[Donovan]

Do you think your problems would still be there had you used the EPM instead of the ford parts? How helpful have the guys at AEM been?

As soon as I can get someone to sell or give me a start up tune I will be starting mine this weekend. Then on to the finishing details for me too.

AEM have been good. I just think generally the hall type sensors like the AEM are more accurate and are less prone to interference. The ford (hall effect) cam sensor I have works great....I still have some things to run through before I give up on quick starts. First will be a motorcraft crank sensor and a double check of the shielding ground. Then onto cooler things like the boost control solenoid.

 

[Donovan]

Update

So I have been working some bugs out of the system on my car. I had the harness out again and installed a MAC Solenoid for boost control which is complely plumbed in. I also fixed an oil leak on the driver side valve cover and installed the wheel well liners.

Interestingly enough while I was in there I replaced the charcoal canister and the old one was completely saturated. Finally I found the source of smell in my garage! The weight difference between the old one and the new one was substantial. A few lbs at least.

I have been having some grinding with high load under 2000RPM conditions on the tranny so i decided to change the tranny fluid to mobil 1 atf which meets dex 3 specs. Unfortuantely when i was filling it the hose nipple dropped into the tranny so i knew it was coming out. After some bitching I realized that my clutch cable was such a disaster that it would be a great time to switch to the McLeod setup. Here are some pics of what went down:

Here is how i got the nipple out...Not fun, but only about 10-15 minutes once the tranny was out. No way I was rolling around with plastic in there.

Here is the crappy piece that cannot stay in the tube:

Here was my burnt up and separated clutch cable:

Here is the McLeod hydralic setup.

Unfortunately to get the ~2.1 clearance required to put .100 from the TOB to the clutch fingers I had to machine the T56 case a bit. This was specific to my T56 Magnum, Quicktime Bellhousing and RXT McLeod clutch on a stock thickness flywheel. I called their tech line and they had not seen this setup before but mentioned that a spacer would be another option.

Here you can see two of three of the areas that i machined to get the back clearance required.

In the end it was not a lot of material that i needed to remove.

The clearance was tight up top but it fit without mods.

When i get it bled properly (Which I have not figured out how to do) I will encase these lines in some rubber hose and zip tie them up.

All in all I cannot wait to get it running. I am looking forward to a clutch that is consistent. I am going to hopefully get to tuning in the next few weeks and then she will be off to the body shop for a bit of a respray to clean up a few problems.

 

[kbscobravert]

Get it on the road. I would be interested in hearing how you like the clutch. If I can not find something that is going to hold for me and not drive me crazy in traffic, I am gonna go with an automatic.

 

[Donovan]

Get it on the road. I would be interested in hearing how you like the clutch. If I can not find something that is going to hold for me and not drive me crazy in traffic, I am gonna go with an automatic.

I was just able to pressure bleed it so it's working now and has about .5" of throw at the fingers. It feels pretty light, but not "like a stock import". I had the RXT in there before and I have had 0 holding issues so I can say that I have been happy with it so far. It is a bit grabby, but I am not sure how much of that could be attributed to the old messed up clutch cable.

I will let you know how it works out, hopefully in a couple days if the weather cooperates.

 

[kbscobravert]

I was just able to pressure bleed it so it's working now and has about .5" of throw at the fingers. It feels pretty light, but not "like a stock import". I had the RXT in there before and I have had 0 holding issues so I can say that I have been happy with it so far. It is a bit grabby, but I am not sure how much of that could be attributed to the old messed up clutch cable.

I will let you know how it works out, hopefully in a couple days if the weather cooperates.

What is Mcloed saying that RXT will hold power wise?

My Zoom twin disc is VERY grabby and trying to slip it I think has taken its toll even in the short time I have had it running.

I too would love to get rid of this cable. Mine is routed far enough away from everything but I still don't trust them. In fact I need to order a spare to keep in the car and the few hand tools it takes to change.

 

[kbscobravert]

Digging up old threads in preperation to put the A/C back on mine, I remember you redid your lines also. Now that the car is running, how are the changes working for you? A/C cold again?

 

[Mustangmichael]

Great Build! I need to make some time at home on the computer so I can see your pics. I did watch the start up video, so it was cool seeing what the thread was about. lol. I'd like to hear what ends up being the issue with your long cranking times. Keep at it, there are always a million little issues rear their ugly heads on a project this big. You just hit them one at a time and eventually they are all taken care of. Just takes time and patience, which you seem to be good with.

 

[Donovan]

Digging up old threads in preperation to put the A/C back on mine, I remember you redid your lines also. Now that the car is running, how are the changes working for you? A/C cold again?

Sadly, I havent charged the AC yet...It may or may not work! It is 100% mechanically connected though so at least in theory it's ready to be evacuated and charged.

 

[Donovan]

What is Mcloed saying that RXT will hold power wise?

My Zoom twin disc is VERY grabby and trying to slip it I think has taken its toll even in the short time I have had it running.

I too would love to get rid of this cable. Mine is routed far enough away from everything but I still don't trust them. In fact I need to order a spare to keep in the car and the few hand tools it takes to change.

They state that it's "Able to hold up to 1000hp" . I haven't tested it anywhere close to those numbers though so its hard to say.

I just took it out for a drive and I can say the clutch is a dream. Its so light it feels like I am driving another car. I cannot wait to drive it in traffic. Its also so smooth. My old cable was very notchy. I am also noticing that the grabbyness seems less than before. Well worth the money IMHO.

 

[kbscobravert]

Sadly, I havent charged the AC yet...It may or may not work! It is 100% mechanically connected though so at least in theory it's ready to be evacuated and charged.

I just ordered my 97 Cobra Condensor ($128). I need to pick up that compressor line block that you posted awhile back then start figuring out threads and hoses. I am gonna make another dryer work and stash it in the fenderwell. Should be a fun adventure.

They state that it's "Able to hold up to 1000hp" . I haven't tested it anywhere close to those numbers though so its hard to say.

I just took it out for a drive and I can say the clutch is a dream. Its so light it feels like I am driving another car. I cannot wait to drive it in traffic. Its also so smooth. My old cable was very notchy. I am also noticing that the grabbyness seems less than before. Well worth the money IMHO.

Well I may have to buy the hydrualic throwout bearing kit first before I sink another $1000 in another clutch.

I would love to ditch the notchy cable.

I just took mine out for a short 20 mile drive too. I am finding it very hard not to drive it every day. I am just afraid to leave it parked somewhere and the gas costs suck on E85 mpg's.

 

[Mustangmichael]

Finally saw all the pics tonight, amazing how many things you can stuff into an sn engine compartment. Bet it's a blast to drive.

 

[Donovan]

Well I had a bit of an issue with the TPS sensor not working on a test drive so I ended up picking up a new motorcraft sensor. Ultimately, I think the issue was in the delphi connectors I am using, but I wanted to make sure that there wasnt any chance of failure after seeing the TPS drop to 0 and then go back up etc. I also had a problem with the MAP sensor flaking out and showing 24 Psi so I replaced the 12 pin AEM connector on the ECM and changed the pins as they were a bit jacked up from the previous AEM owner on the crank and map pins. With that work out of the way and everything looking great with regards to sensors I have focused in on tuning the boost control. There is a lot of data out there on how to do it, but i chose to use the documents in the AEM pro manual. I am tuning it now and I am sure glad that I read that over a few times and didnt take the steps outline in other manuals stating that I should setup the boost WG duty map to 100% as that would have certainly popped the boost to the fuel limit which i have set at 10psi.

More on the boost control tuning specifics later....

Also, I was able to wire in and use the idle 1/2 output (+12v 1.5A) to control the reverse lockup solenoid on the T56 removing the need for the lockout timer. While the accutach device worked great, it was hard to tell people how to use the switch and what it is for and after reading about the VSS based switch that they make now I realized that there was basically the same functionality built into the AEM.

 

[Mustangmichael]

Why even have the reverse lock out at all? I had a viper spec T56 and never hooked that thing up, never had an issue hitting reverse while shifting either. matter of fact, reverse took quite a bit of effort to get into anyway. Just curious.

 

[Donovan]

Why even have the reverse lock out at all? I had a viper spec T56 and never hooked that thing up, never had an issue hitting reverse while shifting either. matter of fact, reverse took quite a bit of effort to get into anyway. Just curious.

There is something jacked up in my output setup right now which is holding the solenoid open all the time and I almost popped it in reverse on a 4-5 shift the other day. I would recommend keeping it if you can make it work.

There is a reason that Tremec put it in there. My guess is that is a one time mistake and you are looking at a new tranny or worse.

 

[kbscobravert]

There is something jacked up in my output setup right now which is holding the solenoid open all the time and I almost popped it in reverse on a 4-5 shift the other day. I would recommend keeping it if you can make it work.

There is a reason that Tremec put it in there. My guess is that is a one time mistake and you are looking at a new tranny or worse.

I used the lighter spring and even still every time going 4-5 I get a little nervous. But I am still getting used to this 6spd transmission.

 

[Donovan]

I have been playing around with the boost controller and have decided that I think I would like to have a switch to control hi/low boost. I may be content in normal circumstances with 6-8psi but I think I am looking for a 'kill' setting of 12psi. I guess the kill setting comes down to what I can get away with on pump gas. Anyone have any suggestions for a 9:0:1 motor?

PS: 5psi of boost is really no fun....and 3psi is even worse. A bunch of WG noise and no power!

 

[Mustangmichael]

There is something jacked up in my output setup right now which is holding the solenoid open all the time and I almost popped it in reverse on a 4-5 shift the other day. I would recommend keeping it if you can make it work.

There is a reason that Tremec put it in there. My guess is that is a one time mistake and you are looking at a new tranny or worse.

It was a factory deal for corvettes, camaro's and vipers, only reason I can think of. I put close to 3 or 4k miles on mine and never once had that happen, using a pro 5.0 shifter. I had to really make a concerted effort to get it into the reverse gate, most times I was in 5th and had to try again.

 

[Mustangmichael]

I have been playing around with the boost controller and have decided that I think I would like to have a switch to control hi/low boost. I may be content in normal circumstances with 6-8psi but I think I am looking for a 'kill' setting of 12psi. I guess the kill setting comes down to what I can get away with on pump gas. Anyone have any suggestions for a 9:0:1 motor?

PS: 5psi of boost is really no fun....and 3psi is even worse. A bunch of WG noise and no power!

As long as you limit timing, I don't see a problem with an intercooled turbo with a good block and internals like yours making 600+ rwhp through a manual with 93 oct. I think 12 psi is still conservative with an intercooled setup, as long as you are pulling the proper amount of timing for the boost level.

 

[Donovan]

Update

I have a couple things to report. First off I ended up having some paint work done to tighten things up a bit. The hood, bumper , back quarter and one interior trim piece was painted. It was decent work by Bel Red auto in Kirkland, Wa.

More recently I have been working on updating my stereo system. I had an old alpine system from 2001 which was quite large (head unit, dvd, changer, brain box etc) that I have replaced with a newer DVD double din setup from pioneer (Z2).

After looking around at what people have done to convert their <01 cars to double din I decided that I wanted to as closely replicate the double din in the 2002 + cars. I purchased the following:

1) A 2003 cobra dash bezel & shifter bezel (with leather boot) $75
2) A metra double din aftermarket radio for 2003 mustangs $75
3) A ac delco 3 wire cigarette lighter plug and lanyard from a 2003 hummer (chevy part was almost 20$ cheaper than the 2003 ford harness and its identical) $25
4) 3 blanks for the bezel from 5.0 resto for around $30
5) A blank for the cigarette lighter itself from ford.com $18
6) A 2005 mustang GPS bezel from Ebay. Color was wrong, but I had other parts that were being painted so no biggy. $50

Here was what the cobra bezel looked like when it showed up. Mechanically in perfect shape. Cosmetically not so much. No matter though I wanted it to match the rest of my car.

After reading on the net one thing that is universally true is that you must cut the tabs on both sides of the original dash. If you look at the below picture you can see that I have done quite a bit of trimming of the upper and lower dash bezels.

The secret sauce of my setup is a custom steel bracket I made for holding in the radio. The bracket mounts to factory holes and provides enough strength to hold the radio in the right spot. This took quite a bit of measuring, but It was close enough on the first shot to make it work.

I also took the opportunity to replace the rubber grommet around the shifter which was very beat up. You cannot really see it in this picture, but the cigarette lighter leads were cut and the AC delco 3 wire plug was soldered in. You cannot really see the wiring in this picture, but everything was soldered in and heat shrinked where possible on the radio. Taps and butt connectors do not last in my experience.

After thinking long and hard about mounting locations for the XM and GPS antennas, I settled on the trunk lid. As it turns out the aftermarket 2005+ Mustang antenna cover is the perfect size to fit over the Pioneer antennas.

I used a grommet on the hole and then loomed the wires all the way up to the dash

The finished setup looks decent after a quick paint by Bel Red. I really like the newer Cobra bezel there are no open/shut rollers which is clean (and who needs them anyway) and obviously the double din is much more functional.

I am currently working on pulling out the 90s vintage alarm and updating that as well. More on that soon.

 

[Donovan]

Here is a pic of how the metra din setup looks on top of my bracket:

Also, Here is what I ended up with ampwise. Total overkill. Currently I am only using one channel on the 4 channel amp. I need to change that.