How / Where to mount a Ford ECM in an older car?

[Basin Motorsports]

I'm adding a complete 1992 drivetrain into an '80 car, so the EFI stuff has no home right now. The HVAC box is larger on the earlier models, so I'm currently looking for a home for the ECM. One person said to make a bracket for under the passenger seat. Any other thoughts?

[Dr. Matt]

Mine was mounted on the floor in front of the passenger seat by whoever did the conversion on my car. I'll try and get a pic tonight as I have most of the interior out to start on my cage.

[4-barrel Mike]

78 Fairmont: inside the passenger-side kick panel using the factory(?) bracket.

Mike

[ZephyrEFI]

Here's my solution. You can see I've spent a lot of time on it...



It doesn't fit behind the kick panel, at least in my opinion. I do have all the power door wiring and stuff there on mine that you might not have if you don't swap over the whole harness. Unless someone comes up with a better solution here, my plan is to buy one of those EEC IV extension harnesses on ebay and run it so the computer will sit under the seat. Those harnesses are pricey though ($300!!) so I haven't been able to justify it yet.

[stangPlus2Birds]

You could mount it inside the glove-box. That is, if you don't mind loosing some/all of your storage space inside the glove-box.

[stangPlus2Birds]

Here's my solution. You can see I've spent a lot of time on it...

Imho, if you put some stick on suede or carpet, over the case and wiring (make a box over the wiring), it wouldn't look too bad.
Especially if you used suede, then also put it on both kick-panels.

Considering that my '86 has a Ford factory OEM "$2 bracket" for the driving lights hung off the bottom of the dash, I don't think it'd look "extremely" out of place.


Fyi:
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Premium quality suede sheets 8.5"x12" with super-strong self-adhesive backing. Ideal for making peel-and-stick (self-stick, stick-on) soles for dance shoes, various colors. [SUEDE-DIY-r01].
$18


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Peel-and-St...0/192136495715
Peel and Stick Blue Berber Carpet Tiles 12"x12" Set of 10

[dagenham]

Even in the aero cars the fit is tight. You have to put the ecm into the bracket and then plug it in and tighten the center bolt in the plug.

[2nd chance cobra]

It won't fit in the pass kick panel on early cars(I tried), there is bracing that shouldn't be cut out. I'm mounting mine flat under the hvac. Just make sure you give it an umbrella in case of antifreeze or condensate leaks

[xctasy]

Ford Australia put the ECM in the Left Hand Drive Mercury Capri under the HVAC....not one of Fords better ideas...

Under the seat would be best for the EECIV, as per the EECIII ignition unit in the Sterling built Thunderbirds and XR7 Cougars with the 50th state CFi 5.0.

[Walking-Tall]

Just ahead of one of the rear tires on the ground, and then proceed, foot to the floor with the 1980's simplicity put back into action, right over top of said ECM, just to see how far she'll fly once crushed all aerodynamic and airborne.

[xctasy]

Just ahead of one of the rear tires on the ground, and then proceed, foot to the floor with the 1980's simplicity put back into action, right over top of said ECM, just to see how far she'll fly once crushed all aerodynamic and airborne.

Luddites Rock!

The government eventually defeated the Luddites. As many as forty Luddites were killed in action, twenty-four were executed, thirty-four were transported to Australia and twenty-four were imprisoned. Although the rise of the Luddites was short lived, they impacted society a great deal and even today Luddism is still around.

[Walking-Tall]

Luddites Rock!

There is yet to exist any machine or computer that can or ever will replace the INTELLIGENT connection a man CAN have with WTF is going on. So, when I see the cheerleaders for "upgrading" older vehicles to efi... here's what I see: What do we see here, damn near DAILY? ooohhhh, my $hitbox isn't working right.... my efi is doing this, HICCUP, my efi is doing that, HICCUP, my efi isn't doing this, HICCUP, my efi isn't doing that, HICCUP... Daddy, HELP!?.... Please... efi was manufactured and deployed on purpose, to do exactly what it has done.... it has successfully DISCONNECTED numerous intelligent people from knowing or caring WTF is going on beneath their own a$$e$, UNTIL of course IT AIN'T WORKIN'.......... run the beeotch fer codes, check this, check that, chase your dumbed down tail replacing a buncha parts that didn't need replacing, rinse, repeat, ETC...............

There is still a box full of GARBAGE here removed from my car that could totally use being RUN OVER or violently SMASHED with a hammer... don't tempt me... forget about pictures, I'd provide video....

[ZephyrEFI]

Imho, if you put some stick on suede or carpet, over the case and wiring (make a box over the wiring), it wouldn't look too bad.
Especially if you used suede, then also put it on both kick-panels.

Considering that my '86 has a Ford factory OEM "$2 bracket" for the driving lights hung off the bottom of the dash, I don't think it'd look "extremely" out of place.


Fyi:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CBJLNW2/
Premium quality suede sheets 8.5"x12" with super-strong self-adhesive backing. Ideal for making peel-and-stick (self-stick, stick-on) soles for dance shoes, various colors. [SUEDE-DIY-r01].
$18


https://www.ebay.com/itm/Peel-and-St...0/192136495715
Peel and Stick Blue Berber Carpet Tiles 12"x12" Set of 10

Yeah, not a bad plan. I worry a bit about heat issues sticking fabric right to the computer itself...

The main issue I've had is that the harness didn't allow enough slack to put the thing right where i wanted. But, I recently moved that portion of it to the a new hole through the firewall in the place it was intended to be, so I might have better luck with that now. I do like the under the seat plan the best. I guess sometimes you just have to pay what it costs. I had a guy tell me once I could make my own extension harness, but some of the wires need to be "shielded" or something and that sounded like something I would mess up, so I never acted on it.

[Basin Motorsports]

So, when I see the cheerleaders for "upgrading" older vehicles to efi... There is still a box full of GARBAGE here removed from my car that could totally use being RUN OVER or violently SMASHED with a hammer...

I can agree with that. Some upgrade for the sake up saying they have EFI. Thankfully, I'm not one of them. If I had a free 5.0L drivetrain in my garage with a carb I would have put that in. The EFI setup came from my wrecked aero coupe, and as long as I don't screw something up during the installation / modification it will work on the start up. It ran fine without any engine codes before it was wrecked, so I expect it will be the same when I get back to this next start up. If the car was carbed with a V8 before, I would have thought about just going to a FiTech or Holley setup, but that would still require an EFI fuel pump. At least now I will have the fuel system for a V8 and if I decided to go with a 2018 Coyote crate engine in the future I have the fuel piece close to where it needs to be.

[stangPlus2Birds]

I thgi

Yeah, not a bad plan. I worry a bit about heat issues sticking fabric right to the computer itself...

Yea, right after I posted that, I was wondering about any heat issues.

The EEC is convection cooled. It dissipates heat through the case. So, if you did just cover the case, that might cause an issue.
What "should be done" (now it gets more involved), is to cut an opening in the kick-panel that is bigger than the EEC. Then, make a bracket that firmly mounts the EEC to some structure(s) behind the kick-panel.
I'd also strongly suggest thermal grease between any metal contact points. That helps to prevent corrosion, and it also helps a lot with thermal conductivity between the surfaces.

Yea, it's a lot more work.
But, for someone that doesn't want to loose glovebox storage, or mount it under the HVAC, I think that by then by covering the EEC and kick-panel, it wouldn't look bad. And, it would pass as an original bump in the kick-panel, to many non-car people.


Besides, it'd still look a zillion times better that the cr*ppy fog light switch, that came from the factory, on my '86:
Pics from a google search:





.

[xctasy]

I can agree with that. Some upgrade for the sake up saying they have EFI. Thankfully, I'm not one of them. If I had a free 5.0L drivetrain in my garage with a carb I would have put that in. The EFI setup came from my wrecked aero coupe, and as long as I don't screw something up during the installation / modification it will work on the start up. It ran fine without any engine codes before it was wrecked, so I expect it will be the same when I get back to this next start up. If the car was carbed with a V8 before, I would have thought about just going to a FiTech or Holley setup, but that would still require an EFI fuel pump. At least now I will have the fuel system for a V8 and if I decided to go with a 2018 Coyote crate engine in the future I have the fuel piece close to where it needs to be.

Love your views both.

I'm a neo-Luddite my self. There is a 12 step program to transmigrating from pure Luddite to a fake, camelion hypocritical, flip flop Neo Luddite, (the worst kind.....) but it involves putting 100 emission control devices back on a carburettor Ford car before then removing 65 structures, and going EECIV.


Ultimatley, as the Holley Performance Carburettor manual saith, you have to apply Brain in the Head to the Seat of the Pants to correctly tune a carb. The language becomes the issue for success, as the carb likes to move form order to kaos, and it desires to apply the zinc oxide hand of correction to the seat of learning (your A$$)


e.g.




Anything electronic in a vehcile, then makes an A$$ of you in the same way, but ever so much moreso.




For simplicity, a carb is the way to have an ungodly amount of really good fun in a Fox.

EFI, stands for Eliminates Focker-Itus. A fox EFi car is like Pam Byrnes. You cannot Focker Round with Jack Byrnes daugher Pam if she's got the EFi gene

Meet the Fockers..... 1978 to 1987 was the delightfull blend in Foxes were the car moved from


1. the non feedback, non EEC 1978-1985 carbs to

2. the feedback EECI, then EECII and non EEC MCU carbs,


3. then the Feedback CFi EECIII,

4. Feedback CFi EECIV and then

5. feedback EECIV carb, then the

6. the EECIV CFi or

7. port EFI,


in 1985, the carb to EFI spanned seven generations from non EEC to EECIV in one glorious unfultering hit of techno wizzardry.

Man, that's a nasty lot of ground to cover, and there are guys who will never have Fords again because of what the Service manuals did to mess up the Ford driving populace in the attention required to properly tune these machines

Each of the seven ierations of each system is about 200 pages of EVTM and whatever Technical Services Bulletins Ford has. Everyone only needs to be read if your a dumb ass enough to have a go. Both Mike and I have had a go over most of it, and JACook and FB71 were edjumacated as Approved Ford Technical Service personal, with the Blue Injection.....

The 78-82 2V and 1983-1985 4V carb is the most simple, and it works 85 to 105% as well as the best 1986-1993 Port EFI EECIV.


If you go EECIV, ask the question here, and you get help from techno whizkids, Luddites and Neo Luddites. We all help, in our own way, and according to our creeds. ECU crushing, code pulling, IC soldering and under seat mounting, its all part of an umatched package of people who really want to help.

Everyone should read Mikes Nutters bypass of the CFi EECIV to 2-bbl 500 Holley 2-bbl, a lovely case of going east to go west for Flat Earthers. Or vdubn, Mikestang and 84StangSVT's re EFication of a 4-bbl factory Fox car.."epicily easy" when you ask others to help you out. .

Me, I like both, and I'm not scared of either. My old port 1986 eeciv EFI Fairmont 4.1 liter six made 164 hp, and in a 5 speed 3262 pound Fairmont, did 16.3 second quarter and 118 mph.

In a 2727 pound 4.1 liter Cortina (Fox Mustang), 15.3 seconds flat, and 135 mph.


My wifes 3142 pound, 185 hp hp 2-bbl 4.1 Falcon, 15.9 seconds, and it was 3 speed auto. Carbs are easier to gain the low hanging fruit, and drag racing logic will get you there.

[ZephyrEFI]

I have EFI!!!!

[ZephyrEFI]

I thgi

Yea, right after I posted that, I was wondering about any heat issues.

The EEC is convection cooled. It dissipates heat through the case. So, if you did just cover the case, that might cause an issue.
What "should be done" (now it gets more involved), is to cut an opening in the kick-panel that is bigger than the EEC. Then, make a bracket that firmly mounts the EEC to some structure(s) behind the kick-panel.
I'd also strongly suggest thermal grease between any metal contact points. That helps to prevent corrosion, and it also helps a lot with thermal conductivity between the surfaces.

Yea, it's a lot more work.
But, for someone that doesn't want to loose glovebox storage, or mount it under the HVAC, I think that by then by covering the EEC and kick-panel, it wouldn't look bad. And, it would pass as an original bump in the kick-panel, to many non-car people.


Besides, it'd still look a zillion times better that the cr*ppy fog light switch, that came from the factory, on my '86:
Pics from a google search:





.

Yeah, one of my main themes for my car is that I want daily driver level usability. Mostly because I expect to be able to drive it daily once I finish fiddling with it, haha. That means a usable trunk (no fuel cell), comfortable ride, full interior with amenities, no roll-cage, etc, etc... and yes, a usable glove box.

I haven't ruled out the kick panel idea. I've thought of making a box out of sheetmetal and covering it with vinyl or grabbing something at the junkyard in black plastic that would serve that purpose.

[xctasy]

Here's my solution. You can see I've spent a lot of time on it...

........my plan is to buy one of those EEC IV extension harnesses on ebay and run it so the computer will sit under the seat. Those harnesses are pricey though ($300!!) so I haven't been able to justify it yet.

I like the idea.

Fords in the pre EECIV era had no space for any of the planned Port EFi sensors, and it takes a lot of planning to keep the glove box and HVAC and A/C systems in tact. I spend more time working in with the pre EFi stuff....Ford made every cars wiring system model specfic to save on the huge costs of incorporating other doo dads. Only Fox owners who have seen the light like Zephryr EFi can understand why Ford was so specfic in rolling out the 5.0 Port EFi engine in 7 long stages from 1978 to the first MAF 5.0 in 1988.

In doing so, it contracted out, did internal development, and made the hugely unrealiable pice of sh!+ that was the British Brico, Lucas D jetronic and German Bosch D and J Jetronic system work as a bank fire or sequential.

The whole reason the EECIV is used is that it really is smarter than any other Port EFi base. GM's Memcal/CalPak D4, Mopar and AMC's Reanult based ECU....all of it had other issues, but Fords A9L is one of the best ever systems, but thats because its got very specfic rules.


Glove box was the way to fit the EFi 4.1 EECIV in the Cortina.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Richard C, he is the most clever guy, this is his solution to fitting a VAM metered EECIV X-flow 4.1 into the engine bay.

How clever? He hooked up a 1988 Holden Commodore with GM 3800 to an 85 cubic inch Toyota Supercharger, and used the A/C button to turn on the super charger, and the 177 hp engine suddenly burst into a 230 hp street terror.

His 1977 Cortina 6




It was a Fox Mustang sized car with Mustang steering and brakes, but dark age 1970 Cortina and Taunus body engineering that had no space at all for any electronics unless you lost a glove box, heater, A/C unit. It wasn't even designed for A/C, and Ford Australia had to rework the whole thing with US style ventitation. It was about this time that Ford Australia bailed out on ever bulding any European designed Ford car ever again.....

Sometimes the hardest problems have the easiest solutions in the small Fox sized Fords, though....





Thankfully, Fox bodies, including T birds from 1980-1982, 83 LTD's, and certainly Continental Compacts and LSC's have some really cool 80's tech Electronic VF dashes, sythersizers, and on board trip computers, so Ford was thinking in advance how to roll all that technology out. That's why the hood, nose and internal heater box HVAC system wasn't like the 1970-1978 Capri 1970-1983 Cortina,1970-1983 Taunus, 1969-1980 Pinto or 1974-1978 Mustang II in the under hood arrangments, except for the rack and pinion steering.

And the Pinto/Mustang II fire wall and lower wishbone coil members.

There is no room to swing a cat in a Cortina, but the Foxes are so easy to mount stuff into.

I've done Port EFi X shells and Cortinas, been there, done that.



No space.


One Australian guy mounted the GM J car remote Power steering pump in his Cortina glove box to free up space for the engine bay mounted HVAC and A/C unit. The English (especially GM's Vauxhalls until the advent of the Victor/Ventora/Firenza) and Germans (all the Taunus and Granads before Bob Lutz shorted the crap out)....each had a really nasty habbit of one stop shop design, and building the body around the engine. The only US cars like that were the Studiebakers and related AMC's...a disaster to work on.

You may say a lack of kick pannel space in Early Foxes or a battery under the cowl of a PT Cruiser show some dumb butt lack of smarts, but you all should see the underhood area of a re-engineered European based 1977 Aussie Cortina.

Extension Cable the EECIV under the passenger seat, and if your single or dating, be real choosy about pickin up babes with big "Minaj à trois" booties.

"Sorry luv, Yo' butt just shorted my underseat ECU...we gotta park up here....."

[Broncojunkie]

I don't really understand why anyone would swap in an oem efi system when there are so many nice, beautiful stand-alone systems on the market. I went with a factory maf swap in my 88gt and still kicking myself. Ecm, 24lb injectors, maf sensor, explorer intake, cold air intake, throttle body, spacer, maf conversion harness... and some other items I'm forgetting. I figure I spent well over $1,000 on parts and who knows how many hours installing, adjusting, and correcting various issues. All of this, only to get performance levels only slightly better than factory specs. The aftermarket stand-alone systems support much higher power levels without any of the problems you get with older factory efi.

[ZephyrEFI]

Haha, I'll choose my passengers carefully.

I don't really understand why anyone would swap in an oem efi system when there are so many nice, beautiful stand-alone systems on the market. I went with a factory maf swap in my 88gt and still kicking myself. Ecm, 24lb injectors, maf sensor, explorer intake, cold air intake, throttle body, spacer, maf conversion harness... and some other items I'm forgetting. I figure I spent well over $1,000 on parts and who knows how many hours installing, adjusting, and correcting various issues. All of this, only to get performance levels only slightly better than factory specs. The aftermarket stand-alone systems support much higher power levels without any of the problems you get with older factory efi.

I my case, it was a couple of reasons. 1) I first put the car together in 2006, when there were no such affordable aftermarket systems. 2) i bought my parts car for $600, less than one of those systems costs, and it included the 302 (my car started out with a 6), whole chassis harness, dash, transmission, rear end, suspension, wheels, brakes, etc etc. It could have included seats, and other things I could have used also. Now, technically I didn't end up using much of what I got on the parts car (it would be swapped out little by little), but if a guy were trying to do an EFI swap on the cheap, you totally could. Great for if you're coming from a car that did not have a V8 to begin with like mine, but also, if it's an EARLY V8 Fox, you're far better off swapping in the roller/forged piston block and dumping that boat anchor you started off with.

[Broncojunkie]

That makes sense, Zephyr. Fwiw, I'm now trying to decide if it would be worth my time to replace my factory set-up with a stand-alone. The Fitech 400hp kit is $800, iirc. I could get around $5-600 at least for my factory stuff. I also have an extra a9p, so it won't cost me much to do the swap. I think the factory efi is too finicky and problematic. The only reason I'm hesitating at all is because I've finally worked out all the issues. The reason I'd like to do the swap is because I know I'll eventually have more problems. For instance, these old ecm's are notorious for capacitors leaking and rendering the system unusable. Not to mention the difficulty in tracking down the issue, once it happens.

[xctasy]

That makes sense, Zephyr. Fwiw, I'm now trying to decide if it would be worth my time to replace my factory set-up with a stand-alone. The Fitech 400hp kit is $800, iirc. I could get around $5-600 at least for my factory stuff. I also have an extra a9p, so it won't cost me much to do the swap. I think the factory efi is too finicky and problematic. The only reason I'm hesitating at all is because I've finally worked out all the issues. The reason I'd like to do the swap is because I know I'll eventually have more problems. For instance, these old ecm's are notorious for capacitors leaking and rendering the system unusable. Not to mention the difficulty in tracking down the issue, once it happens.

The problems with an EECIV's earthing out issues and capacitor leakage only exist because of the 360 degree view we all now have after 34 years of its existance. The testomonies of how it behaves come from every car forum in the internet, so you can't hide the EEICIV habbits. Most of the problems are that the whole system is very smart, but slapped on or integrasted into very ordinary low rent Ford electrics. Each year, it became more integrated into the wiring loom. Its not dividable from the wiring looms, its integrated and festooned. Ford build a car very fast, and its easier to blend another 40% of the wiring into operating the fuel pump(s) and safety devices. None of that is done as well as Ford did it from 1983 to 1993. The 2.3 Turbo EECIV and all the Port EFI 5.0's were sorted with a fully listed way of trouble shooting.

95% of all problems are related to the daft way the

1. O2 and wiring loop wires, and

2. fusible links

3. IAC diodes


4. separate earths to the EECIV

5. And very complicated failsafe drain to zero ounces of fuel fuel tank pump system



Any aftermarket EFi system will force you to make dumb descisions that Ford would never have done to get it to pass the Federal Crash regulations.


My son and I have been working through EFi Toyotas, and we discussed EECIV-ing my wifes RAV4. In a not uncomon statement of clear thinking, my son summarised and decribed it best. Because EECIV is a Family Ford addition, if it does any thing anti social, like drinks off, smokes up at the back fence, or doesn't show up to a family conferance, we all cuss out that son. But don't try and think anyone elses son doesn't do the same. The EECIV is just the devil you know...

The issues are easliy fixed. Fitech is well developed, but it still creates many problems, and a green field application of EFi isn't going to fix the problems Ford spent millions of dollars addressing. On a cost for cost, and follow up for follow up basis, EECIV has mild back up for a 210 to 268 hp variation, some for 300 hp, and your on your own past 325 hp because the air flow and other parts aren't supported at that level unless you talk to a Performance Consultant.

At the 325 to 500 hp level, you have lots of choice, with a raft of US wonder boxes. Fitech, Sniper, yadda yadda yadda.

For performance, the EECIV is held back by the nasty stock EFi and GT40 intake manifolds. They are the first thing to address and fix. Ford Racing Parts claimes the GT40 intake flows up to 425 hp, which it might do, but Jack Roush pulled the intake out, and developed a whole raft of better intakes for the 375 hp turbo 351W, and there was a non turbo version planned that was supposed to be more than the 351w SVT "R" 300 hp engine.

The EECIV is like a brain dead 286 IBM computer. It works, and it doesn the job intended, and it has heaps of scope. Its later version were a lot smarter.

The problem with EECIV it is like the 351W....you can absolutely make the thing honk like Hades, but it was never taken past the 300 hp level by the factory.

The whole system was a shut up shop, with Ford not really wanting to risk people open sourcing chip upgrades....the Mass Air and MAF systems really made it hard to uncork.

Megasquirt is open source, you'll get untold back up, and the price of any EFI ECU system is not the dollar value on the bill of sale, as things always go together with the need for other things.

4-bbl intakes are great for EFi now, so Fitech works like a NASCAR Efi system.

Anyway, its your choice, and if you don't like the wiring issues with EECIV, then take another route, but don't expect the road to be as easy as the EECIV can be.

[ZephyrEFI]

I was considering going to a Megasquirt ECU in place of a piggyback chip thingy like Moates makes for when I go to get mine tuned. I decided against it because of the cost and the fact that it doesn't use the MAF (if i remember correctly). It just seemed like a step in the wrong direction to me.

I'm planning to have it tuned because of all the parts I have that are not stock '90 HO: GT40 heads and intake, shorty headers, 24 lb injectors, and planned cam swap.

[droopie85gt]

Speed density is a perfectly good strategy. Maf is too and a little bit more accurate, I guess. It would have to be or the OEMs wouldn't spend the money adding a MAF sensor to almost every vehicle. But I had an 03 Dodge Dakota that didn't have a MAF and it always ran great. MAF is much more sensitive to the intake track and contamination. I think I saw an engine masters or Hot Rod Garage where they had a pretty gnarly LS3 swap that the tuner switch to Speed Density to get it to idle better.

I've looked at and even collected parts for various ways to convert to EFI on my 85. When I got it, I took the flooding Holley off it and put an Edelbrock carb and wide band on. I could have left it there. With the Wide band I had it tuned pretty well, but I wanted the cold start and economy of EFI. SO, I started picking up stock 5.0 efi, but then I looked at the whole picture and was like I am going to still spend a lot of money trying to piece this together and still have to find some way $$$ of tuning it. SO then I picked up a Megasquit and a Chevy TBI. I thought that was the way to go, but I still had to piece it together and had a 2bbl throttle body.

I finally picked up a Holley Commander C950 4bbl TBI. It wasn't an easy swap, but it wasn't hard. I was able to pickup a cheap 97 mustang gas tank and got the fox body fuel filter and mount. A factory line from pump to fuel filter worked, then I used factory nylon efi hose and fittings to adapt both ends of the car to the carb hard lines. I finally decided to mount the ECU under the driver's seat and there was a plug or unused grommet in the tunnel.

I did a lot of cutting and moving stuff on the harness and then wrapped in high temp convoluted tubing and then in a DEI heat sleeve and run the harness out the tunnel on top of the tranny and come up on top of the bell housing. It's pretty well hidden.


I guess my point here is that there is plenty of space under the seats if you use it wisely.