Step one is to go under the car and ID which wire is which. Ground is easy. It's black. Plug in your wiring pigtail from the O2 extension, or the clipped OE o2 sensor and turn the key to ON. From there, ID which of the two remaining wires is your 12V+. The final wire will be your O2 signal wire back to the ECU.

Now here's your wideband controller. In my case, a Spartan 2. We don't need all these wires.

Red is your switched, fused power. This wire will splice into the 12V power you identified from the stock harness.
Black is electronics ground. This connects to your black ground in your harness.
Green is your output. This is the signal back to the ECU. This will connect to the remaining wire in your 3-pin o2 harness
white is the heater ground. This will be an additional wire that you add and just run somewhere safe and connect to chassis ground.
brown is simulated narrowband output. Not used on the Fox
blue is a temp sensor indication. You use it to identify if the O2 sensors is too hot or too cold and needs to be moved closer or further from the engine. Since i'm using a factory style exhaust and bung, and most people use this without issue, that's what i'm going with. Maybe later i'll verify but i'm just taping and tucking this wire.

The MS PNP uses the original 60 min connector, so that's why im sending the wideband signal back through the OE harness. I know my wiring is in great shape.

Here's the wiring setup for the MSPnP and for the original 60 pin, it uses both O2 sensor signal wires. You just need to set the jumper to designate which side you mounted it. In my case i'm using pin 43 which I believe is default with how it ships.

Mustang5L5’s progress thread - Rear window fun

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

I gotta say i never painted my nuts, Never Ever

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

now i can hopefully expect to receive the shaft

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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