Gary Lewis Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 Gary, had a few thoughts here. The only reason to put the ECU inside the cab is for environmental protection. I know your objective here is to build it the way Ford would have done it, but, (shudder), GM went through much of the same developmental stages and ended up putting their ECU under the hood. Of course, nowadays, many ECU's are under the hood and the case is much more environmentally sealed than the EECIV/EECV designs. GM solved this with their early design ECU's by making a weatherproof container to hold the ECU under the hood. So, I don't think it would be a difficult task to make a box to hold the EECV ECU under the hood, possibly also incorporating a power distribution box and relay center. This would eliminate altogether the need to run most of the EECV wiring into the cab and would greatly simplify the installation. Another thought I had was using EECV wiring components from different vehicles. In fact, the Ranger wiring harness suggestion came to mind as I have quite a few Rangers out back in the field of dreams. One potential project is to replace a 3.0 V6 with a V8 and the idea of modifying the Ranger harness needed some exploration on my part, so I decided to spend an evening entering pin numbers and wire functions into a spreadsheet. For comparison, I also included a modular motor, so I'm comparing the 1996 F150 5.0 V8 with a 2003 3.0 V6 Ranger and a 1998 F150 4.6 V8. EECV_pin_comparison.pdf Turns out, a lot of pins are common and accommodating a V8 ECU and the extra injector wires would require repinning and adding circuits, but it it not nearly as complex as it would seem. Just food for thought. I have yet to try this! Ray - Interesting! How warm does the ECU get? Does it need to be thermally sinked, or can it be put in a weather-tight case? As for the Ranger wiring, that's a good spreadsheet. Or, maybe I should say "pdf". Could you email it to me in spreadsheet format? I'd like to use it. I appreciate the input and all the time it is taking to help me. Once I really get going on this there will be many, many more questions. But, please keep the creative juices flowing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotEnoughTrucks Posted January 7, 2018 Share Posted January 7, 2018 Ray - Interesting! How warm does the ECU get? Does it need to be thermally sinked, or can it be put in a weather-tight case? As for the Ranger wiring, that's a good spreadsheet. Or, maybe I should say "pdf". Could you email it to me in spreadsheet format? I'd like to use it. I appreciate the input and all the time it is taking to help me. Once I really get going on this there will be many, many more questions. But, please keep the creative juices flowing. I don't think heat dissipation is an issue. The case provides the heatsink for the devices and most of the heat would be produced by the various output drivers which are primarily FET's The GM applications I am thinking of are very similar to the EECV in terms of construction materials and methods. The 90's TBI trucks had this ECU mounted behind the glovebox and the same ECU was used under the hood of some compact cars in a box with maybe 1" of air gap around the ECU case. In the 87 to 91 Ford trucks, the ECU is mounted in a fairly tight area behind the drivers kick panel and I don't think air circulation is a prominent feature, so I don't anticipate any problems would arise with regards to operating temperature. One thing about the EECIV/EECV ECU is that the connector is proven to be quite resistant to environmental conditions. This should be relative to the fact that Ford did use that connector under the hood in many applications. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 7, 2018 Author Share Posted January 7, 2018 I don't think heat dissipation is an issue. The case provides the heatsink for the devices and most of the heat would be produced by the various output drivers which are primarily FET's The GM applications I am thinking of are very similar to the EECV in terms of construction materials and methods. The 90's TBI trucks had this ECU mounted behind the glovebox and the same ECU was used under the hood of some compact cars in a box with maybe 1" of air gap around the ECU case. In the 87 to 91 Ford trucks, the ECU is mounted in a fairly tight area behind the drivers kick panel and I don't think air circulation is a prominent feature, so I don't anticipate any problems would arise with regards to operating temperature. One thing about the EECIV/EECV ECU is that the connector is proven to be quite resistant to environmental conditions. This should be relative to the fact that Ford did use that connector under the hood in many applications. Good to know. Thanks. So, a sealed box, even if plastic, should do it. But, if it were aluminum all the better as it would dissipate the heat. I've looked and there are lots of such boxes available, so that shouldn't be a problem. Cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 Good to know. Thanks. So, a sealed box, even if plastic, should do it. But, if it were aluminum all the better as it would dissipate the heat. I've looked and there are lots of such boxes available, so that shouldn't be a problem. Cool! GM for a few years had their ECM in a box under the air filter housing, the harness was sealed with a rubber grommet so when the air filter housing was attached it was weatherproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 GM for a few years had their ECM in a box under the air filter housing, the harness was sealed with a rubber grommet so when the air filter housing was attached it was weatherproof. I was thinking that some did put the ECU in the air filter housing/box, but couldn't remember who did. If it was in the bottom of the air box it would get cooling air, and unless you went in really deep it would remain dry. But, there's probably not enough room in the existing air box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty A Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 Time for an update here. On Thanksgiving I got to spend some time with my brother and his older son, both of whom like the plan to EFI Dad's truck. And that appears to be especially true of his son, who is an excellent mechanic. He's finding it hard to find anyone that can work on carbs, and agrees that it is only going to get harder as time goes on. So, he fully supports my plan to make it effectively a 1996 F150 w/a 5.0L and E4OD. As for the intakes, Tim says they are on their way to his shop, and he will take pics soon. Plus, he has ordered the spacers and will mock it up and take pictures of that as well. And, I've been doing some thinking, searching, and looking to see how I want to route the intake plumbing. I looked yesterday at how Ford ran it for the EFI'd 5.0's in the 90's, and while I could probably do that, I'm not impressed with the size of the cold-air inlet. So I then looked at the two 460 air cleaner boxes I have and discovered that the tops can be put on backwards, which means the inlet could be plumbed to the opening in the radiator support. But, in both the 5.0L and the 460's Ford used a double throttle body and two tubes going to the air box. However, the Trick Flow manifold uses a single throttle body, so if I'm to a two-tube box I'll have to find a Y. But, I've read that Ford used them on several of the trucks, so that shouldn't be too hard. Thoughts? Here’s a lightning intake setup for an idea on airbox and inlet tube setups. The 96 F150 mass air lid will fit to the same lower portion of the airbox and that lightning air inlet tube should work with the mass air with a little trimming. Hope that helps brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 Here’s a lightning intake setup for an idea on airbox and inlet tube setups. The 96 F150 mass air lid will fit to the same lower portion of the airbox and that lightning air inlet tube should work with the mass air with a little trimming. Hope that helps brother. That's very helpful, Dusty. I guess I hadn't realized that the Trick Flow intake has a single throttle body, unlike the 460 outfit I'm using on Big Blue. But, I looked and you are right. However, I'm a little confused. The 96 F150 mass air lid will fit to even the SD lower portion of the airbox, but you are saying that I'd want the Lightning air inlet tube to use with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty A Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 That's very helpful, Dusty. I guess I hadn't realized that the Trick Flow intake has a single throttle body, unlike the 460 outfit I'm using on Big Blue. But, I looked and you are right. :nabble_smiley_good:However, I'm a little confused. The 96 F150 mass air lid will fit to even the SD lower portion of the airbox, but you are saying that I'd want the Lightning air inlet tube to use with it?Correct. That tube will work with the mass air I believe. It may have to be shortened a little to accommodate room for the mass air meter. Both air-boxes share the same lower. That trickflow is a good choice for your motor. It flows really well. Thanks and Godbless, Dusty Ashburn On Apr 10, 2019, at 9:58 PM, Gary Lewis [via Bullnose Enthusiasts] <redacted_email_address> wrote: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty A Posted April 11, 2019 Share Posted April 11, 2019 And for air inlet tube, I’m talking about the rubber tube going from the throttle body to the airbox in the picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted April 11, 2019 Author Share Posted April 11, 2019 And for air inlet tube, I’m talking about the rubber tube going from the throttle body to the airbox in the picture. Yes, I thought so. By the way, don't forget to start a thread to introduce yourself in the New Members Start Here folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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