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Lounge / Re: Annual Appeal
Just found out about this. Sent $50 for the kitty. Thanks fr all of your hard work. Still the best site out there.
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Messages - tommym
Just found out about this. Sent $50 for the kitty. Thanks fr all of your hard work. Still the best site out there.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
One was the car randomly shutting off. Kind of like killing the ignition. That one had me going nuts. Every time you tried to troubleshoot it the car would run perfect. Ended up replacing all the common parts. Every time it would run, you never knew when it would shut down. Had it towed back to the house twice on a rollback. Had Andrew Borodin, did the tuning, check it out remotely and the car ran with no issues. Finally called Holley Tech Support after having it towed home once again. After a couple of hours troubleshooting the computer just shut off. Sent the computer back to Holley. They could not get it to repeat the problem but did reinstall the new software. Two weeks later I reinstalled the computer, Andrew installed the tune and the car ran once again. Still do not know what fixed it. Time to celebrate? Not quite.
The joy lasted about 76 miles. Went out in the garage to start the car, turned over but no start! Back to Holley Tech Support. By the way the guys at Holley were excellent every time, knew the system and how to troubleshoot it. This time they found that the on board MAP sensor was not responding. They decided to send me a new computer. I waited until I had the new computer to take mine out. I installed mine in the bottom slot, by the shifter so I had to dismantle the vertical console. When I removed the computer I found the plastic adapter that Holley supplies for the MAP sensor connection had broken in half. Thus no vacuum signal. It now has a brass fitting and the car runs great, again.
The only other change I have made is to have the seats re-upholstered, dark blue sides with a gray patterned center section.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
Checked the old engine harness and it would not of lasted much longer. Even had one burnt spot where a bunch of grounds were tied together. Be careful removing the old harness. You will need #10, pk/lb and #54, o/lg from the old computer plug to control the A/C.
First off if you decide to go this route there are a few things you'll need that are not in the kit. One is a "Y" CAN connector and the other is a CAN to USB cable. Both available from Holley. They will run about $90. Using these will allow you to plug in your laptop and use your monitor while tuning. The other are the oil pressure and fuel pressure sensors. Holley has them but they cost $135 each. They are proud of their stuff. I found them on ebay for $65 each. The ones from Holley are 100lb and the ones I found were 150lb. You can change the setting in the programing. They are considered "optional". They will give an "error code" on the monitor if not used. You will also need an upper intake gasket. If you have MAF installed you will need to fab a pipe to replace it. In my case I have a BBK cold air system through the fender. BBK does make an adapter for this and it costs around $80. I have about $1500 invested without tuning.
I decided to mount the monitor where the clock goes. Made a plate, used Velcro to attach the monitor. If I decide I don't like it easy to reinstall the clock. I mounted the computer in the bottom slot where the system sentry went. Almost a perfect fit width wise and just made a blank plate to fill the void under it.
The install is pretty easy and pretty much follows Holley's instructions. The cable they have for the oil pressure sensor is too short to reach the sensor mounted by the oil filter. Just cut and extend it by a foot. Make sure and follow their instructions and connect the power wires to the battery.
Start up and tuning is where I get lost. I had Andrew Borodin do the start up and tuning. He was recommended through the Holley Terminator X Forum. My cost was $475. Worth every penny. He is excellent and easy to work with. I know it says "self learning" but that is not entirely true. First we ran into a problem starting the car. It wouldn't. Found out it was because I was using a vacuum canister. (You need a manifold vacuum signal). Disconnected it and spliced the hose. With my laptop plugged into the car Andrew took it over to set up the computer. Several settings are only accessible through the computer before you start it. Andrew had me install a fixed orifice PCV and move the MAT sensor from the intake manifold to my cold air pipe about 3in before the throttle body. (The wire is long enough to do this). This is not in the Holley manual.
The rest, to me, was magic. Andrew had it running about 2hrs later. After several driving sessions he had the fuel mapping set up. If you have A/C you will need to connect the old #10, pk/lb, to the white/blue stripe in the passenger foot-well. This will allow you to come to a stop with the A/C on and not kill the motor. This will have to be set up in the programming. There is also a A/C Shutdown output to kill the A/C in WOT. I did not connect it because, in my case, did not need it.
I have had 2 problems since. One was caused by a new Ford TPS, replaced it and the other was the TFI module, replaced it with one from MSD.
The car runs great. Way better than with the A9L. In my case it was well worth installing the Terminator X. You can spin the tires in 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Idle is 870-900. Timing is controlled by the computer, initial is 14*. AFR is 14.6. IAC is controlled by the computer. Gas millage is around 12mpg on premium. Plug and play? Not quite. I have about 400 miles on it with no problems.
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Engine Tech / Re: Heating issues and looking for input.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
If you're good with soldering you can make your own harness using MTW, (Machine Tool Wire) wire. Easy to solder and flexible. There are connectors available so you can replace the "salt and pepper shakers" wit an actual connector.
This is a pretty good, affordable crimper for any type of terminal you might encounter.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0045spoogeLQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I do have a PDF Catalogs of Ford electrical connectors. It shows the Ford connectors with the part numbers. You can find them if you Google "Ford Wiring Pigtail Kits". Most are PDF's. Unfortunately I don't think you will find any for our cars.
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Electrical Tech / Re: 86-88 ECU Harness Differences?
What are the differences in the ECU harness in the 86, 87, & 88 cars with regards to the V8 multi-port fuel injection? I know they are all speed density but are there any wiring or connection differences? I say this as my experience with injection is on Mustangs and there are six different ECU harnesses. One for the '86 cars, one for the 87-88 cars (88 California cars are the same as the 89 cars due to mass air), one for the 89 cars, one for the 90 cars, one for the 91 to 92.5 cars and then one for the 92.5 to 93 cars.
86 - non mass air, non air bag, and dash harness connection is specific to this year
87 to 88 - non mass air (except California cars), non air bag, and dash harness connection is specific to these years
89 - mass air, non air bag, and dash harness connection is specific to this year
90 - mass air, air bag, and dash harness connection is specific to this year
91 to 92.5 - mass air, air bag, dash harness connection is specific to these years (two plugs), and there is one relay under the MAF and one under the driver seat (fuel pump)
92.5 to 93 - mass air, air bag, dash harness connection is specific to these years (one plug), and there are two relays under the MAF (fuel relay moved)
That was a lot of most here could car less about but I have always wondered what the difference is in the V8 injected Birds and Cats. Again, I am pretty sure that the 86-88 V8 are injected and they are all speed density but do these cars also have a dash harness connector(s) just under the brake booster and by the EEC test ports? Were any of the late 85 V8 cars injected?
From what I have seen the 87-88 Sports with the 5.0 are just for the TBirds. I have the complete set of schematics and EVTM for the 87 TBirds. To confuse you they also have the 2.3 and 3.8 TBirds on the schematics. I know I ran into a few color issues when I converted my 87 TC from 2.3 to 5.0. I used the wiring harness out of the 87 Sport and the IST kit to convert it to mass air.
To most it's easier to just bolt on a carb and shiznit can the port fuel injection. I can see doing it on the throttle body cars. Once you understand how the port fuel injection works it's not too bad. Where people seem to have problems is when they use a Mustang harness on a TBird. Or the A9L, A9P computers. I do not know what the difference is Mustang to TBird. The harness I used was for an automatic and used the A9L. It worked fine. Maybe I didn't have problems was because I did the MAF conversion at the same time? Unfortunately, for me, I didn't know this forum existed back in 03-05.
There are a couple of books that I found to be necessary:
Ford Fuel Injection & Electronic Engine Control, 1988-1993, Charles Probst
Mustang 5.0, 1979-1993, Technical Reference & Performance Handbook, Al Kirschenbaum
Right now I'm using a Mustang kit to convert my car from A9L, MAF to a Holley Terminator X.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
Which computer harness from Ron Francis were you looking at? As far as I know he only has the ECU harnesses for turbo coupes not V8 cars. There is an ECU harness specific to the Pimp for V8 cars but I am pretty sure it is stand alone i.e. does not plug back into the dash harness.
They have the fuel injector harness as a stock item. Looked at it back in 2018. I think it was $160. The main harness would be an order item. Just helped a friend install it in a 57, 5.0 TBird. Ordered it with 20ft wire so the computer would go behind the seat. Came with all the plugs at the engine and the computer side wild. Ran the cable from the computer to a terminal block. All the wiring came marked on each wire the full length. It might of been a special order. But they will build any combination you want.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
I could of just ordered a new injector harness and computer harness from Ron Francis but would not solved the tuning issue. Spend $700 on wiring or $1100 for wiring and computer. I have replaced everything else on the car and this would be the last thing to replace. I hope.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
Progress is progress.
Looking forward to seeing the interior pics once you are done setting it up. I thought I saw you posted something up on FB but it disappeared before I could click on the pictures. Pretty sure it was your car.
I did post pictures and a summary of what I was doing but I got a message from the administrator about my comment on practicing brain surgery. I think I said something about practicing on pelosi and schumer first. That was all. Apparently someone was offended so I just deleted the post.
It's coming along slowly. Trying to make sure all the wiring issues are taken care of before I put it back together. I would hate to have to take it apart and troubleshoot. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to reconnect the A/C relay and reroute the fuel pump wiring. I should get the main harness installed today which will dictate how I mount the computer. I have had to take apart the new harness to install loom over exposed wiring at the fuel injectors and make labels to ID the parts.
Any idea on how to post pictures from my computer? When I click on the symbol a box pops up asking for a "url".
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
Started taking the car apart. Got most of the wiring out, just tracing out the extra stuff going over the the starter solenoid. I'm real buttstuff about the wiring routing so using a factory harness has it's disadvantages. Wish they made one that you could make up your own plugs and just left the wire longer. Seems like all of the plugs are ending up by the heater hoses and evaporator. You know how crowded that is.
I think I will be able to install the computer in the bottom slot on the console at the shifter. This is so you can see the troubleshooting lights on it. That will depend on the length of the main sensor cable. I'll just have to make a support for it and a plate to block the bottom of the opening. There really isn't an easy way to do this on these cars. The videos make it look simple. I would like to install the monitor where the clock is so I could leave it hooked up.
There are a few things you need that do not come with the kit. One is the CAN "Y" connector so you can leave the monitor connected and plug in the USB cable. The other is the CAN to USB cable so you can plug in a laptop. You can't use the laptop with out them. Holley has them- $96. The oil pressure sensor and fuel pressure sensors are "optional" but will show on the monitor as "error". Holley has these also- $135ea. I found the same thing on ebay for $65ea. Figure on spending around $1400 for a complete set up.
I would include some pictures but haven't figured out how with this new set up. Used to be pretty easy.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
Found a car for my wife. It's a 2019 Genesis G80, 5.0 Ultimate. It's a "luxury" car that is way beyond my mechanical skills. It has a 420hp 5.0, 8 speed automatic. This car weighs 4700lbs. It's a tank. The dealers here were not interested in finding one here in Las Vegas, wanted me to buy what they had. Found this one in Poway, CA and had it shipped. It was a dealer corporate car with 2300mi on it. Full 100,000mi/10yr warranty on it. She's happy with it. Now I can start on my car.
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Engine Tech / Re: Holley Terminator X
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