Operation EFI: It Lives!

It lives! After many months of hit or miss issues Operation EFI finally sputters to life. After many trials and tribulations regarding fitment of parts and painstaking hours bending lines and making hoses, the fuel system is complete and all basic functionality is in place, making it almost ready for tuning.

After the last installation of the alternator, I realized the stock wiring was insufficient to handle the new electrical load, so I installed a power post to feed the starter and accessories off of. There was not enough room on the solenoid to install all the wires necessary, so a quick patch cable and hole saw later, and everything was unified.

I buttoned up the fuel system a couple days ago, but ran into snags before it would work. The cheap eBay fuel rails that came with my intake were a strange size, and none of the o-ring AN fittings I bought (all 10 of them) would fit properly. after fighting with it and then fighting leaks, I decided to just ditch it in favor of some higher quality Edelbrock rails with NPT fittings. I don't like o-rings as a general rule, since the quality of the seal is dependent on the integrity of the material. AN fittings, flares, NPT, etc, have a metal seal I am much more comfortable with in the long term in a high temp and vibration environment. 

Overall it turned out pretty clean. The linkage for the stock throttle ended up working with the new Edelbrock fuel rails that were slightly shorter. Once the system was together I did a pressure test and had zero leaks. I bumped the fuel pressure up to 50psi where the injectors are rated at, spent a little while playing with the distributor alignment (I was 45 degrees off when I first started) and it finally coughed to life after 2 years of sitting idle. 

I topped up the antifreeze I had drained to replace the intake, and then discovered I hadn't tightened a coolant plug on the rear of the intake. A quart of so of coolant later, I had it sealed up tight and warmed it up. Other than the clouds of smoke from the two years of dust and the antifreeze all over the pipe, it warmed up without incident. 

I'm using a tune that Brian Lewis from PE (exemplary customer service) sent, from their Mustang shop mule, and it is way far off from what I need to idle and drive. I had to mess around with it a lot to get it to idle at all, and without the WBO2 hooked up yet it was hard to make effective changes. Also, my IAC valve was not actuating properly, so I will have to look into the wiring. Overall, if that's the only thing that isn't wired right I am tremendously happy, out of the 100 or so wire connections I made. 

Things to do include routing, wrapping, and completing the wiring harness (called pretty-fying,) finishing up the cabin wiring for the WBO2 and gauges, replacing the transmission pan gasket that drips even when empty, reinstalling the e-brake cables, resealing my mingent differential, installing the speedometer gear and tach wire, and cleaning/polishing the engine bay. 

Once that's taken care of I have a bit of suspension work in the works, including roller spring perches and a  thicker front anti-roll bar. At that point it will be officially road worthy again until I pull it apart to put a T-5 in it. 

Tuning is the next immediate step, and once I get it purring at idle it will be time to hit the road!