Put a 2.3 into a 5.0 chassis?

[vristang]

"Doing this out of necessity... as I need a car to get to work Monday"

As pointed out... I never said which Monday
Fortunately, I was able to make other arrangements...

Man, that sht just begs for a hydraulic throw out bearing.

Probably would have been easier to run Hydraulic clutch. Every damn Ranger in the local J/Y has hyd clutch.
It took a couple weeks to find the right upper/lower clevis for this double throw setup. Parts stores don't seem to stock them.
And, the little dogbone cables are notorious for breaking...

On the list for future projects is either swap to a 5.0 flywheel/bellhousing OR modify this 2.3 bell for single throw.

 

[vristang]

So, years ago, the dash tabs where the gauge bezel screws in, broke off. When I parked the car in 2006 the bezel was completely loose on the windshield side.
I tried to bond in a new tab tonight.
Didn’t quite center the hole where I wanted, but it should work ok?

 

[vristang]

While the epoxy is curing, I started mocking up the heater core hose routing…
Basically this is just reusing hoses I had from the 89 2.3, and the stock 5.0.

I really want it secured to the valve cover, so pulled it back off today…
I ground off 3 factory nubs on the valve cover, and will attach some studs

 

[Cheapskate207]

Little late now, but lmr does make a repair kit for the dash that works great.

Keep up the good work!

 

[vristang]

Well ain’t that a beeeotch…

Mustang Instrument Bezel Repair Kit (87-93) - LMR.com

Repair your broken dashboard with this instrument bezel repair kit for 1987-1993 Ford Mustang from 5.0 Resto!

lmr.com

If the dash ever comes back apart, I’ll go that route…

My hack work seems to be holding just fine though. Didn’t think to take pics of it, but the interior is now completely done.

Managed to install the AN adapters for the stock fuel rail. Had some issues with the first cut of the fuel line, lmao.
You don’t own it, until you bleed on it.
Made a fresh cut, and it almost fell together…

Made some adjustments to the clutch cable, and much happier with the angle of the lower cable. And installed the fork cover.

No pics, but the exhaust needed some adjustment too, as it was under .25 inch from the floor in one spot. Tweaked that secured everything back in with muffler clamps, then removed all the pipe to weld it.

 

[General karthief]

That little dab of blood won't even get you a second glance around my garage, maybe, just maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bandaid. Now the need to tie a greasy rag around a wound in order to finish the job or drip blood across the garage floor into the house, gets you an honorable mention (usually she'll yell 'you're gonna clean that up!), squirt blood up the wall while screaming 'call an ambulance' just before you pass out and you get ' just rub some dirt on it'.

 

[7991LXnSHO]

That little dab of blood won't even get you a second glance around my garage, maybe, just maybe a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bandaid. Now the need to tie a greasy rag around a wound in order to finish the job or drip blood across the garage floor into the house, gets you an honorable mention (usually she'll yell 'you're gonna clean that up!), squirt blood up the wall while screaming 'call an ambulance' just before you pass out and you get ' just rub some dirt on it'.

I can probably find some Dora the Explorer band aids left if you run out of Turtle Power ones.

 

[vristang]

That little dab of blood won't even get you a second glance around my garage

LOL, I couldn't find where I was bleeding. Lost track of how many times I was stabbed, but it was directly correlated to the number of cuss words I used that morning.
That braided line is a bitch when it blooms out like that though... Only thing to do, is recut and start over...
This was my first use of braided line.

 

[General karthief]

Wrap the area where you are cutting with tape, several layers, then mark and cut.
Remember measure twice, cut once.
Hell, who am Ikidding, it's gonna be too short anyway

 

[7991LXnSHO]

Wrap the area where you are cutting with tape, several layers, then mark and cut.
Remember measure twice, cut once.
Hell, who am Ikidding, it's gonna be too short anyway

It’s because you picked up the wrong piece after you made the cut.

 

[General karthief]

It’s because you picked up the wrong piece after you made the cut.

Oh..... You don't know how tru that is ......

 

[vristang]

So, this worked a lot better in my head, but it’s done…. No going back now…

Drilled a couple holes in the valve cover. Used bolts sticking through as studs, and sealed it up pretty well.
The studs gave a way to secure the heater hoses…

 

[GOvert]

How's it coming? I opened the hood on my '93 engine project recently. Seems that I was needing to do something about the injectors and my coils got swiped and put on my '97 Merc mountaineer. They are dead now. MM kept burning up coils. 7 burnt.

 

[vristang]

MM kept burning up coils. 7 burnt.

You figure that out?

 

[GOvert]

Do you have a spare 4 in one coil that is good?

 

[vristang]

Been working slow, as I wasn’t feeling well for a week or so…
Hacked an intake together with parts I had laying around.
Jumpered out the egr, and cleaned up the last of the engine bay wiring…

Need to flush the fuel lines by running the pump for a few minutes, and hook up the cooling system.

I hooked up the battery, to check out the electrical.
When I turned the key, the fusible link at the starter relay blew, letting out all the magic smoke.
It appears this wire gets +12v from he battery, but also shows continuity to ground.
This fusible link runs to the eec relay and KAM power to ecu, at pin 1.
Heading back out shortly to investigate some more…. Hope it’s something simple that I overlooked…

 

[vristang]

@GOvert
I won’t have any of those coils. Sorry man.
I’d be looking at the wiring to the coil, tracing those 3 wires….
Sorry I don’t any better suggestions.

 

[vristang]

So, this fusible link blowing out is dragging on…
The link runs to eec relay, and ecu KAM (pin 1).
However, I jumpered out both those wires, and issue persists.
Replaced relay, issue persists.

Disconnected random connectors, hoping to stumble on something… the pictured connector is now suspect, narrowing the issue down to 8 wires. I didn’t have time to trace down what they all are. I have a diagram for the 1990 v8 chassis harness, but haven’t found a diagram for this connector on the 1989 2.3 engine harness.
A few pin/wire colors match, but not all. Will try to post more detail tonight after work…

Could be 3 things.
1. Ecu and chassis harness are not compatible (haven’t found anything online to confirm this)
2. Damaged chassis wire harness (the car did have a mouse resident at some point)
3. One of the wiring changes I made under the carpet was wrong.

Any other thoughts/suggestions are welcome.
I have an appointment set for this coming Tuesday to have the front end aligned, and plan to be driving the car by then…

 

[GOvert]

Is your ECM ground accidentally hooked up to +positive or the alternator shorted to ground internally? you may have said that this is the alternator from when you had a V-8 in the 'Stang?

 

[vristang]

Is your ECM ground accidentally hooked up to +positive or the alternator shorted to ground internally? you may have said that this is the alternator from when you had a V-8 in the 'Stang?

I have had no reason to question the ecu ground. The engine harness is grounded on the chassis, in stock location...
Correct, the alternator was last used on when the car had a v8. I thought I eliminated the internal ground possibility, by disconnecting the 2 plugs on alt. Condition of burning the fuse link persisted. Also, disconnecting the main Alt cable had no effect.

I spent a week thinking I had a failure in my alarm system; AvantGard 4, from Clifford. Originally installed (certified shop), around 1999. I have been able to bypass the ignition circuit out of the alarm system, and the fusible link still burns.

The best clue I have at this point seems to be that little gray connector shown above, between the engine harness and the chassis harness.
Ignition wire does pass through this plug.
However, when I disconnect the plug, and only jumper the ignition wire, fusible link does not burn.

Plan for this afternoon/evening, is to build multiple jumper wires for this connector, so that I can test which wire is shorting to ignition.
Obviously I had to cancel the appointment for alignment...