Indy-Barely Functional-Guy said:
Andrew, good to see this project moving forward again. Thanks for the updates. I was wondering what happened at the challenge. Now I know. I'll be following along.
Yeah.... Most of the race day was spent wrenching off to the side, so I think a lot of people had no idea what was happening. I'm fine with that too though as it left us room to work.
The basic gist of the running issue is, it builds boost, and then just looses power, the power cuts out. At one point I popped the dipstick, apparently due to high crankcase pressure. That was a mini heart attack because it sent oil spewing and I though it was much worse. Then I started spewing coolant on my single drag run. (22 second 1/4 mile! Woo!) Apparently the coolant spewing from the tank cap is because the engine hold so much coolant that it needs more room to expand than my 1qt tank. A larger coolant tank is also on the to-do list.
Small update: Got a ratcheting crimper in preparation of all the wiring to come. This thing is nice!
In reply to AWSX1686 :
"British Wiring Delete"... love it.
Engine harness is completely out!
The only wires left in the car are the main battery and fuel pump wires.
Moved it over to the "main" side of the garage last night as well. This will also allow me to add lighting to the other side to match this side and be usable for other vehicles.
Only wires left in the dash are for the stock turn signal and high beam switches.
Next steps are to plan out the dash and begin rewiring.
I forgot to take a picture of what gauges I have, but I remember pretty well.
- AutoMeter Boost (x2)
- AutoMeter Tach
- AutoMeter AFR
- AutoMeter Oil Pressure
- eBay Tach
- eBay Boost
- eBay AFR
- eBay Battery Gauge
- eBay Oil Temp
- eBay Oil Pressure
Notably I don't have an engine/coolant temp gauge, but the ECU will have a reading so now I am trying to decide/plan on how I want to get the ECU data while in the car. I should be able to put a Bluetooth adapter on the serial cable to the ECU and connect a tablet with the ShadowDash app and have lots of info. I would prefer a hard wire connection though. I also thought about putting a mini laptop, 2-in-1 tablet laptop, or a mini PC and a monitor so I could definitely have a hardwire connection, and also be able to make adjustments on the fly.
Open to ideas!
ShadowDash running on a MS3 setup: (Edit: Not my setup!)
Definitely was necessary if you are looking to run on the street and as a race car. The wiring on this car is quite simple, so beyond what is necessary for the Ford EFI, you just need to make a very basic Spitfire wiring harness. All you need from the Ford EFI is listed on these sites. I seem to recall that only about a dozen wires are needed for the ignition and fuel injection connections and then just battery, fuel pump and ignition hot.
http://www.blindchickenracing.com/how_to/t-bird_install/t-birdwiring.jpg
http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/pdf_documents/88Thunderbird-turbowiring.pdf
dherr said:
Definitely was necessary if you are looking to run on the street and as a race car. The wiring on this car is quite simple, so beyond what is necessary for the Ford EFI, you just need to make a very basic Spitfire wiring harness. All you need from the Ford EFI is listed on these sites. I seem to recall that only about a dozen wires are needed for the ignition and fuel injection connections and then just battery, fuel pump and ignition hot.
http://www.blindchickenracing.com/how_to/t-bird_install/t-birdwiring.jpg
http://therangerstation.com/tech_library/pdf_documents/88Thunderbird-turbowiring.pdf
Thanks!
I'm getting a few things together currently, but my next step is to power up the PiMP ECU on the test bench and make sure it seems to be working. Then I will probably follow Stinger's site as to what it needs for wiring. They are pretty detailed, and I should be able to cut the engine harness down even a little bit further. Overall, the wiring really isn't too complicated to wire up.
Eventually (likely after the $2018 Challenge) I'll add in lighting circuits for headlights, turn signals, etc. for street legality, but that is all pretty simple as well.
Just found this site... I may very well have to look into the possibility of doing this for my dash. Looks like GPS integration will even allow for a speedometer!
Will probably be waiting till after the challenge for a full Pi dash or other digital dash install though...
Would a TR7 radiator have enough cooling for you? I have 3 sitting in the garage attic. Pretty sure they're smaller.
Greg Smith said:
Would a TR7 radiator have enough cooling for you? I have 3 sitting in the garage attic. Pretty sure they're smaller.
Not sure... Probably worth a shot.
Been cleaning up wiring, I got a good bit done last night.
So much old electrical tape...... (Disposable gloves highly recommended because of the residue of old electrical tape.)
The engine harness is almost done with it's diet and cleanup. I was able to remove A LOT of unnecessary wires. Some due to the standalone, some just because they were unnecessary.
Semi-current picture of the thinned engine harness. I did get a bit farther before stopping last night. I think I have removed almost everything I can remove, so next will be double checking the remaining wires to make sure they are correct.
Items removed from the engine harness: (Gently de-pinned from the main connector just in case I need to put them back, and every pin Labeled as to where it came from.)
This kit was pretty handy for de-pinning the ECU connector. In my case I just had to use one of the tiniest single pins to gently pry the clip in the ECU connector and release the pin and wire. A little tricky at first, but once I saw how I needed to work it and did it a few times it was pretty easy.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075KLM6R9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Another *fun* discovery from cleaning up the engine harness. It appears that the AFR gauge that was previously installed was wired into the VAM, not the O2 sensor... That would probably explain why I never saw it read anything but full rich...
I do have a wideband sensor and gauge from the parts car, so that will be nice to have a real wideband.
Immediate next steps:
1. Finished cleaning up and verifying the engine harness.
2. Finish wiring the Fuse panel, cockpit kill switch, and any other switches.
3. Plug in harness and test with engine and standalone ECU to make sure everything is working.
4. Secure and protect harness with cable wrap or other.
5. Compression test engine and see if I am keeping this one or putting the spare in.
Discovering more and more how much of a jackpot the parts car was....
83lb/hr injectors: (Compared to the stock "brown-top" 35lb injectors, lots of power potential.)
Billet Fuel Pressure Regulator:
The coolant bottle (expansion tank) needs to be the highest point in the cooling system.
Mount it up by the starter relay but it will need a heat shield....
you really got a great deal on the parts car!
I'm following along. I don't know how you guys have the patience to do all the tedious wires/pruning on the engine harnesses. It's all black magic and misery from my vantage point.
Cool project, thanks for sharing!
Indy-Barely Functional-Guy said:
I'm following along. I don't know how you guys have the patience to do all the tedious wires/pruning on the engine harnesses. It's all black magic and misery from my vantage point.
It's a little overwhelming at first, but worth it in the end to know exactly where every wire goes, and also to know for sure that everything is hooked up properly.
It's kinda funny actually, I'm knee deep in the wiring for this and I don't mind at all, but I'm 95% sure the issue my miata is having is in the wiring, so I took it to the shop so they can deal with it. To be fair, this is a LOT less wires, and super open access.
Having just cut down a Miata wiring harness for my new Spitfire project, I can confidently assure you that it is a lot less wires. I am glad you are doing it right, the result will be worth it. I think a lot of people will be shocked at how that car performs once you sort it out!
