It is ALIVE

I have not kept up with this blog as I originally intended, but I have kept up work on the car.
On Sunday, I had my wife crank the car, while I checked the timing. It was WAY off, so far off, that I had to move the distributor one tooth!. That would make up for the really bad way that it ran before!.
What I have done in the last year:
1. Fixed the driver side fuel rail to make space for the valve cover. You can now remove the valve cover without taking out the fuel rail.
2. Finished all the hoses, and connectors. One of my home made connectors was a flop though, and at this point in time, I just bought 2 Female M14 X1.5 to AN-6 adaptors that I found on the web. These 2 go to the original fuel line outlets, and they will save a lot of aggravation in the long run.
3. Replaced the fuel pump... Dumb me left the car with gas, even though it had stabil, it still congealed inside the old one. No way to get it out.
4. Replaced the timing chain. There is a pretty good write up about this on the web. Toughest part was actually getting the dumb cir clips back on the chain... This is cheap insurance when you do not know the history of the car, and it takes about 2 hours to do. I also replaced the timing chain tensioner, took off the air pump, replaced all the fan belts while I had the fan off.
5. Finished wiring the megasquirt relay, and installed the MS-II ECU. Programmed it.
6. Replaced the US spec headlights with Euro specs. Car looks so much cleaner. I also rewired the turn signals to operate with the Euro lights. Need to flesh out a connection at the switch, as it seems that the low beams are always on. Who knows what the PO did to this.
7. Wired the Fuel pump directly to the MS relay board. This way it will be turned off with the engine. I never felt safe with the old wiring (left it intact though) not knowing when to turn off the fuel. That would be a bad thing in a major crash.
8. Timed the engine properly. Specs for a 1976 450 call for 7 degrees advance. My nifty Craftsman timing light can be set with the advance. Also, make sure that you highlight the marker, and the TDC 0 line, so that you can see it.
9. Once the car was running, it was nice and smooth. Was surprised at how easy it was to start.
After jumping up and down a couple of times, I noticed some minor fuel leak at one of my constructed adaptors. I immediately turned the car off (gas, and hot engine=bad). This had not happened while testing the fuel system before, (I would not have tried to start the engine had I seen the leak), so I waited while the engine cooled down, and pressure in the system was lost before taking off the connector. What I found was that the blue aluminum connector had sheared inside the makeshift adaptor. I took both off, and ordered 2 more of the NPT to AN-6 adaptors, and I found the M14 to AN-6 adaptor, that I also bought. With the second type, you will just need that single adaptor, and no NPT adaptor. Much cleaner solution, and will look far better.

New Car, Work done in July, August

I have been a bit remiss on posting new items, but, I have been busy working on the fuel rails drilling the holes, and polishing them, and some other miscellaneous items... Also trying to try the injectors, I pulled one off, and the hat, and spacer fell into the hole... So, not wanting a disastrous valve-piston contact, I took the intake manifold off, and replaced the gaskets... again. That was a minor set back. I also put the fuel rails and the passenger side one, fit perfectly, and you can remove the valve cover without removing the fuel rail... On the driver side due to the accelerator linkage it is rather tight, so this weekend I will take the driver's side fuel rail off, and have it ground down a bit so that there is at least some distance between it and the valve cover.

I also found out that the fuel lines use an M14 x1.5 tap, and will be making some adaptors with 1" square aluminum stock. As the fuel line needs to "stop" against something (otherwise it will never seal) I am planning on using a 2" long piece, on one side Will use the M14 tap (use a 1/2" drill bit) and drill to a 3/4" depth. On the other side I will drill for the 3/8NPT tap, and use a depth of 1"... that leaves me with a 1/4" shoulder that I can drill with a smaller 3/8" (8mm) hole, and this will provide the "seal" for the fuel line.

I still have lots of work cut out for me, and with the summer almost ending I will take some time this weekend to work and at least complete the fuel lines, and pressure test the system. I have the CIS testing equipment that goes all the way up to 100PSI, but with modern injectors you should never exceed 50.

We have also bought a 1987 W124 from an older gentleman's family, and after inspecting it, and taking it for a ride, it was in exceptional shape. here are some pics of the car:

So far we have replaced both headlight surroundings, buffed out the car (the white paint was chalky) and cleaned the interior. I have never seen my wife so excited with a car, and it is on the road, so we have been enjoying it. I have found some minor things that need attention, and have already bought the parts. I have ordered new rotors, pads, pad sensors, and a new heater valve ($95, and not $650 like some other W107 ones... I have the mechanical one, thanks the production year.. :-) ) So, there has been a lot of car work... Just not enough on the SLC!.

Injectors and electrical connectors

I have been working on getting the injectors ready by replacing the seals, the fuel injector baskets, and the fuel injector pintles (little plastic hats in the injector). I also tested them all and made sure that the resistance is about 14-15 ohms. They all tested within +/- .05 ohms... Not bad.
The fuel injector harnesses were built using fuel injector pigtails, and in parallel, and will use the 2 banks that Megasquirt can controll and alternate them. I also tested all the connectors as I do not want any surprises when I try to start it. I have also started the connectors for the clt, the iat, and the negative post of the coil. I will also wire the O2 sensor cable, and wrap it up for future installation after I have installed the shorty mustang headers (future project).
Tomorrow I expect to finish the basic cabling, and will start wrapping it up so that it looks nice and neat. The fuel Injectors are in the car, and I am waiting on the 14mm drill bits to make the final cuts in the fuel rails. Once that is done, I can assemble all the fuel injector components, including the FPR, and tie down the fuel injector harness and the sensor cables so that they are not all over the engine compartment.

Bad Wedding, Fuel Rail and Air slide valve hole cover

I have been busy cutting the fuel rails, and tapping them at the ends for 3/8NPT. So far all 4 are done, and the next step is to actually drill the holes for the injectors. I ordered a 14mm drill bit, and a 3/4 so that I could make all 3 cuts. The plan is to drill the first bit with the 3/8th drill bit all the way to the center, and then use the 14mm (correct size for Fuel Injectors) to make about a 1/2" deep cut where the injector actually sits in, and the 3/4" is to chanfer the angle at the start of the hole, so that the fuel injector seal is not torn open. I also need to hone and polish with my dremel the inside so that it is nice and smooth. Final touch will be to paint it in a nice satin black finish to contrast against the silver intake. Will look neat.
This weekend though was taken up going to a wedding, but I will start with the new cabling on Sunday. It should not take too long, as I have all the parts of where the cables go scoped out, and just need to run the cable, install the relay board in a place that will not get too wet under the hood, and then start the long process of figuring out what goes where. I am also going to run new power cables to the front lights so that I can relay them, and avoid overloading the 30 year old cabling, and switches.
My main concern right now is getting the exact length in between injectors so that they seal perfectly, and do not have fuel leaks, as that generally is a bad thing. I have also backordered 2 m14X1.5 female to AN6 male adaptors that will replace the lines coming in from the fuel pump right behind the booster, so no need to cut the original hoses and clamp them. It think that it is a far neater, and safer solution overall, and safety needs to be first.
The fuel system itself is designed with 300PSI hoses, connectors, and gaskets, even though the fuel pump will only get to 125 max, and is used to running at 75 for the CIS system.
As what creates the pressure on the system is the fuel pressure regulator, and the mustang 19LB injectors run at 37PSI, the fuel pressure regulator will be set at 37 PSI. When designing an FI system, always remember to put the fuel pressure regulator after all the injectors, in the return line, as this way, you will get the correct pressure before it. The way you get pressure in a hydraulic system is through blockage, and that is what a FPR does... It blocks the flow of gasoline UP to the pressure you set it. You really do not care about the pressure after the FPR, and putting multiple FPR's is just a recipe for a very hard to tune car as you have built up the pressure before the injectors. Some racing applications, and nitrous might use 2 or even 3 pressure regulators depending on the different needs, but that is way past what I intend to do with this car... I just want a nice car for a pleasant sunday drive, and if I get passed by a vespa, so be it.

Fuel rails, and old Air Slide Valve cover

When I took my intake manifold apart, one of the things that needed to be replaced, and that prompted me to go the megasquirt route was the air slide valve. If you can get one they are about 200 dollars, not too bad, but you have absolutely no control or coordination with the rest of the injection system. Unfortunately the air slide valve has a prong that extends into the intake manifold, at the coolant passage, and this needed to be dealt with. I could have just left the old air slide there, but it would not look good, and it would be in the way of the new air hoses, and the fuel hose joining the 2 fuel rails, so....
I bought a piece of 6060 aluminum stock, approx 1/2" thick, 3" long, and 1.5" wide, and proceeded to cut it to shape. I could have just left the square piece, but wanted it to resemble something that was not just drilled, so out comes the hacksaw.... If you have ever worked with 6060, this was a long tedious process. It is hard for aluminum, and after about 2 hours, I had a rough diamond shape piece.
I then proceeded to round up the edges, drill the proper holes, and recess them a bit, and now it should make an adequate cover for the hole. For the next car, I will do the same, and use this piece to put in the CLT, as no other mods need to be made on the Intake manifold (I previously had a 3/8NPT thread tapped out in the old thermo time switch position).
I also began the cutting of the aluminum stock for the fuel rails. By this time I was rather tired, so I have just cut one side. I plan on tapping the end of them for 3/8NPT, and using adaptors to AN6 all over.
Will post pictures once I am done.

Weekend Work.

Over the weekend in what little time I had, I managed to put the intake into the car. If the removal was not altogether that difficult, the removal, was pretty much the same. In general terms you want to put in the intake with the front radiator hose first. I replaced the hose, and the hose clamps while I was in there, as I do not want to touch this intake in a long time. The intake gaskets are also fairly straight forward, and are keyed so that they stay in place.

After the intake was in, I put in all the throttle linkage, the transmission vacuum, and the transmission linkage, and sealed the ports that used to be used for the two vacuum switches at the front passenger side of the intake manifold. I still have the port for the mechanical Air injection system to plug, but I am going to use a 1/2" think piece of aluminum there. It should be thick enough to hold the refrigerant pressure.

I took this picture from the driver's side of the car. You can see the repainted throttle linkage parts, the new bolts, and the "reconditioned" CIS housing. I chose to keep the housing, as I want to keep the gigantic air cleaner that goes on top of it. You can also see the hole that the secondary air injection valve used, and how it heats up. Mine was so stuck, that it wouldn't budege, even after repeated soaking in liquid wrench, followed by a freezing/boiling routine.

This picture shows the Air temp sensor on the CIS housing, as well, as the coolant level temperature sensor on the fron right of the intake manifold. The 2 bolts that seal what used to be the vacuum switches at the front left of the intake manifold are m10-1.0 metric bolts. I have a nice piece of aluminum stock that I will shape to fit in the hole left by the air valve at the front of the intake. I also chose to keep the air distributor, and will be using some hoses to connect them to the new Air valve that you can see in the bracket that used to hold the warm up governor. I still have some more work to do in the car after all is said and done, specially with the hydraulic pump, and the brake booster. Those will also be taken out, cleaned, and painted.

This picture is taken from the passenger's side. Here you can see the IAC on the side of the housing, how it does not interfere with the throttle linkage, and yet it will fit under the air cleaner housing. I will take out the now superfluos vacuum switches in the firewall to make room for the fuel pressure regulator. Notice the old safety cutoff cable that used to go to the top of the CIS housing. I am going to take that out, and clean up the cabling a bit. I never liked the solution to the cutoff, as if the car flipped, the linkage would stay open, and the cutoff never kicked in.

Heating Hoses

When I took the intake manifold off of the car, I found that the return hose for the heating system was routed underneath the intake manifold, and as the hoses looked rather ratty, I decided to replace the rubber hoses, and refinish the metal pipe that joins them, and runs the length of the passenger cilinder bank.
The hose against the firewall was routed inside the firewall itself. After taking off the little access cover to the vent system, inside the engine, I found that it was not going to be that easy... It ends up being that I had to remove the vent cover on the passenger side, and what is more, I had to drill out the fastener holding the hose in place, as it was rather rusted. I was going to replace them anyway with new hardware, but it took a bit of time.
After replacing the back hose, I moved over to the front hose. This was fairly easy, as it is only a 4" hose, with two clamps.
In preparation for the intake manifold installation tomorrow, I also cleaned the mating surfaces, and cleaned out the bolt holes. Now all that is left is to assemble the intake tomorrow, with all of its ancillary components.
This would be the first step towards the ultimate goal of replacing the CIS system. The following step is the fabrication of the fuel rails, and all the connections. I have already bought all the parts from Jegs and will start with that part of the project next week. I will post more pics of the Intake Manifold in the car, and all the linkages connected.