Gary Lewis

No, I hadn't seen that! But I have now and I've sent him my address. Thanks! And it looks like there's just a tab that holds it. Is that what you are seeing?

Mark - I'd love to have that bracket, and will be happy to store the ECU until we find a home for it with someone here on the forum. I sent you and email with my address. Happy to pay the freight. Thanks!

Things are looking good. I hope the power valve will come in at just the right time and pick the AFR up just a bit. Does your 2150 have metering rods? Some do, some don't, but if it does they can be tweaked to come up earlier and enrichen the mix a bit. Also, I see you have an open air cleaner. You might want to read the Description tab on our page at Documentation/Fuel & Air Systems/Air Cleaners. As explained there, an open element air cleaner is not conducive to keeping the AFR constant across a wide range of temps.

I didn’t mean that Disney is an age thing. More that Viking is. So my expectation is that Viking’s excursions are more tailored to my preferences than those done by Disney. But I don’t know if that’s true. It is just an expectation. Anyway, I do think it is safe to say that we are in the last group - we believe Disney is the way to go when the grands are with us, and Viking is when by ourselves.

That’s a bummer on the sensor. But it does act like that is the problem. But the steady timing is great. However, did you have pinging at 14 BTDC? If not, you might want to try dialing in a bit more timing to see what the engine will stand.

If you mean to put G101 at the firewall where the red circle is then that makes sense. However, I'm doubting my own drawing as I don't know that there's a 4 ga wire from the block to the firewall. Maybe 4 ga? I'll have to check. http://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/thinking-26_orig.jpg But even if it is "only" 4 ga there are two other 4 ga grounds to the cab, one from each fender, so it should be well grounded. Given that, it might be a good idea to put it to the cab.

For the 1996 CA-spec EEC-V systems G101 was on the driver's firewall. I can tell that from both the EVTM and the wires all coming together and to a ring-tongue that would have to go there. And since I have a very solid ground right where that terminal would easily go, I thought I'd put it there. As I think about it, there is no load on that wire. The only loads that use the aux battery are: Inverter: As said, it grounds via the frame and the #2 wire from it to the aux battery Winch: It has its own ground that goes directly to the battery So I think I'll be fine. But to answer your question, it'll go on the fender where the green circle is:

Jein. There aren't many heavy wires in the ones going to/from the ECU. Most of the power wires, like to O2 sensor heaters (B on the schematic below) and injectors (M) come directly from the PCM Power Relay. But I think the two red wires that power the ECU, as shown below, might be bigger so I plan to run the same size wire that Ford used, just stripped out of another harness. (Unfortunately the other harness is for EEC-IV and doesn't have all of the right color wires, and those it does have aren't really long enough.) But the five grounds that go to G101 are probably #16 so the wire I'm using will be fine for that. Ford realized that the ECU sinks a lot more current than it truly uses. Speaking of which, G101 was out under the hood and case ground, G104, was on the firewall. I've planned on using the same approach, but my G101 will be to the driver's side fender where the aux battery grounds. But I used the frame for the ground for the inverter, with the inverter's ground going to the frame right below the back of the cab and then through the #2 cable from the frame to the aux battery, as shown below. And I've been planning to put G101 where the #4 gauge cable attaches to the driver's fender. Thoughts?

Wow! Looks really good! You do good work.

I worked for a power company soon out of college and they started me with the instrumentation crew. They taught me to label everything, make it neat, and crimp awa solder. So I like the idea of labeling every wire, and might do so on Big Blue. In fact, I did use my label printer to label every wire in the harness, as shown below. But those labels make it very hard to make a neat cable, so I'd planned to take them off as I extend the wire. However, I might slip a new one one. So I've done some and have worked up the table below based on the Fimax label tubing I found on Amazon awa some info I found in various places on the diameter of wire with insulation. But what this doesn't include is any shrink tubing I might have on right at the terminal. My rationale for the minimum wire size is that the tubing needs to shrink down at least as small as the wire. And on the maximum, the tubing needs to be able to slide onto the wire before shrinking. Anyway, with what I'm finding I think I should order #211. Thoughts?

Man, I'm glad you said that. I was assuming ID. I was just watching their video, which I can't seen to share, and was thinking that I need to write down the sizes. Now I know I need to do that and figure out what I need.

Oh wow! I didn't know that! Having a few minutes available at the moment I'm off to see if there is anything for my Brother P-touch CUBE Plus PT-P710BT.

Excellent! Thanks for sharing such a fun experience. On the steering box, from my understanding there are only two companies that not only rebuild the box but upgrade it at the same time - Red Head and Blue-Top. Rumor has it that Red Head's quality control and customer service has slipped. But John/Machspeed recently posted about his experience with Blue-Top in his thread on Blue Top Steering Gears. I don't think he has installed it yet, so don't believe there's a post on how he likes the box itself, but he sure liked the service. As for the steering shaft, I think John is also doing some work on one of those. Perhaps we can get an update on that?

Just a bit of an update. I ordered 500' of #16 black wire today that I'll use to extend the wiring to the ECU. There will be the standard wire colors at both ends of each run so it'll be easy to tell what circuit is what, but there was no reasonable way to buy 4' of 40 different wire colors, so I went with black. After doing some reading on the Wiring Depot page entitled UNDERSTANDING THE TYPES OF AUTOMOTIVE WIRE I chose GPT wire. I was initially going to order from Scott's favorite vendor Waytek, whose price for 500' of WG16-0 Automotive Primary Wire, GPT Standard Wall, 16 Ga is $63.20. But then I discovered that they want $25.76 for shipping, which seemed a bit much. So I turned back to Wiring Depot and found that their price for 500' of black #16 GPT is $68.62 but shipping is free over $49. That seemed much more reasonable so I ordered that. However, I've had good luck with the shrink tubing I've ordered from Amazon, so ordered another of these kits: XHF 140 PCS 3/32" 1/8" 3/16" 1/4" 5/16" 3/8" Black 3:1 Waterproof Automotive Electrical Heat Shrink Tubing Kit Tubing Length 3.5" Marine Grade Adhesive Lined Tube Assortment, Insulation Sealing.

Cruising isn't for everyone. But then again, I didn't think it would be for me. Lesley and I went on our first cruise for our 25th anniversary in 2015 and I warned her that it may well be a once in a lifetime experience (because I might not be willing to do a second!). But I really liked it (and Lesley LOVED it) so this was now our 5th cruise. There are locks at both ends that lift the ships up about 85 feet to the lake as they come in and then lower you back to sea level before you go out. Sea level is essentially the same at both ends (it HAS to be the same at the tip of South America!). Using locks to lift you up allowed them to avoid digging the entire canal that extra 85 feet deep. The lake was formed by damming up a big river, so yes, it's fresh water. The locks are filled strictly by gravity (no pumps) with the water flowing in from the high side (the lake) so they don't pump salt water into the lake. I'm sure the ships pull some stuff in with them, including some salt. But it's a rain forest, so the lake is getting replenished with clean water pretty well ("the solution to pollution is dilution"). Yes it was a Disney cruise, but there were very few kids on it. Disney cruises are pretty expensive, so most of them are primarily adults. The exception to that are the shorter 3 and 4 day cruises that the Disney Dream does, so that ship typically does have tons of kids. I've heard about 60% of the passengers on the Dream are kids, but on the other ships that take longer cruises it's more like 30 - 40% kids, and on the really long cruises like this one it's more like 10 - 20%. Lesley and I, in our upper 50s, were probably near the median age on this cruise, with about as many people older than us as there were younger. To see the emerald flash you need to have a very solid horizon (I've heard that it's possible to see in on the Great Plains, but typically you only see it over the ocean). You also need to be looking right at the sun in the second or so that it's disappearing below (or coming up from) the horizon. Now having seen this weak version at sunset I think it would be difficult to see the weak version at sunrise (too hard to be looking at exactly the right place at the right time, and too hard to differentiate the pale blue/green when you didn't have the normal color to compare it to). But if it was the vivid green that I've heard it can be I think it might be even more impressive in a sunrise. As to what constitutes perfect conditions, mostly I think that's very clean air. Any clouds or even haze will prevent you from seeing it at all. I don't know if we had just a little haze or if it was air pollution (we weren't that far downwind from Mexico when I saw it). But it was still very cool to see. And Lesley was out on the open deck with me the second time I saw it, but she looked away at the wrong time so she didn't see it at all. As I said, it's only about a second long, so you really need to be paying attention to see it. Interesting on the lake bit. As said, I didn't realize there is a lake, much less a big river, so hadn't thought about the fresh water bit. Nor did I realize it is gravity fed, which makes sense. That's really a neat system. On the number of kids, yes we were on a short cruise on the Dream, and it was probably 60 - 70% kids. It was a blast, but mainly because we had the grands with us. Left to our own devices we'll do the Viking cruises where the median age is maybe 65. Not saying they are better than Disney, but Viking seems to align their excursions and on-board entertainment to our age group very well. As for the emerald flash, I guess we've not had quite the right environment for seeing it. But I'll watch for it.

Cool! I like it, and am glad you posted it. I didn't realize that the Panama Canal goes through a lake. Interesting. I assume it is a fresh water lake? If so, what water do they use to fill the locks, and does that put salt water in the lake? And you answered a question before I got to ask - it was a Disney cruise. I'll bet it was chock full of kids with this having been spring break for a whole lot of schools. As for the "emerald flash", I've never seen it. I've heard or read about it, but never been in the right place at the right time to see it. Or, didn't look? Anyway, that is something I'd like to see. What conditions are best for it?

Your AEM meter looks a lot like mine, but I've not seen that kind of response from it. Hopefully it is just a connection. And yes, it is a long cable. I have wire running everywhere for that thing. But I hadn't thought about wrapping it around the brake booster - probably because I have a hydroboost unit and not the vacuum unit you have.

Yes, good that you are getting it dialed in. 14.3 is spot-on, and 14 - 15 will work well. But that leaning out at WOT might be your accelerator pump rather than the power valve. The accelerator pump is to cover up the hole in the fuel delivery that occurs when you rapidly open the throttle as fuel is heavier than air and therefore can't move as quickly. It is a one-shot thing, one and done. But the power valve works until you lift the throttle. So if the leanness is transient then I'd bet it is the accelerator pump that's the problem.

I agree, that looks great! And there shouldn’t be any belt slippage on that alternator.

This engine is a 1996 5.0, so the serpentine drive is the same as 1995. I picked up another bracket today from a junked ‘94 F150. I need to disassemble it and remove the smog pump and order a smog delete bracket. The good news is that this will allow me to run a stock size belt and the tensioner will work as it is supposed to. The downside is that it backs me up at least a week. Oh well. It is still progress, and as Jim says, progress is good.

Yes, you have time to correct that fear. Nice work on the panel. I’d run it were I you. And if later you don’t like them then you can replace them.

I agree. Pull it apart and see what the damage is

Welcome, Justin! Glad you joined. Nice looking truck. And a lot of truck. 😉 Two things. First, you may want to review the page at Bullnose Forum/Forum FAQ’s on how to post pics. Second, we have a map (Bullnose Forum/Member’s Map) and can add you with a city/state or zip.

Probably. Several pics but little info. Hard to believe the bid is over $1000 for that.

Good info, Matt. Glad you got it sorted.