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I did end up buying the lisle no-spill setup. I’d rather just get it done on the first try next time.


Now to siphon the coolant level down low enough to pull the tstat housing off without dumping too much all over the place.

Sounds like a next week job. I do want to troubleshoot the code 33 a bit. I checked everything and it should be working. Scratching my head on this.
 
I did end up buying the lisle no-spill setup. I’d rather just get it done on the first try next time.


Now to siphon the coolant level down low enough to pull the tstat housing off without dumping too much all over the place.

Sounds like a next week job. I do want to troubleshoot the code 33 a bit. I checked everything and it should be working. Scratching my head on this.
With all that quality work you put into your build I'm surprised you didn't install a drain petcock in place of the block drain plug.
They really come in handy.
 
Fan controller showed up along with the wiring harness.

The wiring is beefy. 8g feed wire and 10g out to each fan. Wiring diagrams show a 60A fuse. Should be plenty. I got mine used for $25. I’ve seen new aftermarket units for around the same.

93A4F43F-E249-4EB0-9D14-A679F3CA38B0.jpeg
93A4F43F-E249-4EB0-9D14-A679F3CA38B0.jpeg


Unfortunately I goofed and got an S60 module. I really wanted the Volvo S80 module. This is a single fan unit. S80s (only certain years so be careful) are dual fan.

4546798D-68B6-46D9-A64D-FA45815735B0.jpeg



How I’ll control it for now? $10 pwm controller. Operates at 100 Hz. Duty cycle range is 10-90% by rotating the knob. Yes, manual control for now but I just need a functional fan. I’ll optimize it when I go MS3 which might be later this winter if my schedule holds up. I just need a fan for some test drives

B27D2D96-0633-49A5-8929-6AC62941BA5F.jpeg



I’ll do proof of concept with the single fan module for now and then buy a dual fan unit later.


Edit: this module comes on other makes/models as well. For Fords, they come on 2007-2015 Ford Edge with tow package.
 
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I gotta say Mike, that work is top notch! When are you planning on getting it all buttoned up?

Cold weather is settling in, but honestly there isn’t much to do. Wire the fan, AC stuff and then put the fenders on.

I still need to weld the SFCs on but that shouldn’t get in the way of a few drives in the spring.

Working on replacing the leaking tstat gasket today
 
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Managed to reseal the tstat housing. Need to let it sit 24hours before I can fill it with coolant. Also took the opportunity to ditch the 180 stat and swap in a Motorcraft RT-1139 stock 192 stat. Will fill and start this weekend and hopefully it holds.


Worked on the fan. Got it somewhat wired and then tested it.

Will be something like this. Rest of wiring will go in the fender well with a fuse and a relay to kill power when car is off.
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I tested it with my little pwm controller and the damn module is broken. It defaults to full on no matter what. Seller refunded me. I had a second Bosch controller that I tested (slightly different style) and it worked perfectly fine. I needed a dual fan unit anyway but was hoping to test and at least get one fan working.


Also, picked up a new Fluke meter that could do motor inrush. Decided to get some nimbers. Yes, this is only one fan. I’ll update when I can do two fans

Starting current 60 amps (one fan) F98FA0B6-4CB4-4A45-89C3-16525EAC7DF9.jpeg

Full power on (one fan) Just under 12A
4E7EAE03-85C3-4D02-8C66-C0FBD2C1DCED.jpeg
 
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I'm surprised my set up has been working for a couple years. I've got 20amp fuses on each fan and 30amp relays. They work though. :shrug:
 
I'm surprised my set up has been working for a couple years. I've got 20amp fuses on each fan and 30amp relays. They work though. :shrug:
If you look closely, most of your [blade] fuses today are rated for 32V. The older tube-style were mostly rated for 250V and were slow-blow.

60 amps at 12V is 720 watts (not that the wattage is the be-all and end-all for fuses, it's just a reference) and is momentary. A fuse designed for 20 amp at 32V should theoretically handle 640 watts-ish continuously.

Remember, fuses are tripped by heat and not current. Wattage is a pretty good estimate along with ambient temps.

Also: Fans that kick on when the charging system is at 14V (engine on) take less current than those that kick on at 12V (less current, less heat). The health of the electrical system plays a hand.
 
If you look closely, most of your [blade] fuses today are rated for 32V. The older tube-style were mostly rated for 250V and were slow-blow.

60 amps at 12V is 720 watts (not that the wattage is the be-all and end-all for fuses, it's just a reference) and is momentary. A fuse designed for 20 amp at 32V should theoretically handle 640 watts-ish continuously.

Exactly. Here’s a decent chart that explains just that.

It even goes on to directly say that a 20 A maxi fuse would open at 100A in 0.5 seconds and open in 9 seconds at 40 A.

The 60a I measured was less than 1 second of load. As long as wire is sized accordingly this is well within normal parameters

FC98BE1F-B202-4D02-84FB-68947035EC0F.jpeg


This entire link is a good read for anyone doing electrical on vehicles.

 
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Ok, messed around with it a bit more this weekend.

Bought a no-spill filler setup and that really made burping the system much easier. Of course swapping out my 180* tstat with a motorcrat 192 also helped as well as the motorcraft had a burp hole but my original did not. Those two things made bleeding the cooling system a one and done thing. Ran the car for bit with the radiator capped after filling and did not observe anything leaking from the Tstat. Might take a few heat cycles to really stress it so will need to keep an eye on it. I should pressure test the system to ensure it's leak free at some point.

Still had my code 33. Troubleshot it a bit and I think my EGR vacuum regulator is dead. Resistance seems low and it actually does not activate with 12V. I had a spare kicking around so i tested that and it also didn't work. Two bad EGR vac solenoids? I ended up buying a cheapo parts store unit off Amazon so we will see. I really didn't want to snag a used one off ebay because no guarantee that those will be good. Goes against my "no cheap parts store crap" mentality, but ultimately the EGR will go away when i go to the megasquirt anyway, so a cheap solenoid for now is fine.

Still working on the fan wiring. Some parts in the mail.

Something in the accessory setup is misaligned. The belt was getting chewed up on one side and there was a thumping coming from the belt drive/accessories. (Removing the belt for a second made the system quiet) so i need to track down the misaligned part and correct. I flipped the belt and now it's silent, but I feel it's something that will come back. If you actually go back to post #947, you can see the front of the belt starting to shred up from something.

Idle quality. Not sure if this is a tuning issue or not. Since i adjusted the timing to 10 degrees (from 0 TDC) it runs much better. It had a big lope at 0 degrees, but now at 10 that has lessened and it idles smoother, but it has a shake like a misfire. It could also be the slight cam lope, combined with poly engine mounts. I haven't yet run the CBT yet (because i can't run the car long enough after warming up due to lack of cooling fan), but when it idles the motor rocks enough that the entire car shakes a bit. Giving it gas at idle results in a hesitation before it revs up. Seems to me it might be a tad bit rich. Off idle it runs and sounds healthy as hell. I didn't really think an untuned A9L would run this combo perfectly anyway, but I'm hoping this is more of a tuning issue and not a mechanical one. I can probably pull the spark plugs and do a compression test to rule things out. Could also be injector related as i did perform a flush and rebuild on those and might have screwed one up?

Gotta love chasing the small issues
 
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Actually now that I sit back and think about it, i might have fouled the plugs while I was messing with it with the timing retarded. Has the symptoms of fouled plugs. Can you foul them that quickly? I've got maybe an hour or so of cumulative idle time before I corrected the timing.

Let me pull a few and have a look.
 
Only had a spare min, so I wanted to see what one plug looked like.

Pulled #5. Looks like what I would expect to see. Will need to pull the other 7

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