Checked for erratic timing. All good, SPOUT in or out, idle and revs. This should rule out the PIP.
I did find that the PIP and TFI both interchange between this 5.0 and my stash of Lima and 3.8L spares.
Swapped the ECT. No change.
Swapped the IAT. No change.
Swapped the TFI. No change.
I think that's about it for quick&dirty diagnostic stuff. I will need to pull the distributor and disassemble to change the PIP. Gotta drop the tank if I am gonna chase possible pump issues.
Vacuum leak?
wvumtnbkr said:Vacuum leak?
It does feel like I am overlooking something obvious, and I did spray some brake clean around early on, but I haven't gone hard on inspecting the miles of brittle vac line yet.
I also haven't fully inspected the wiring harness for rodent evidence or corroded grounds either.
Both of these would be facilitated by removing the upper intake, which needs done anyhow to change the leaky valve cover gaskets....
It would be prudent to drop the tank before I go deeper under the hood. The pump is noisy. Has been the whole time I have owned the car. Take care of blatant issues first, right?
But why am I considering a complete top end and cam change?
gumby said:But why am I considering a complete top end and cam change?
Because, well, obviously needed!
Have you considered the possibility that this car just doesn't like you?
In reply to bobzilla :
If thats the case, I'll take care of it for him
In reply to Mr_Asa :
I only say it because I've owned cars that just didn't like me and did everything they could to get away from me.
After 2.5yrs together and all I have done for this car, if it doesn't think I will buy the newest CVPI I can find and use it to replace everything that isn't sheetmetal or glass with parts 20yrs younger....better think again.
bobzilla said:In reply to Mr_Asa :
I only say it because I've owned cars that just didn't like me and did everything they could to get away from me.
Oh I know. That El Camino is still pining for my uncle
gumby said:wvumtnbkr said:Vacuum leak?
But why am I considering a complete top end and cam change?
Because you're one of us.
gumby said:If after 2.5yrs and all I have done so far, this car doesn't think I will buy the newest CVPI I can find and use it to replace everything that isn't sheetmetal or glass with parts 20yrs younger....better think again.
I like that idea! Especially as it seems I won't be doing that this Crown Vic around. Until I find a square body wagon to do it with mine current chassis... Oh wait. 
Played with the reference line on the fuel pressure regulator just to see what happens. Thought was with surging happening in high vacuum conditions, running on base FP might show a change. Pulled and capped the line. No change.
Found a vac leak! This emissions switch was hissing any time the electrical connector was plugged in.
Unplugged, test drive, no change....
I don't believe the fuel pump is the cause of my surging issue, but it is loud and the filler neck grommet leaks, so maybe I get lucky by replacing it.
Dropped the tank, retrofit a Delphi pump from some random Mustang GT in place of the who-knows-what noisy POS, and popped a new grommet in the filler hole.
Then, squirrel! "dang, with the tank out there is absolutely nothing in the way of the differential cover..."
Time for that trac-lok unit on the bench to do work again. Oh, yeah and those 3.27's there too...
I probably screwed the pooch in my diagnostic process by changing engine load at cruising speeds, but I couldn't NOT do it! Initial test drive says, yes, surge is still there but it is less noticeable(?).
TL;DR I started making E36 M3 up, and trying random things. I think it's fixed! Pic of the suspect at the end.
I spent some more time nibbling at possible causes. Experimenting just to see if I could effect any change on the surging. Pulled the plenum, inspected the harness and the vacuum runs. Replaced the valve cover gaskets while I was there. Took a test drive with no power assist on the brakes. Unplugged random sensors, turning the MIL on and off. Nothing was doing anything relative to problem at hand.
On the verge of an engine swap, my pride was wounded. I gathered up a stock HO cam to go with the Explorer intakes on the shelf, and nearly began breaking apart the gt40/F-cam engine to tame it down. The extra ~70hp would be nice, but I shouldn't need to swap engines to fix a drivability concern; and what if it didn't fix the issue....then I'd really feel dumb.
I circled back for one last diagnostic pass. Digging thru my stashes of leftovers for (8) 14lb injectors, I came up short. There weren't any SO pcm's on eBay and I don't have a spare for testing. I do have a speed density HO pcm from a Mustang which I planned to use with the HO swap engine, and the correct 19lb injectors. I decided to toss these parts at the wagon in a last ditch effort to prevent a stint in project car jail. The injector sequence is different because the SO and HO engines have different ignition firing orders, but I figured wrong sequence injection can't be much worse than batch-fire, right?
Pulled the plenum again, swapped in the 19lb injectors, and switched out the SO pcm for the HO unit. The engine started, so basically it's a Mustang now. I drove it around a fair bit and there is no surging in 5th gear whatsoever. Gonna put more miles on it this week, and hope I finally found it!
Even though I can't swear to it being either the injectors or the pcm, because they had to be changed together in a matched configuration, I do have this picture of my lead suspect
One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just don't belong...
Heck yeah! Four Door wagon Mustang. Oh wait, you made the original Mach-E (sans E of course)
No way! Good find.
Nice! We need a win like this every now and then to keep us gonig ;)
gumby said:...the wagon ate its throw out bearing.
...While it was apart, I went ahead and tossed in a v8 box with a better overdrive ratio. 3.35/0.68 vs 3.35/0.72, ya know, sincuwas
Turns out this was not the correct decision.
The clutch started slipping a couple weeks ago. I made a slave cylinder adjustment, but the slip wasn't fixed. Poked a light inside the bellhousing and everything was wet.
Order up a clutch, pull the trans, again.
Yep, that'll do it.
Currently going back together with a HD 11" Mustang part replacing the little 10" F100 unit.
Also, while swapping gears earlier, I noticed the rear brake shoes are getting thin. I'm gonna replace those while the car is on the lift.
Then, I should be good to go collect another car from Mofo in a few weeks
No pics/didn't read: maintenance tasks
Suffered a clutch actuation failure on the way home with FreeBird. Symptoms of a blown master. Capped pressure line, at Wilwood's request, to isolate said master. Pedal became a rock...not the master
Pull slave and discover sticky piston, but no external leaks. Found a reservoir full of black fluid during diagnosis. Flush everything, free up slave piston, reassemble and bleed system. Been working fine again.
Leading theory is some ATF soaked clutch lining material made its way past the modified dust boot and into the slave bore, causing stiction and dirty fluid, which lead the system to lose prime. The same black slime I found in the bellhousing was also found on the external surface of the slave and push rod.
A couple weeks back the heat started to smell like coolant. No leaks found, and no steam on the windshield, but it was undeniable in so far as I could move the temp selector to cold and the smell would go away.
Just imagine pulling the dash 3/4 of the way out and wrestling the heater box off the firewall and back. Because that's what happened to replace the heater core.
Done, and now have non-stinky, actually hot, heat. Yay me!
We did a heater core in my 79 LTD panther during the first engine swap. No fun.
It declared itself on Christmas eve while I was driving from Pompano to St Petersburg, with a stop in West Palm Beach to surf. I had to drive with the AC on to keep the windshield clear. We still had wet hair, and there was snow flakes blowing around the whole time.
Outside handle on the tail gate stopped working. What good is a wagon when you can't open the back??
With the panel removed, I could see the linkage had simply fallen off. Easy peasy. While I was in there, I tackled a bit of deferred maintenance and lubed the window regulator.
As is customary, fixing something reveals the next issue to be addressed. I had my roll down window back, but I was getting a lot of fumes inside while driving with it open. Let's switch up the exhaust exit location and see what happens
Previously I had tucked the tail pipe up nice and high with a turn down at the rear bumper. Now it is poked out the side behind the driver's tire and no more CO poisoning while driving with the rear window open!
Last week I finally had enough of the squishy old trans mount flopping around. Replaced with new rubber, and 90% of my concern has been addressed. The other 10% is likely in the engine mounts of the same vintage. This of course leads to a conundrum:
If I need to lift the engine, is it time for more hrsprs? And if so, carb'd F-cam or HO Mustang cam with Explorer EFI intakes?
Sweet! Looking forward to what you decide.
Let's begin, shall we?
15/16's new lifters. The pushrod on the old lifter is tweaked. Maybe the new lifter in that location gave up, or the valve stuck once, who knows? I was a little surprised to find the OE timing set after seeing the new lifters and pushrods up top.
With 3/8" slop in the chain I decided it was time to replace. Snagged a new Cloyes set with three keyway options in the crank gear, a couple new pushrods, and argued with myself all the way home whether to advance the cam or not. Slid the HO cam in, set the timing chain straight up, and found 1/4" slack in the new parts....pulled it back off and reinstalled it on the advanced keyway. At least I'm not giving up any degrees to the slop.
The cam I removed turned out to be an E303, not F303. I'll decide what to do with it later.
When I left off, the stock cam was in with a new timing set. I then began re-setting up the valvetrain, and that's where things jumped the rails. Inspecting lifters more closely as I dropped them in the bores I found the cup sitting low in the one oddball. Disassembly revealed it was collapsed internally so I grabbed a replacement. Next I fought with getting the rockers adjusted. This shouldn't be a difficult task, but when you suddenly realize you are using the wrong firing order things become very clear! I was following the HO firing order, but as it turned out, the stock cam I had on the shelf was a non-HO cam.....I texted my friend who supplied it to me and he dug up another stock cam, confirmed it was a mn12 HO cam, and stuck it in the mail.
While I was waiting for the mn12 HO cam to land, I gathered a few more parts and pieces to hopefully prevent more delay.
And tapped the IAT boss for a sensor
Thinking thru different hang-ups I might encounter with parts bin interchanging such as this, I realized with my throttle body pointing left that I would not be able to utilize the plethora of Mustang aftermarket to eliminate the Explorer inlet elbow. My throttle cable attachment is completely different, and on the opposite side of the EGR spacer. My stock EGR spacer is sized for a 50mm throttle body, and the Explorer part is 65mm. A quick dig thru 65mm EGR spacer options turned up a bunch of potential fabrication projects, and the first gen Ford Lightning.
With high hopes, I sent money to an eBay seller peddling not one, but TWO Lightning 65mm EGR spacers which appeared in pics to have the correct throttle cable mounting bosses. What arrived was quite promising
Vic throttle cable bracket on Lightning EGR spacer. Taa-daa!!
Once the cam arrived, I did that whole swap a second time and dropped the intake on.
From there, nothing left but to do the thing
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