Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome back!

Yes, things are moving along. I spend most days in my shop working on Big Blue, as well as answering questions for others, and I like to report on what I've done.

And the insulation on the air inlet tubing has been a goal since I read an article on tests I guy ran on a Ford truck with EFI. He insulated the intake and that increased the MPG a bit. However, if I remember correctly that was a speed-density system and I don't think the results will be the same on a MAF system. Still, it can't hurt and, as you said, looks space age.

As for the mirror, I did get it going. It works well but I sure hope they come out with the waterproof front camera.

With the literature run to south Tulsa I didn't get much done today. But I did get the Cole Hersee battery isolator moved and the PDB's bracket put in what I think will be it's new home.

But, I do need to tell how I came to the "right" location for the isolator. I was playing with where to mount it and I realized that if I mounted it up higher than I'd planned the #2 wire I already had would probably reach the megafuse nicely. However, as I was playing with it I noticed a burn mark on one of the nuts for the studs and that reminded me of the smoke and melt-down I had on the passenger's side when I closed the hood and the hinge hit the starter relay.

So I tried to figure out where the hinge would be when the hood was closed - and finally decided there was an easier way. So I put the isolator where I thought I wanted it, set the camera on self-timer at 10 seconds, and strapped it to the brake booster. And here's the pic I got with the hood closed:

So I nailed the isolator down there and made a new jumper to the megafuse and installed it. Here's how that turned out, and after I relocate the wire that's looping out from the isolator and touching the PDB's bracket we'll be good to go.

[Gary Lewis]

With the literature run to south Tulsa I didn't get much done today. But I did get the Cole Hersee battery isolator moved and the PDB's bracket put in what I think will be it's new home.

But, I do need to tell how I came to the "right" location for the isolator. I was playing with where to mount it and I realized that if I mounted it up higher than I'd planned the #2 wire I already had would probably reach the megafuse nicely. However, as I was playing with it I noticed a burn mark on one of the nuts for the studs and that reminded me of the smoke and melt-down I had on the passenger's side when I closed the hood and the hinge hit the starter relay.

So I tried to figure out where the hinge would be when the hood was closed - and finally decided there was an easier way. So I put the isolator where I thought I wanted it, set the camera on self-timer at 10 seconds, and strapped it to the brake booster. And here's the pic I got with the hood closed:

So I nailed the isolator down there and made a new jumper to the megafuse and installed it. Here's how that turned out, and after I relocate the wire that's looping out from the isolator and touching the PDB's bracket we'll be good to go.

As an aside, and to put links in this thread I can get back to, my desire to insulate the air intake system came from the article called Project MPG. In that multi-part article they worked an '88 F350 crew-cab dually over and got its highway MPG from 8.9 to 10.5 MPG, and increased HP and torque as well.

Yes, Big Blue already got a bit better MPG than that with the carb, but he's a lighter truck with overdrive. And Darth, which is a similar vehicle but with an E4OD instead of what I'd bet is a C6 on the Project MPG mule, gets even better than that. But one thing that really interested me was the results they got from insulating the air intake system. And I'm wondering if similar results can be had on Big Blue.

I realize that their EFI system was EEC-IV with SD and bank-fire and that Big Blue will have EEC-V with MAF and sequential injection. But colder air will pack more punch, so will it help the MPG on a MAF system? I'm not sure we will know as I'm not planning to run a before/after test. But we will be able to see what MPG I get from going from a carb with hot under-hood air to EFI with "cold" inlet air.

[Machspeed]

As an aside, and to put links in this thread I can get back to, my desire to insulate the air intake system came from the article called Project MPG. In that multi-part article they worked an '88 F350 crew-cab dually over and got its highway MPG from 8.9 to 10.5 MPG, and increased HP and torque as well.

Yes, Big Blue already got a bit better MPG than that with the carb, but he's a lighter truck with overdrive. And Darth, which is a similar vehicle but with an E4OD instead of what I'd bet is a C6 on the Project MPG mule, gets even better than that. But one thing that really interested me was the results they got from insulating the air intake system. And I'm wondering if similar results can be had on Big Blue.

I realize that their EFI system was EEC-IV with SD and bank-fire and that Big Blue will have EEC-V with MAF and sequential injection. But colder air will pack more punch, so will it help the MPG on a MAF system? I'm not sure we will know as I'm not planning to run a before/after test. But we will be able to see what MPG I get from going from a carb with hot under-hood air to EFI with "cold" inlet air.

Wow, that's a good picture! You do that with your phone? Guess you relocated some things, ey....lol!

[Gary Lewis]

Wow, that's a good picture! You do that with your phone? Guess you relocated some things, ey....lol!

No, not my phone. I have a Sony camera that Janey willed me when she got her new one. This camera is about the size of my phone, although a little thicker but a little smaller width and height-wise. And its macro function works pretty well.

So I just lashed it to the master cylinder, triggered the 10-second timer, and shut the hood. That gave me the warm, fuzzy feeling that I wasn't going to have any hot, smoky feelings when I shut the hood with the power on.

As for moving things, yes, sorta. Some things are pushed back out of the way. But other things, like the fog and backup lamp relays, have been removed. So there will be quite a few connectors in that space to the right of the bracket when the dust settles. But, for the most part they will be original Ford connections as I'll interface the '96 EFI harness to the '85 harness through those connectors as much as is possible. For instance, I'll use C321, C323, C325, and C727, all of which are right there. In fact, there may only be two new connectors - one for the fog and backup lights and one for the wires from the existing fuel pump relay. All three of those functions will have relays in the EFI PDB.

Basically I'm trying to make the interface as easy and as clean as is possible. That way those that chose to follow me will find it easier - and that includes me on Dad's truck.

[FuzzFace2]

No, not my phone. I have a Sony camera that Janey willed me when she got her new one. This camera is about the size of my phone, although a little thicker but a little smaller width and height-wise. And its macro function works pretty well.

So I just lashed it to the master cylinder, triggered the 10-second timer, and shut the hood. That gave me the warm, fuzzy feeling that I wasn't going to have any hot, smoky feelings when I shut the hood with the power on.

As for moving things, yes, sorta. Some things are pushed back out of the way. But other things, like the fog and backup lamp relays, have been removed. So there will be quite a few connectors in that space to the right of the bracket when the dust settles. But, for the most part they will be original Ford connections as I'll interface the '96 EFI harness to the '85 harness through those connectors as much as is possible. For instance, I'll use C321, C323, C325, and C727, all of which are right there. In fact, there may only be two new connectors - one for the fog and backup lights and one for the wires from the existing fuel pump relay. All three of those functions will have relays in the EFI PDB.

Basically I'm trying to make the interface as easy and as clean as is possible. That way those that chose to follow me will find it easier - and that includes me on Dad's truck.

I did see in a picture you had something like insulation on the air intake and was wondering why and now I know.

If a carb system was working as the factory wanted it to then do you think it would help too?

I ask because a carb also pulls hot air from the exh manifold and a temp sensor tries to maintain a set temp by modulating the flapper valve.

I guess if we knew the flapper was 100% open for cold air then maybe it would help to insulate the air duct?

Dave ----

[Gary Lewis]

I did see in a picture you had something like insulation on the air intake and was wondering why and now I know.

If a carb system was working as the factory wanted it to then do you think it would help too?

I ask because a carb also pulls hot air from the exh manifold and a temp sensor tries to maintain a set temp by modulating the flapper valve.

I guess if we knew the flapper was 100% open for cold air then maybe it would help to insulate the air duct?

Dave ----

I think the figure I've seen is that every 10F degrees of cooling gives 1 HP. (Obviously that's not true of model airplane engines or diesel locomotives, but it may hold for large automotive engines.) So that would imply that insulating the cold air intake on a carb would help.

However, very few carbs adjust the AFR for temp. So it depends on what temp your AFR is correct at because as the air cools the AFR goes leaner, and it might go lean enough to lose power rather than gain power.

Still, if your temp sensor in your air cleaner is set for 110F, which is common, you could expect to hold it there save for really hot days. Here's the air inlet temp table from that test and you can see that they were able to hold the temp pretty close to ambient at speeds over 45 MPH. So on a 110F day the air inlet temp would start to climb above the calibration point, but below that the temp sensor should keep it pretty close.

Given that, you could calibrate your carb at 110F and have a stable AFR.

[Gary Lewis]

I think the figure I've seen is that every 10F degrees of cooling gives 1 HP. (Obviously that's not true of model airplane engines or diesel locomotives, but it may hold for large automotive engines.) So that would imply that insulating the cold air intake on a carb would help.

However, very few carbs adjust the AFR for temp. So it depends on what temp your AFR is correct at because as the air cools the AFR goes leaner, and it might go lean enough to lose power rather than gain power.

Still, if your temp sensor in your air cleaner is set for 110F, which is common, you could expect to hold it there save for really hot days. Here's the air inlet temp table from that test and you can see that they were able to hold the temp pretty close to ambient at speeds over 45 MPH. So on a 110F day the air inlet temp would start to climb above the calibration point, but below that the temp sensor should keep it pretty close.

Given that, you could calibrate your carb at 110F and have a stable AFR.

Another thing to note in the table above is how close to the underhood temp the inlet air temp is when using the K&N unshielded intake. With the exception of 60 MPH it is always a few degrees higher than the underhood temp. Yep, that's exactly what I want. NOT!

As for what I got done today, I installed the EFI PDB's bracket. Took a bit of checking for best placement but I finally found one I liked. Sounds easy, but there was the question of how level it would be since both the fender liner and the bracket are curved/tilted. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

And here's a shot of the bracket itself and then the PDB sitting on it. Obviously a lot of wiring needs to happen now, but at least I know where to measure from and to, so I can start making connections.

[Gary Lewis]

Another thing to note in the table above is how close to the underhood temp the inlet air temp is when using the K&N unshielded intake. With the exception of 60 MPH it is always a few degrees higher than the underhood temp. Yep, that's exactly what I want. NOT!

As for what I got done today, I installed the EFI PDB's bracket. Took a bit of checking for best placement but I finally found one I liked. Sounds easy, but there was the question of how level it would be since both the fender liner and the bracket are curved/tilted. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

And here's a shot of the bracket itself and then the PDB sitting on it. Obviously a lot of wiring needs to happen now, but at least I know where to measure from and to, so I can start making connections.

Doing some planning on how to run wiring and I think I just had another epiphany. Looking at the '85 fuel pump wiring I realized that the inertia switch wiring runs through C144, which is said to be on the "LH fender apron". I'm not quite sure where the connector is yet, but C143 is said to the on the "LH fender apron, near ignition module", so I'm pretty sure it is where I can connect to it to gain access to the inertia switch.

Given that, I think it'll be easy to use Ford connectors to interface the EFI harness to the '85 wiring. And here's what the fuel pump wiring will look like:

 

[85lebaront2]

Doing some planning on how to run wiring and I think I just had another epiphany. Looking at the '85 fuel pump wiring I realized that the inertia switch wiring runs through C144, which is said to be on the "LH fender apron". I'm not quite sure where the connector is yet, but C143 is said to the on the "LH fender apron, near ignition module", so I'm pretty sure it is where I can connect to it to gain access to the inertia switch.

Given that, I think it'll be easy to use Ford connectors to interface the EFI harness to the '85 wiring. And here's what the fuel pump wiring will look like:

That is interesting, on Darth that connector was on the right fender apron near the starter relay in fact I posted this picture for the member trying to troubleshoot the system on his truck.

[Gary Lewis]

That is interesting, on Darth that connector was on the right fender apron near the starter relay in fact I posted this picture for the member trying to troubleshoot the system on his truck.

I'm not convinced it is on the LH apron. I tend to remember it on the RH apron. I went out last evening to look on the LH side and didn't find it. Today I'll look on the RH side as well. But I'm pretty sure it is on the RH side given the wiring for the PDB on that side, shown below, as F1 supplies power to the inertia switch.

If it is on the RH side that will change my plans a bit. Not quite sure what I'll do...