IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ltngdrvr]

IT'S ALIVE...IT'S ALIVE...IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

FRANKENZEPHYR LIVES!!!:woowoo:

Motor from a '00 Explorer, tranny from a '94 mustang, rear end from a '93 Mustang, front brakes from a '89 Mustang...FRANKENZEPHYR!!!

I was almost ready to start thinking that it never would rise from it's transplant.

Still won't crank with the key, have to start it with the remote starter button.

Battery was low so I took it to work today to charge it. Cranked and cranked on it and it still wouldn't start so I thought I'd try giving it some more timing. Went to put the wrench on the hold down bolt and then I found out why it wasn't starting. Seems that they won't run with the connector on the distributor un-plugged...:oops:

Plugged the connector in and hit the starter button and it fired right up on the first turn of the starter.:D

It was idling fairly well at first, then started surging a bit so I started hunting for vacuum leaks. First thing I found was the pcv valve was out of the hole in the manifold, hose was too short. Covered the end of the valve and the idle was much better but still not just right. Kept looking and got in the drivers seat to check the gauges and heard air flow sounds coming from behind the dash. Out on the firewall there was a vacuum hose that I had hooked up to the manifold that goes inside somewhere, a pretty large hose, don't know what it is for. Unhooked it and capped the pipe on the manifold and the idle settled right down, almost as smooth as any new car.

Still have a few loose ends to tie up, hood to install, exhaust system to get installed, etc.

All in all, I'm STOKED!!!:wiggle:

[Ltngdrvr]

Here's a pic, still have some details to clean up.

Think maybe I need a bigger air filter...:omg::D

http://www.svt-enthusiast.com/albums/album461/IM001019.jpg

[tman1257]

Looking good!

[scbolt]

Nice job!!

And remember....You can never post too many pictures.:):)

[Ltngdrvr]

All my pics are in my galleries linked in my sig, loads of them, feel free to check them out.

[fastazz40th]

I don`t know about you. But when i get them started after the swap, it motivates me to get more things done.

[white1983GT]

looks like it belongs in there.....except for the tiny air filter!

[frink84]

awesome!

[LTDScott]

Awesome! Congrats!

[ChuckD]

I dont believe you. A video is a must to prove it. j/k Looks good.

[Ltngdrvr]

except for the tiny air filter!

Yeah, a guy came into the store and wanted to replace his K&N filter on his diesel, tried to sell him a cleaning kit for it but he didn't want to fool with it. So he took the old filter off, stuck the new one I sold him on and tossed the old one in the trash can. So, needless to say, I got a FREE K&N filter for my car, huge as it is...and it wasn't even very dirty so I just used it as is!:D

[Ltngdrvr]

I dont believe you. A video is a must to prove it. j/k Looks good.

Send me the vidcam and I'd be happy to post one!;)

[TWR2003]

Here's a pic, still have some details to clean up.


http://www.svt-enthusiast.com/albums/album461/IM001019.jpg




Great job / looks real good. That rusty MC doesnt belong in that engine compartment. Got to love those original onion head upper strut mounts!

Can you explain the 'no-crank with key' issue better? Are you missing a wire and/or connection from the ignition switch to the starter relay?

Heres another load:

Whats up with the long vacumm hose to your AFPR?
Whats that round thing on the little harness to your MAF sensor?
What are the yellow things on the air intake elbow connections?
What did you use to mount your MAF sensor to the passanger side strut tower? Late Mustang type bracket?

Thanks T

[Ltngdrvr]

Great job / looks real good. That rusty MC doesnt belong in that engine compartment. Got to love those original onion head upper strut mounts!

Can you explain the 'no-crank with key' issue better? Are you missing a wire and/or connection from the ignition switch to the starter relay?

Heres another load:

Whats up with the long vacumm hose to your AFPR?
Whats that round thing on the little harness to your MAF sensor?
What are the yellow things on the air intake elbow connections?
What did you use to mount your MAF sensor to the passanger side strut tower? Late Mustang type bracket?

Thanks T

Will probably get around to painting the m/c.

Haven't had time to determine why it isn't cranking with the key, whether it is just a bad relay or switch or wire. Will fix it thursday or friday when I'm off work.

Vacuum hose to the FPR was a last minute forgot about it thing, one of the details to be cleaned up when I get back on it thursday.

Round thing on the maf harness is a factory grommet, not sure how it is used on the original SN95 cars, probably will cut it off.

Yellow things on the intake connectors are the labels that were on them, another detail that I will be cleaning up. They are actually connectors for pvc pipe that I bought at home depot, I like the SS covers on them.

MAF is not mounted to anything right now other than the air filter and intake tube. The air filter is currently sitting on the inner fender skirt.

There are lots of things I am going to be changing and cleaning up. I am not happy with how the air intake came out but I was using stuff I already had laying around to build it.

The other thing I am going to do is trim down the harness, get rid of the junk in it that I will not be using. I also left all the wiring to the relays extra long so that I could change things around if I needed to, so I will be trimming that stuff back too.

There are lots of details that I will be taking care of as time allows, but I really wanted to get it running, I need the car to drive to work.

[5.0 bird]

Nice job! It'll look great when you get the small details sorted out. :tu:

[Dean_T]

Nice!

I wish I could get one running! Great way of getting 'er done. Post more pics when you can.

Dean T

[Ltngdrvr]

Can you explain the 'no-crank with key' issue better? Are you missing a wire and/or connection from the ignition switch to the starter relay?

Thanks T

Suddenly occurred to me what my starting problem may be, no neutral safety switch hook up.

Nothing from the ecm or the MLPS on the AODE is connected to the ignition switch for neutral safety purposes. Hmmm... bet that's the problem, almost positive that's what it is now that I think about it.

[TR1]

Looks great:) good job, it should be a fun car.

[Ltngdrvr]

WOO-HOO!!!:woowoo:

It moves under it's own power!:D

Think it's the first time the rear tires have ever left rubber streaks on the road.:burnout:

I do have a couple of strange problems though.

The missing neutral safety switch was the reason the ignition switch wasn't working, but now it doesn't start until you let the key go back to the run position. The place I have the power to the EEC relay does have power in the start AND run position but it still doesn't start like it should. So to start it I have to turn the key, let it turn over a time or two then let go of the key and it starts, if I keep the key to the start position it just keeps turning over.

Second problem, the fan wasn't coming on when it got hot so I re-wired the ground to the fenderwell instead of just leaving it run into the engine harness. Now the fan runs all the time and it makes the engine surge and hunt at idle sometimes to the point of dying. If I take the ground loose it idles right but the fan doesn't run.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Ltngdrvr]

Okay, gave up on the key switch issue, put a starter button on it, works fine.

Fan issue, well, I went and bought a hayden controller, the 25 amp fuse it came with blew right away, re-wired it with a 40 amp maxi-fuse and it works fine now.

Stinkin' new water temp gauge has already crapped out.:mad:

Only way I know about how hot it is getting is by the fan coming on at 185*.

This thing sure will scoot, and it's just a foot tromp away from burning the hides right off of it!

Have an appointment at 9 in the morning to get the exhaust system put on. Doggone thing is EXTREMELY loud with just the mufflers hanging off the end of the headers.:twisted:

[dburdyshaw]

Motor from a '00 Explorer, tranny from a '94 mustang, rear end from a '93 Mustang, front brakes from a '89 Mustang...

Hey, I might still have some trim pieces from a Packard if you want to add them to it and add another vehicle to the donor's lineup. lol

Seriously though, it's lookin' fine!

[Ltngdrvr]

Hey, I might still have some trim pieces from a Packard if you want to add them to it and add another vehicle to the donor's lineup. lol

Nah, only Ford donors, preserving the blood lines you know...:lol:

[SRM351]

I'm glad you've got it the road, it's fun to follow these project theads like this. Especially when they're successful!

[Ltngdrvr]

Got the exhaust done, sure does sound KILLER!!!:cool:

Wish I had a way to record and post a sound clip.:(

[Ltngdrvr]

With the full exhaust installed I can now hear myself think while driving, and I can hear it pinging under load...:eek:

Gotta get a timing light on it and maybe back the timing off a little or get some better gas in the tank.;)

[Ltngdrvr]

Well, I backed the timing down to 8* BTDC and it was still pinging.

Didn't have a chance to do anything more with it since then because I have been working open to close 7 days a week at the store for the last two weeks and will be doing so for the forseeable future. The manager at the store where I work threw his keys down and walked out friday before last. I was appointed manager of the store so it's my baby now and I have to be there every day until I can hire and train a new assistant manager.

Today is my only day off until Christmas day so instead of stuffing my face at a family get together I have been working on the car.

My new alternator crapped out on me the other day so I swapped a new one on today and finally wired up the volt meter. Now the temp gauge isn't working and the sender on the fuel cell has gone out again.:mad:

Went down just a little bit ago and filled the cell with 93 octane and it runs lots better and I only heard a couple of small pings under full load.

Man, now this thing really SCREAMS!!!:burnout:

If I can get some time off and find myself a new laptop I want to hook the tweecer up and do some tuning, I know there's more in it and I'm sure I can get it to not ping under load.

[SRM351]

Ha! Congrats on the promotion! Any leads on the pinging problem?

[Maindrian Pace]

Went down just a little bit ago and filled the cell with 93 octane and it runs lots better and I only heard a couple of small pings under full load.

What computer are you running? Standard 5.0 mass air Mustang, A3M or similar?

-MJS

[Ltngdrvr]

Running a SN95 computer, don't recall the catch code right now.

I have no EGR or thermactor and they haven't been turned off yet in the tune so I think that is messing with the spark and fuel tables. Plus it also has a problem idling when you come to a stop or after sitting running for a while, it wants to die.

If I can get some time and a new laptop, I have a tune to download on the tweecer that I am hoping will clear up the problems.

It really screams when you drop the hammer though!

Funny, I stopped at sonic on the way home to grab a hamburger and when I started to leave I just barely put my foot on the throttle and it squealed the tires like Mad Max in his cop car!:D

[Maindrian Pace]

That's just what I was getting at - the late Explorer has no provision for EGR, and that's a definite tuning problem. If you can turn it off, it'll surely run better because it's adjusting for the presence of the EGR. I'm not a big fan of the SN95 computers, because they just don't seem to run as well as the earlier Fox mass air computers - and the SN five speed versions cut timing between shifts to reduce torque and save on T5 warranty replacement issues. Don't know if the automatic versions have the same problems, but perhaps they don't because your car sounds plenty quick with an AOD - a trans not usually known for sparkling performance.

-MJS

[Ltngdrvr]

That's just what I was getting at - the late Explorer has no provision for EGR, and that's a definite tuning problem. If you can turn it off, it'll surely run better because it's adjusting for the presence of the EGR. I'm not a big fan of the SN95 computers, because they just don't seem to run as well as the earlier Fox mass air computers - and the SN five speed versions cut timing between shifts to reduce torque and save on T5 warranty replacement issues. Don't know if the automatic versions have the same problems, but perhaps they don't because your car sounds plenty quick with an AOD - a trans not usually known for sparkling performance.

-MJS

Yeah, heard all that ballyhoo about SN95 computers too, but also know that most problems it has are just tuning issues and can be corrected with a chip or tweecer.

I wanted to use the SN95 ecm so I could operate the electronic controlled AODE tranny and engine with only one computer.

This is also an experiment to see how well it will do so that later on I may use the same ecm to control the 351w and 4R70W tranny combo that I am planning to run in my Lightning.

Going on my longest excursion with the new combo tonight, driving down to Houston for the Autorama, about 100 miles round trip.

[FoxChassis]

Maybe, you've gone over this before and I misssed it, but why on Earth did you choose the AODE over the 4R70W? That transmission was definitely not one of Ford's better ideas. Did you at least rebuild the E with the good 4R parts?

[Ltngdrvr]

Maybe, you've gone over this before and I misssed it, but why on Earth did you choose the AODE over the 4R70W? That transmission was definitely not one of Ford's better ideas. Did you at least rebuild the E with the good 4R parts?

I've done a LOT of research into the AODE/4R70W tranny.

Early ones were problematic but were still better than a AOD, handled the power better, shift better, etc.

'94 and later AODE was better still, and '98 and later versions of the AODEW/4R70W have the mechanical diode and are better yet.

Then you step up to the 4R75W which is the strongest version yet but has its own issues with adapting it to a 5.0 fox car.

I am using a tranny from a '94 V6 mustang and have modified the valve body with a Baumann kit. This tranny should be plenty strong for up to 350 HP with no other mods. Sometime later in the future I will pull it out and have it built with the mechanical diode and extra clutches and will add a triple clutch converter and it should be good for as much power as I will ever throw at it.

The other reason for not going with the 4R70W is the lower gearing throws the computer off even more and takes a lot of fiddling with the shift parameters in the ECM to get it to shift right at WOT, problems I won't have with the regular AODE.

[ChuckD]

Read this. It was written by the engineer. http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny/transmission/index.shtml

[Ltngdrvr]

Read this. It was written by the engineer. http://www.tccoa.com/articles/tranny/transmission/index.shtml

Read it a long time ago and a few more times since then.;)

[fox4dr]

Nice job...
Are you running a Ford mini starter? Not sure of the year 90-91 ?? doesn't matter but the wiring is different.info is everywhere
You should shield the air filter from the fan wash (the biggest issue of Cold Air Kits) or lay it in the fender wheel behind the headlights. Just need a few more bends.(Scares the kids waiting for the bus too...hhiiiisssssss)
Seasons Greetings to ALL
Bill

[Ltngdrvr]

Well, I picked up a laptop and have been playing around with the TwEECer and after a few tries I think I have a tune I can live with for a while.

Turned off the egr and thermactor but still had a problem idling in drive when it was hot and also after it would sit for a while in neutral, it would just die.

What I ended up doing for that was adjusting the idle speed higher than the factory settings. Went from 600 in drive to 750 and 800 in neutral and it doesn't die any more.

I have also not been happy with the way the tranny was shifting. I have a Bauman valve body kit that was supposed to improve the shift without having to change any settings in the tune. But it was still pretty mushy. Went into the tranny parameters and upped the line pressure and zeroed out the converter slip and changed the lockup and shift timing and rpm. Works way better now.

I haven't made a full hard pass since I hadn't worked the tune out, so just a little while ago I made the first full out the back door run. Pulled like a freight train, didn't ping at all and shifted firm and solid and at exactly the way it was supposed to.

Now all I need is to get it out to the track when it opens and see what it will do. I am looking for mid 13's if I can get some traction, hope I'm not being overly optomistic...:)

[cylhead8]

Well, I picked up a laptop and have been playing around with the TwEECer and after a few tries I think I have a tune I can live with for a while.

Turned off the egr and thermactor but still had a problem idling in drive when it was hot and also after it would sit for a while in neutral, it would just die.

What I ended up doing for that was adjusting the idle speed higher than the factory settings. Went from 600 in drive to 750 and 800 in neutral and it doesn't die any more.

I have also not been happy with the way the tranny was shifting. I have a Bauman valve body kit that was supposed to improve the shift without having to change any settings in the tune. But it was still pretty mushy. Went into the tranny parameters and upped the line pressure and zeroed out the converter slip and changed the lockup and shift timing and rpm. Works way better now.

I haven't made a full hard pass since I hadn't worked the tune out, so just a little while ago I made the first full out the back door run. Pulled like a freight train, didn't ping at all and shifted firm and solid and at exactly the way it was supposed to.

Now all I need is to get it out to the track when it opens and see what it will do. I am looking for mid 13's if I can get some traction, hope I'm not being overly optomistic...:)

mid 13's? traction should net you solid 12's.i have a stock 1995 cam in my mont with gt40p(worked over) heads and 4.10 gears.straight motor,it pulls 8.30's in the 1/8th.that equates to 12's in the 1/4.on the jug with a 200 shot,it runs 7.30's.thats 11's in the 1/4.i know that it can be alot faster,but its not too bad for stock parts.

[Ltngdrvr]

mid 13's? traction should net you solid 12's.i have a stock 1995 cam in my mont with gt40p(worked over) heads and 4.10 gears.straight motor,it pulls 8.30's in the 1/8th.that equates to 12's in the 1/4.on the jug with a 200 shot,it runs 7.30's.thats 11's in the 1/4.i know that it can be alot faster,but its not too bad for stock parts.

Well, I hope you are right, sure would be nice if it would get into the 12's.:D

[cylhead8]

Well, I hope you are right, sure would be nice if it would get into the 12's.:D

should do well.bring it to kennedale when it warms up.we can run em for shizz and giggles!