88 5.0 Mustang (mostly stock) writeup

Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Merkur, etc.
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DJ19885.0
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Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:21 pm

88 5.0 Mustang (mostly stock) writeup

Post by DJ19885.0 »

Here is a writeup I did on another forum site, hope this is helpful to someone. The info is basic because I was explaining to people that have never heard of MS before. It should be of some use though:

For doing this to a mostly stock 5.0, this is what is reqired:

-Unassembeled Megasquirt 1 or 2 (2 allows for a wider variety of control, so I went with MS2) : $250
-EEC-IV adapter board (Not required but it makes using your stock wiring harness easy and clean. With this, you can just unplug the MS and plug your factory computer back in no prob): $67
-Relay cable to go between the MS and the adapter board : Free because I just happened to have wire and db-37 connectors from work =)
-DB-9 to USB adapter (Necessary if your laptop does not have a db9 port) : $20
-25 watt soldering iron (not too much hotter or you can damage components): $12
-Resin core solder: Free bacause I already own some
-Simulator board to test your megasquirt: $50 (I am borrowing one from a friend, so free again for me =) )
-Ford EEC-IV computer to harvest the connector and case from (the adapter board bolts right inside a stock Ford computer case) : $30

Total cost for me : $390 AFTER shipping.
You would need to either buy a relay cable for $70 or make one for about $20. You would also need the simulator, another $50.
That all totals to $510 if you decide to buy the relay cable and adapter board, and dont get anything for free lol.

Ok Here are pictures starting from out of the box to current. Currently, I have about 1/3 of the MS2 board soldered and communicating with my laptop. You can see the "relay cable" beign built that will connect the MS2 board to the adapter board.
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My dad let me borrow a soldering station from his work because the $10 pencil iron was taking forever and not very precise:
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Here, the MS2 is connected to a stimulator board and my laptop to test communication with the laptop and daughterboard:
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And current progress:
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Ok so here is what a stock fox mustang eec-iv looks like on the inside. I bought this one off ebay for $25 shipped. You need the connector and case for the adapter board. Un-soldering that 60 pin connector is a nightmare though...
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Here are a few shots of the Megasquirt complete and being tested with the stimulator board (worked the first time without burning anything up thank God!):
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Here is a pew pics of the complete adapter board and relay cable that I made up. The relay cable was a huge pain to solder, believe it or not, it was more of a pain than soldering both boards, lol. The adapter board looks sort of blank because it has several spaces to put "mods" to control relays that can power pans, shift lights, nitrous, whatever you want. All I have on it is the correct jumpers, an idle control mod (required to use stock idle control), and one relay for an extra mod (just in case).
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And FINALLY, here is a pic of it COMPLETE in the 'stang! YES!!!!! The adapter board is neatly tucked away in the kick panel to the right where the old computer used to be:
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As for tuning goes, after I got all the configurations set based on the car, engine, sensors, and what not, it was time to turn the key. It burped the first time which was a good sign that fuel and ignition were working and nothing fried, lol. The car wouldn't start with less than 20 percent throttle and I had to be on the throttle to keep it running at first, but I was very pleased that I had the car running just minutes after setting up the programming. First, I messed with the VE table by giving it more fuel. Then I figured out that the Idle control curve was WAY off, so I fixed that. After 20 minuted of tinkering, I had it idling on its own. I then set the trigger offset with a timing light so the computer knew exactly where it was at. It was far from a good Idle tune, but I was making progress. After more tinkering, I took it around the neighborhood with a friend and started data loging the drive. I got the idle a little better, and then called it a night. The next day I did more reading and messed with cranking pulse width and afterstart enrichment. It still didnt like starting cold at all, but it was getting better. Then I reviewed the datalogs and did more reading (your going to have to do a LOT of reading if you do this haha). I set the number of injections per cycle from 2 to 4 and WOW, did it run a hell of a lot smoother! After more tweaking, I had it idling just like it did stock! I messed with afterstart enrich and cranking pulse width again and did another cold start today, and it fired right up!! I am VERY happy with how this is going so far! This is by far the best investment in the engine I have done so far, mostly because it is forcing me to learn exactly the engine is controlled. I am learning a hell of a lot, and now I have one hell of a flexible computer that allows me to do a wide variety of mods to the engine for cheap!

I got the gas tune almost perfect, then installed a junkyard explorer intake, electric junkyard taurus fan, 70mm TB, 42 lb injectors and 225lph fuel pump. This of course took some adjustment to the tune, but after 20 mins, I was all set. Then, for the hell of it, I filled it up with e-85 and gave it a few more degrees of timing and messed with tuning with e-85 for a while. Once I got that tune down, I probably gained about 15 hp, but loss some mpg's due to having to run more fuel to compensate for the ethanol. (It actually works out cheaper per mile to run e-85 than 87 gas and its 105 octane, so its a win-win situation! Mostly due to the fact that the gas station around here sells it for 2.19 a gallon!) I edned up also purchasing a wideband o2 sensor, so I get accurate feedback to tune from, resulting in slightly better mpgs and a couple more hp =). I plan on installing gt40-p heads, a comp cams Xtreme Energy cam, new rings, seals, and what not in the next few weeks
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militaryman5678
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 6:53 pm

Re: 88 5.0 Mustang (mostly stock) writeup

Post by militaryman5678 »

how did u wire ur injectors since the megasquirt does not have 8 injector signal wires
radonsolutions
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Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:32 pm
Location: Akron Ohio

Re: 88 5.0 Mustang (mostly stock) writeup

Post by radonsolutions »

Very very very nice job DJ :D

Thanks for taking time to share with us.
DJ19885.0
MegaSquirt Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 2:21 pm

Re: 88 5.0 Mustang (mostly stock) writeup

Post by DJ19885.0 »

militaryman5678 wrote:how did u wire ur injectors since the megasquirt does not have 8 injector signal wires
The 8 injector wires are tied into two banks (4 injectors fire at a time) in the adapter board via the gray jumper wires.
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