[Dale McPeters]

Oh, I've been around. Doing this and that. My wife's having a baby next week, so as you can imagine, things are pretty hectic right now! :) Trying to at least get the Cobra driveable very soon though. So we'll what happens.

Congradulations!!!

I see we have some new colors here. I don't think I've been to that other eec-tuning site Dale. Too much to keep up with these days.

Well Paul started the other one after we heard Jon had left Oplink and
this site had been down a little while....
Yep way to much to keep up with these days. Cuts way down on posting
time and web browsing....

Fill me in on that crank trigger. What's it going in? Looks like a custom job for a 5.0L engine. Sorry, I can't remember what you were working on now. I thought you had a mod motor car, but maybe you sold it?
Brian

It is a 12 tooth crank trigger wheel for the 418w.
I got lucky and found a guy named Tim in MN that had a few
that he had made up so I bought 2 of them. Should work well
with the AEM EMS.
Yep had an '03 Mach 1 and traded it in on my Dodge Cummins.
Needed it to pull the car trailer etc.

Have you had a chance to try out the welding machine yet?

[twinturbostang]

Congradulations!!!

Thankyou! :)

It is a 12 tooth crank trigger wheel for the 418w.
I got lucky and found a guy named Tim in MN that had a few
that he had made up so I bought 2 of them. Should work well
with the AEM EMS.
Yep had an '03 Mach 1 and traded it in on my Dodge Cummins.
Needed it to pull the car trailer etc.

Yeah, I saw in your signature the 418, after I had posted. I had forgotten you sold the Mach.

Have you had a chance to try out the welding machine yet?

Actually, I'm pulling it out tonight to work on a couple of small jobies for the Cobra. Haven't used it for any major work yet (like subframes or cage), just little stuff mostly. In time though. Once I get it running, I will be building up the rest of the car, including the rear axle, installing subframes, etc. Eventually, it will be getting a twin turbo kit of some sort. Although I haven't decided which one, now that Induction Concepts is gone. That's still long term though, so I've got time to decide.

[Dale McPeters]

Actually, I'm pulling it out tonight to work on a couple of small jobies for the Cobra. Haven't used it for any major work yet (like subframes or cage), just little stuff mostly. In time though. Once I get it running, I will be building up the rest of the car, including the rear axle, installing subframes, etc. Eventually, it will be getting a twin turbo kit of some sort. Although I haven't decided which one, now that Induction Concepts is gone. That's still long term though, so I've got time to decide.

Good deal. Yeah I sent you an email a couple of weeks ago on
some stuff that I had found by accident on Rad....very sad for all
involved.

Now get busy with the welding!!!

[Jon 94GT]

I see we have some new colors here. I don't think I've been to that other eec-tuning site Dale. Too much to keep up with these days.

Well Paul started the other one after we heard Jon had left Oplink and
this site had been down a little while....
Yep way to much to keep up with these days. Cuts way down on posting
time and web browsing....

New colors indeed, and they may be changing again soon (something with more contrast that is easier on the eyes). I think it is unfortunate that people almost decided to jump ship from this site, although I understand the reasoning. This site is here to stay folks and it will from now on continually be updated and improved. Hopefully this will be the only site people need for tuning the EEC from this point forward, thats the plan anyways. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I am ALWAYS all ears. I am very open to new ideas...do not hesitate on telling me I did something wrong or tossing me an idea you feel would help us all.

As it should be evident, I am now checking all threads and posts for validity...so we actually have moderation now. No more pr0n, no more spamming...you all have my word on this.

Sorry for the slight thread hijacking btw ;).

[twinturbostang]

Good deal. Yeah I sent you an email a couple of weeks ago on
some stuff that I had found by accident on Rad....very sad for all
involved.

Now get busy with the welding!!!

Well, didn't get to welding tonight. But I did finalize the install of the front suspension. AJE tubular K-member and A-arms, MMR coil-over kit, Tokico 5-way adjustable drag struts, and Maximum Motorsports caster/camber plates. Oh yeah!! :D Right now I'm working on installing new brake pads, but these things had me stumped. This is still my first time working on one of these modular stangs, so EVERYTHING is new to me, compared to the old Fox body stuff. Anyways, I've got the Ford Service Manual CD, so I'm going to check that for install instructions.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day also. I may have a couple of sneak preview pictures in a day or so. :)

[twinturbostang]

Uh oh!! :D :D :D :D

[Jon 94GT]

Uh oh!! :D :D :D :D

Looking good! Too bad its a modular ;), I'll forgive you for your faults.

[twinturbostang]

Uh oh!! :D :D :D :D

Looking good! Too bad its a modular ;), I'll forgive you for your faults.

Bah! You bass ackwards people need to see the way of the 4 valve. ;)

Come to the dark side... it is your destiny. :D

[twinturbostang]

Time check: 4:00 AM

IT RUNS!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I'll update you guys later today, after I get some sleep. lol One tid bit though... it sounds BAD A$$!!!!

[Dale McPeters]

Time check: 4:00 AM

IT RUNS!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

I'll update you guys later today, after I get some sleep. lol One tid bit though... it sounds BAD A$$!!!!

Yahoo!!!

It is about time.....

[twinturbostang]

Well, I've got a set back. :( I ran the engine for about 30 seconds last night. Just enough to make sure it would actually run. In my excitement (and lack of sleep), I shut the garage door and headed to bed without fully checking things out. This morning, I went out, opened the garage and discovered a full Exxon Valdeez situation. Turns out the friggin oil filter relocation kit was spewing oil out either one of the hoses or at the adapter housing bolted to the engine block. That thing has been nothing but trouble. First it didn't fit in there right. I had to modify the filter bracket to keep the hoses off the K-member mount. Then I had to cut/modify the radiator hoese for it to work (inlet is facing straight out from the block, instead of towards the front of the car like with the stock oil filter housing). And now this. I decided to try and tighten the one hose that was easy to get to and then start it real quick and see if that fixed the problem. Nope. It's spewing oil all over the place. I'm not talking about a little drip here. It's gushing! It would probably go through a quart in about 30 seconds if I left it running. So it looks like I have to pull the power steering pump to gain access to both oil lines and all the bolts for the adapter housing.

At least I know the oil pressure is good though.

[twinturbostang]

Finally found the root cause of the major oil leak. See pic below. Turns out the oil filter relocation adapter is machined incorrectly. As you can see, the holes that are drilled for the AN fittings are larger than the center to center diameter of the o-rings on the factory gaskets. Everything is clamped together, but the o-rings have nothing to squeeze against, and thus spew oil out. This relocation "kit" I bought from Rad at Induction Concepts, which is now out of business. But he wasn't the one that machined the block plate. He bought these from someone else, added his hoses and fittings, and then sold it as a kit. Well, it took me a while, but I finally tracked down the manufacturer of the plate. It's made by Detroit Speedworks which is owned by Livernois Motorsports. You can see the plate here: http://www.livernoismotorsports.com/product.phtml?p=455 I have the double hole plate.

So anyways, I've got to now figure out what to do with it. Since the o-ring is smaller than the drilled hole, it sits in the open space where the fitting is. The fitting does not thread in flush with the face of the plate. If it did, it might actually seal against that. So two options I have are to either thread the fittings in farther till they sit flush with the plate (might have to tap the hole larger in order for that to happen), or mill the plate down until it's all flat.

If you guys have any other suggestions, I'm all ears. Oh, I could buy a new factory oil cooler housing, but that's gona be $300 from the local Ford dealer!! So I'd prefer to make what I have work. I'm going to try calling Detroit Speedworks tomorrow and see if they have any suggestions. They say it works with the stock gasket, but it clearly does not! Or at least not with the one I have. I have seen pictures of a newer gasket with blue o-rings that I think came on the '99 up Cobras. It has a larger opening for the coolant, but I have no idea if there was any change to the oil passage o-rings.

[Dale McPeters]

Oops that is not good.......
I wonder if Rad used the wrong size AN
fittings when he tapped & threaded the holes?

That is what it looks like to me from the pictures
of the ones that are not drilled and tapped....

[twinturbostang]

That is what it looks like to me from the pictures
of the ones that are not drilled and tapped....

Eh? As far as I know these adapters come already drilled/tapped. Well, they're definitely drilled, from the pictures on their website. Hard to tell from the picture if they are tapped or not. Keep in mind, I have the "double hole" adapter. You might be looking at the picture of the "single hole" adapter.

I did get ahold of a guy at Detroit Speedworks, and he said they've never had any problems with them sealing. But I need to talk to another guy, who actually designed the thing. Left him a message and am hoping he'll get back to me tomorrow.

However, I had to go over to Ford to pick up some other gaskets, so I inquired about this one. Turns out they had IN STOCK one of the newer oil gaskets... the ones with the blue o-rings. And sure enough... they are larger! I measured the lower hole at about 25 mm and the upper hole at about 25.5 mm. It was only $15, so I got one. I'm going to trial fit it to the adapter tonight, and hope I get a call back from the guy at Detroit Speedworks confirming what I suspect is the problem.

[Dale McPeters]

Well I meant to say tapped.....
The holes are already drilled but they
did not look like they were tapped on the
website.

The reason that I asked this is because I have a
picture some where of one that RAD had tapped
and threaded the fittings into..I will see if I can
locate it so you can take a look. It might have
been one of the first ones that he did though it
has been so long now....

[twinturbostang]

Yeah, if you can find that picture, that'd be great. So maybe they are drilled, but tapping is up to the end user.

This other gasket I have now may actually work. The o-rings are clearly larger on this one. But they still are right on the edge of the holes on the plate. There's a small chamfer on the edges of the holes also and that doesn't help the situation. A clean square edge would save a precious millimeter probably. And it's so close that that extra millimeter might be the difference. I may still have the plate milled, just to clean up that edge and bring the AN fitting flush with the face. I think I would feel more comfortable with it like that.

[Dale McPeters]

Yep that gasket may work. But like you I
think that I would just mill it down so that
the AN fitting sits flush inside. It might help
it seal?

[twinturbostang]

Yeah, it might help. I'm just worried about bolting everything back on and then having it leak again. That would not be fun, since I have to take the power steering pump off, and drain the coolant in order to get this oil plate off. So milling everything flat would be some piece of mind.

I just ordered some metric socket cap screws, and a couple of other various metric screws from McMaster. Should be here Friday. The socket cap screws are for the oil plate. There's really not enough room to get a regular socket on a bolt with those big AN fittings in the way. But I think a hex wrech socket on my ratchet will work better since it's smaller in diameter.

[twinturbostang]

Well, I got her back together and actually drove her today! Drove about 15-20 miles. It's still got a bunch of problems though...

1) Rear brakes are trashed. I put brand new pads on the front, but I hadn't even checked the rears yet. They were scraping by the time I got back to the driveway. Gota turn the rotors and put new rear pads on.

2) TwEECer don't work. Not sure what's going on here. I sent an e-mail to Mike G. about this. So far it only runs good when the chip is disabled.

3) Fan doesn't come on. For now I'm having to jumper pin 46 at the EEC. I run that to ground and that causes the fan to come on. Weird thing is if I completely remove the EEC, and then turn the key on, the fan turns ON! But if the EEC is connected, it doesn't work normally. Can't figure this one out.

4) Car runs hot. Even with the fan rigged to ON, it runs pretty hot. I've bled the coolant system. I put a 180* thermostat in it, but it wasn't an exact fit. So I don't know if it has something to do with that or not. I may have to put the stock thermo back in. Or find the correct replacement that is 180*. If anyone knows where to buy one of these, please let me know. What I did with this one is just took the stock thermo up to Pep Boys and bought what looked to be the closest thing to it, except 180*.

5) Still leaks slightly. I've got the oil plate back in there, but with the blue gasket now. Oil seems to be fine. But now there's a very slight coolant leak!! WTF?!?!?! I snugged up the bolts just a little bit more. I will have to keep an eye on it and see if it continues to leak or not.

6) Exhaust hangs low. Turns out the car has Eibach springs in it, and I have not swapped to the coil-overs in the rear yet. That coupled with the fact that the exhaust hangs low meant that I scraped on every single speed bump in the neighborhood. Once I get the coil-overs in the back, I can raise it up slightly. And I'm also going to try to pull the exhaust up higher. It's hitting the tranny crossmember right now though, so I have to do some magic on it. lol Either I'm going to cut the H-pipe up and re-weld it, or grind on the crossmember.

Gee, is that all?!?! lol Sounds like enough to keep me busy for a while! It's nice she actually got to see sunlight though. It's only been 2 years. Oh yeah, gota get it aligned also. The front wheels have quite a bit of toe-out right now. Makes it a bit "interesting" to drive at highway speeds.

[twinturbostang]

Stay tuned. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. :)

[Dale McPeters]

Stay tuned. I see the light at the end of the tunnel. :)

So what is the latest?
I have not worked on mine in about 6 months...seems that long anyway.

[twinturbostang]

False alarm.

Trying to get it through Maryland State Inspection right now so I can drive it. Took it to a place this morning and they failed it on numerous "violations". I quote.. "Altered Frame and struts". Meaning the suspension parts I put on it are not legal to pass inspection. Total load of B.S. Said the rack&pinion bolts were too short. I mean WTF?!?! Lots of other stuff too. I don't think the guy ever had any intention of passing the car. He intentionally was looking for anything at all he could "claim" was not legal. He wrote up my tinted windows also. Did he measure them to see if they met Maryland specs? NO. How about the tinted windows on my Expedition? "Oh, those are ok cause they are factory". He said I had to go to the MVA and have them measure the windows. But he failed them anyways. ***hole.

I gave the guy an earful that's for sure. He still took my $75 though. I will NEVER EVER go to that place again. Not for inspection, gas, candy bar, nothing. In case anyone wants to know, it's the Exxon station between Henderson Corner Rd. and Rt. 355 in Germantown, MD. DON'T GO TO THESE ****ing Crooks!

[Dale McPeters]

Dang Brian that is not good....

I have never heard of anyone failing for having after market suspension. What's up with that..??? Most of the after market suspension makes the car handle and ride better than the factory pieces... I do not understand that at all.
I would look at the most current Maryland state inspection laws to see what it says about after market suspension items.

Crap if that is true then that means you could not even bolt on after market shocks, brake pads or anything that was not original equipment.

I personally think that is a crock of s***!!

[twinturbostang]

I personally think that is a crock of s***!!

I agree. I'm still working on it. I was on a tight deadline as the emissions inspection was past due and they were going to suspend the registration. I called them though, and explained that I never got a notice to have it inspected (which I didn't), and they gave me an extension. So I've got time now to get this stuff figured out.

[2Shaker]

Oh the joys of our hobby... This thread is like 3 years old, but the same kind of crap we all have gone through if you seriously modify the car. I'm really curious about the suspension mods and their legality in MD. I'm in OH and we have no mandatory inspections thank God. I just finished putting in the whole Maximum Motorsport K member and coil over. I really like it, the car rides and handles way better, and the stuff was really well made. I'd be furious if the state of OH tried to fail it in an inspection.

[twinturbostang]

FINALLY ON THE ROAD!!!!


Somebody go check and see if hell has frozen over.

[Dale McPeters]

Congrats!!!!

So what was the final out come on the suspension?

[twinturbostang]

It's inspected now, with full registration. That's all I'll say.

[Dale McPeters]

It's inspected now, with full registration. That's all I'll say.

That is all that matters.

By the way I need to send you a couple of pictures of my latest
project in a couple of weeks. Is your email still the same?

[twinturbostang]

That is all that matters.

That's right!

By the way I need to send you a couple of pictures of my latest
project in a couple of weeks. Is your email still the same?

Yep, still the same. I just replied to your e-mail.

edit: My e-mail to you just bounced back. You having problems on your end?