which engine harnesses will plug into my 88 2.3 to 5.0 conversion?? also fuel lines..

stackz

Founding Member
Jun 13, 2001
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james island, sc
I'm putting a 5.0 HO from a 93 cougar into my 88 2.3/5speed mustang.

I grabbed the intake setup, timing cover, water pump, and accessories from an 86 cougar as well to give it all the stock foxbody type stuff.

what I'm curious about is which 87-93 5.0/5speed engine harness to use?? I want one to use one of the MAF harnesses but not sure if I can since I think 88 was still speed density??

also, what should I do as far as fuel lines?? the fuel lines are on the 4cylinder side (driver side) but on the intake on the 5.0 they come out on the passenger side of the car.

oh yeah, and the engine has the remote TFI type distributor. I should still be able to use this distributor correct?? I can just extend the wires on the TFI portion of the engine harness I use to where I mount the TFI module??
 
Use any 87-89 harness.........If you don't snag a mass air harness, all you'll need is that four wire conversion harness to convert.

FYI, if you're not running a cam, speed density will work just fine.

use 86-93 mustang fuel lines, and scrap the 2.3 lines.

ebay has $10 efi mustang distributors all day long, grab one of those and save yourself a headache. NO mickey mouse conversions, do it right.
 
can I just cut the MAF wires out of the 93 cougar harness and use that for the MAF conversion??

also, I have a standard TFI distributor from the 86 cougar I got the accessories from but I was just wanting to do like I did on my 86 svo and remote mount the TFI so I wouldnt have to deal with the module melting and goofing up like I've had on the svo.

so mustang EFI fuel lines start out on the passenger side of the engine and go to the driver side frame rail??

edit: oh, and I've got a single turbo setup mounted on the engine in the car so I'm definitely going MAF so I can use a tweecer on it.
 
the efi lines on a 5.0 go from the pass side, all the way down the pass side to the tank.

Grab the 4 wire connector that plugs into the maf. If it's the same connector as the couger, than that should work.

Extend the wires into the car, and use the instructions from the "kits" online that tell you how to rewire it.

Save some of the pins from the couger that go into the computer harness, as you'll need some to rewire with.
 
ok cool. I guess it's a good thing I grabbed some universal fuel injection hose. my fuel hard lines from the tank end on the driver side under the steering column.

only reason I was asking on the MAF is because I cant locate an 89 harness on ebay lol.

oh yeah, I know the A9L ecu is "the one" to use, what other MAF 5speed ecu's can I use though?? fuel maps dont concern me as much as plug-n-play ability as I'm going to alter the fuel/ignition tables anyway.
 
so many of them. a9p is the hot ticket too, I've got an a9t that I plan on using.

as long as your car is a 5 speed, you can use any mustang mass air computer.

If it's an auto, you're limited to automatic computers
 
so even the 90-93 auto computers will work as well?? will any CEL's get thrown that will toss it into limp mode??

are there any 89-93 5.0 ecu's I should stay away from?? I am going to run it as-is for a while just to get it running to work out bugs before I start running boost on the turbo setup...as there are always bugs in a swap as we all know.
 
well, before I open my mouth on this one, I'm not quite as savy on eec IV computers as I'd like (i'm still running speed density, and am actually in process of my mass air swap right now)

I'd stop by the corral.net forums, they have a nice little electronics/eec forum that should answer your every question about the compatibility of those computers.
 
ok, I've got a line on a 89 5.0 engine harness but it doesnt come with the injector harness. can I use an injector harness from an 86 5.0 cougar or should I really try to get one from an 87-89 5.0 mustang??
 
I have not seen one from a cougar, but the ones from the mustangs are rather easy to find and not that expensive...I would look and see if you can find a matching pair, or you can look at the plugs on your old one and see if it will work.. Search for a pic of the mustang injector harness and try to comapre it to yours