[rooster210]

Got the brake booster installed. Still have to hook the lines up but its in.

Then ended up here because the pad was full of water on the firewall

The pad was pretty nasty on the backside. Not sure its supposed to look this way.

 

[mmc757]

How hard is the brake booster job? I've often wondered.

 

[rooster210]

With a 3.0 its not hard at all. 4 nuts that hold it to the fire wall. Plastic retainer holding the brake pedal to the rod going through. 4 brake lines, clutch line, vacuum line. And pull the throttle body off and it slides right out.

 

[rooster210]

New fuse panel is 99% wired in for engine workings.

Last battery cable needed to hook the starter up complete

And the ignition switch is wired in. Powers the fuse panel as it should, and turns the engine over when you turn it. I still have a handfull of sensors to wire in but its getting close.

 

[rooster210]

Been awhile. Got ALOT wired. Still more to go but getting there

 

[rooster210]

Replaced the busted bolts for my back bumper with these guys.

And have a rear bumper that actually has all its bolts now.

 

[Joeyisamadman]

what the heck are those? since the back end of that mounting flange isn't accessible, it looks like a really good option.

 

[rooster210]

Rivnuts.

 

[rooster210]

So been awhile again.
Still going on this. Most of the sensors are wired in. I still need to wire in the alternator and the fuel pressure sensor and a couple more sensors I don't need for it to run.
The fuel system is giving me issues though. My 1 and 3 cylinder injectors are dead. I'm also wiring the car to run on flex fuel so I can run E85 with the computer being able to read any blend of ethanol and adjust accordingly.
Since stock 3.0 injectors are 24 lb. Hr. At 200 hp e85 would require a 25 lb.-Ish injector. Not super upset the injectors were bad.
On that note, I have a set of 50 lb. Injectors coming highly overkill at the moment but I'm not planning on stopping at 200 hp.
The other issue is I'm not sure if the fuel pressure regulator, filter, and pump are compatible with E85 but I know the CPE rubber lines aren't. So the lines for sure are getting replaced and the rest I'll address as it comes up.

 

[rooster210]

Had a little time on this. Working as a mechanic just kind of kills me wanting to work on my own car. So I addressed the fuel pickup issue I was having.

 

[jaged]

interesting. what type of external pump? did you put a sock on it? im getting ready to pull my fuel pump out, but i dont think i need to go that far

 

[rooster210]

One of the external walbro 255 whatsits per hour. Think its liters. Not sure. I've had it a few years. It was in one of the cars I got in my ventures to south carolina. It's only staying in until I swap out fuel lines after halloween.
Tid bit of info. If you swap to something without a pump in the tank like Im doing, the return tank is different then the returnless tank. The return tank has a big plastic bowl to hold fuel in while cornering and such. Where as the returnless I believe is all open. The housing bottom on the fuel pump for the returnless system acts as the bowl. Thats the purpose of the big plastic shroud on the returnless assembly Im guessing.

 

[jaged]

and the art teacher in me cringes at where you cut that circle from, so much wasted material.

 

[rooster210]

Jeeez talk about nit picky!!!
It was kinda a rush job
I actually didnt even know if it would work when I started but that was way funner then cutting a plate out to replace it which would probably be the proper way to do it.

Would it make you feel better if I use the strip between where I cut and the edge for mounting brackets or something?

 

[jaged]

it would lol. ive had too many kids cut a 4" circle out of the center of a piece of paper and then want to throw it away. also it comes from many years of trying to squeeze the most out of a piece of metal for RSTB mounting plates

 

[rooster210]

Oh with 4 school aged kids running around I know all about that. I'll find something to use the rest for if it makes you feel better. That was actually the only purpose for buying that whole piece. I needed metal and tractor supply didnt have anything smaller that wasnt extruded aluminum.

 

[rooster210]

10:30 a.m. first fire on the MaxxECU.
I've been fighting with this thing for months and FINALLY figured out where I was wrong.

Basically it was out of time as they say in the olden days.

I disabled EVERYTHING that could effect it. All the safetys and ECU self adjusting things pretty much enabling the blow or go setting. Put it into waste spark mode so that the cam sensor wasnt a factor.
It turns out the crank sensor setting was off. In the ecm software you have to set how many degrees BTDC the missing tooth on the reluctor wheel is in relation to the sensor itself. The program was reading it to be at 90°BTDC where as on a 3.0 duratec the missing tooth is closer to 70°BTDC. The 20°difference was enough that the sensor wasn't even registering on an osciliscope.

Crazy how much 1 wrong number can make in a program.

We are started and it idled now. Now I can move on to other things like hooking up and alternator and fine tuning the settings to make it run right. However, with all the excess fuel its burning I should be mosquito free.

 

[rooster210]

New belt installed and working on getting the ECU to control the alternator.

Gotta find the power steering reservoir first though.

 

[rooster210]

So I couldnt help but get a short clip of this thing idling to play on repeat as I drive to work and back in the civic. Nothing big just idle but after 7 years of absolutely no fire I just had to share it with the world lol.

 

[rooster210]

And the parts start to trickle in. Filter and regulator showed up today.