Thread: My bird

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theory and reality often come into conflict in electronics.

When connecting thermocouple wires, you must be extremely careful in how you do it, for instance. When you make a connection, you essentially form another transducer in circuit. Now, usually you can get away with it unless your connection happens to be in a hot location. in that case, your temperature readings will go to hell in a short order.

As for causing problems in the wiring harness: when you alter the conductor in any way, you are also changing its resistance and capacitance. Now, normally a circuit is not particularly sensitive to these changes, but if it is, then it is.

The most usually agreed best way to terminate any connection is with solder and shrink wrap. It gives you the best physical and electrical properties.

What I did was put in pin connector plugs, so it would be easier to pull the motor out for maintenance. Also to shorten the wiring harness. I put a new harness in, replacing everything except the injector wires, (if you look at the photo of my motor, I have two fuel rails one is for fuel and the other is for the injector wires. Then both fuel and wiring go into a distribution block at the back of the motor) It still don't run the way I think it should, once it gets up in rpm it's great, it's just the bottom end that really sucks.
Another issue I found is fuel temperature. I guess fuel vaporizes at 130 degrees. My fuel temperature would run 120 to 140 in the fuel lines. All my lines are stainless hard lines. The fuel tank is vertical behind my seat in be ween the the rumble seat. then goes under my seat into a filter then in the pump into another filter sown threw the floor over to the frame rail up the frame rail to the back of the motor into a fuel block. Sounds O.K. right? Guess where mu mufflers are? Under my seat! had to put a small cooler in the fuel line on the side of the frame rails. That took care of the heat problem. Oh yea first I ripped the interior and wiring out to put in that Dyna mat heat insulation. So now it runs and it does get by but it's not perfect. Any other suggestions are welcome ?The wiring is a mess after all that I will clean it up when I figure out what is still going on.
Ken

Dave,
To summarize - If you decide to put fuel i injection on you car, keep your fuel cool, don't mess with the supplied wiring harness.
Or you could use a nice carburetor!
Ken

I've got no problems running carbs, this would be my first conversion of one of my own cars to EFI. Studied some more on the FAST and a couple other systems. Think I'll go with a lesser system on the T-Bird, but the tunability features of the FAST system makes it almost a gotta-have for the Ranchero!!!!

On the 428 in the T-Bird, I'm really leaning towards a multi-port system vs a throttle body, yeah, partially because of the eye candy value of an mpfi. My main issue with the car is going to be driveablity and a trouble free system.... Am I just wasting my money and investing too much in my ego for wanting mpfi instead of a throttle body on a car that will really be nothing more then a kruizer capable of a lot of kruizin' in the 75 to 85 mph range, and maybe an occasional higher speed blast???? The FE's have never been know for fuel milage, either. I'm thinking a good well tuned EFI system should help it out a bit too???? Sure do appreciate all the info and advice!!!!!!

Dave ya need an Algon fuelie setup with some big azz stacks stickin thru the hood. Or a blower... Make the bird fly Dave...

Originally Posted by FFR428

Dave ya need an Algon fuelie setup with some big azz stacks stickin thru the hood. Or a blower... Make the bird fly Dave...

Yup!!! Someday for something, but not on the Bird~~~ Sure would look good on a 64 or 5 Fairlane though, wouldn't it?????

Yep it would!!! BTW I had no idea you had a 66 bird with a 428!!! That is a sweet ride! What other treasures do you have we don't know about???

My bud runs the Mass-Flo system on his 408 Windsor in his Cobra. Had a few tuning issues at first but seems to have them sorted. He's pretty happy with it for the most part.

Originally Posted by FFR428

Yep it would!!! BTW I had no idea you had a 66 bird with a 428!!! That is a sweet ride! What other treasures do you have we don't know about???

Yup, even has the "Q" in the VIN!!!! I've got other toys, just drag them out when it's there turn for a tune-up!

Nice!! Has the engine been out? If so...or the next time it is....see if there is a sandscratch "S" on the back of the block. I'll clue you in on a nice surprise if there is. Hint....subtract 1 from the 428.

Originally Posted by FFR428

Nice!! Has the engine been out? If so...or the next time it is....see if there is a sandscratch "S" on the back of the block. I'll clue you in on a nice surprise if there is. Hint....subtract 1 from the 428.

It's never even so much as had a valve cover off of it.... The car has no A/C, manual windows and locks, power steering and brakes.... Somebody ordered themselves a hi-speed cruizer back in '66!!!!!

Hopefully can get at it sometime next month. I (hopefully) am set up for an entire winter with nothing in the shop except my stuff!!!! Gonna be fun!

Dave there is a classified ad on the FordFE.com site titled "FE PARTS" on pg 1. Guy is selling a Mass-Flow system for the FE. He's asking $3k. Just a heads up if yer lookin. I know nothing about him or his parts.

Thnaks G. gotta go check that out!!!

If the firing order is the same, get a CFI ( Central Fuel Injection ) off of a 460 Ford. mid 80's. could use harness/ all of it on your 428 and it would run good. The CFI uses ither a 2bbl flange or a 4bbl flange in some cases. anyway, it's a standard 2bbl holley flange. Just thought about this when someone on the ford six site mentioned using the parts off a 3.0 taurus on a 200, for quick fuel injection.

Originally Posted by Matt167

If the firing order is the same, get a CFI ( Central Fuel Injection ) off of a 460 Ford. mid 80's. could use harness/ all of it on your 428 and it would run good. The CFI uses ither a 2bbl flange or a 4bbl flange in some cases. anyway, it's a standard 2bbl holley flange. Just thought about this when someone on the ford six site mentioned using the parts off a 3.0 taurus on a 200, for quick fuel injection.

That's what I would like to do, Matt!!!! Thanks for the heads up. As I've said, the T-Bird is just going to be a cruiser, not a racer. All I'm after is good smooth performance and hopefully a bit of improvement in fuel mileage.. A system off a 460 could well be a good place to start, should flow enough CFM to make the 428 work..... Guess the place to start would be to just find a wreck, pull the harness and hardware, then go to work with schematic in hand????? Also considering an AOD to replace the old Fordamatic..... I believe they work off the electronics, too???

Sure do appreciate all the help, guys!!!!

the AOD would be way better than the 2spd Fordomatic. the earlier AOD's worked off less electronics, but I'm not shure on what's diffrent, or changeover years. the earlier one's you can run them indipendent w/o a computer I know but I think later 1's need a controller, or a factory harness.

The 460 distributor won't fit the 428, but any Magnetic pickup distributor made for the 428 will work w/ the 460 computer to provide the cam position signal. I don't know when Ford stopped making the 390, but if it was after 1975, there's a factory Duraspark I or Duraspark II distributor that will work. of course you will have to mod and lock timing static, but that's as simple as screws thru the weight arms, and adding a check valve to the vac advance and retard until total timing is 0* cause the computer advances