Darth Vader

[85lebaront2]

One of the issues, which some other people have found out the hard way, is the MAF for the 460. The smaller engines use an 80mm MAF which is easily found on cars with the MAF/SEFI systems. The other is the intake system, the Ford truck engines use a dual throttle body which means the large single hose from the MAF has to branch to connect to the dual throttle body. On the 302 and 351, the intake manifold has a large upper plenum with tuned length runners. This sweeps to the right and sits over the valve cover on that side with the throttle body in a vertical position on the front, it is angled toward the left so the air inlet hoses can connect without too much of a bend. On the 460 EFI system, the lower manifold is basically a aluminum 4 barrel carburetor intake with holes for injectors and sensors. The upper plenum is a question mark shaped piece that points the throttle body straight forward and the IAC valve sits on top of the lower portion. The throttle body on the 302 and 351 engines has the IAC on one side and water for anti icing running through it, the early 460s had this, then it was eliminated.

Due to the location of components and the physical size of the 460, the air inlet ducting has to pass over the A/C compressor further complicating things. I had an extra 1995 Lincoln Continental 90mm MAF, and in doing some research found that it and the 460 MAF are listed by rebuilders as the same part. Now came the fun, no MAF 460 stuff anywhere, so how to make something work. I found a 302/351 MAF air filter missing the MAF at Pick-n-Pull in Virginia Beach. Using that and the inside mount portion of the extra Continental air filter I was able to build an air filter with a 90mm MAF attached, now how to get it to the throttle body? On the 460, the IAC air inlet comes off the bottom of an H in the air hoses, this also has two restrictor horns, probably to eliminate the "drone" of the 460 at larger throttle openings. First thing to go! After that, I took a 302 wye for an MAF system, a 4" PVC elbow and a section of 4" conduit, one 1/2" PVC street elbow and a short length of 1/2" CPVC pipe and built a 90° inlet for the throttle body with the IAC and crankcase closure hose connections (on an MAF system ALL air going into the engine must pass through the MAF). I found some nice silicone 4" bellows hoses at a truck parts place that are for intercoolers. Now I had the parts to build the MAF system! I built it and used this as my air inlet while I worked on the electrical changes.

When I did the initial harness for the engine, since I was planning to go to MAF/SEFI, I had done the engine part with the injectors wire individually and used the chassis side to gang them for bank fired, I did some playing around and regrouped them from the normal truck configuration of 1,4,5,8 and 2,3,6,7 (end 4 and center 4) to grouped like a 180° manifold, 1,4,6,7 and 2,3,5,8 which is how a TBI system would work. This made the engine idle smoother and I hoped would prevent the #5 cyl problem the EFI 460s have.

Since I had updated the wiring to the 1992-1996/7 design, I essentially built two front harnesses, one for a BF/SD EEC-IV and one for an MAF/SEFI. I had my local muffler shop install two O2 sensor bungs, one on each exhaust pipe just below the flange and plug them as with the EEC-IV I was using the single O2 sensor near the transmission mount. I found the longest O2 sensor leads listed and ordered them and still had to use an extension on the right side to reach. When I got ready to switch, I took the old harness off, installed the new one (OBD-II port was already mounted and wired) and installed the dual O2 sensors, put one of the plugs in place of the single sensor and installed the new harness. This took maybe an hour. Adam Marrer provided good support for the "teething" problems and Darth does quite well on the MAF/SEFI system and I can make changes to parameters such as spark advance, fuel under open loop, EGR levels and shift points along with lock-up converter lock/unlock points. I have the unlock set at 80% throttle (let the 460s torque do the work) so the transmission doesn't overheat and boil the fluid.

After getting the mechanical and electrical setup the way I wanted it, it was time for some interior work. Original interior color was a dark red, looked ok, but kind of dark inside. Since I had done the electrical upgrades I was able to use the later ignition switch with it's 5 power sources rather than the 2 from the same fusible link system the 1986 used and the 1990 also used. Mounting the dash required some work, 1986 and 1990 both attach the dash to the steering column and brake pedal support, the dashes are also mounted to the cowl at the windshield base. The difference starts here, the 1986 dash has 4 vertical screws holding a set of fore and aft braces that are hidden under the dash pad, the 1990 up has 4 angled screws and an alignment pin at the cowl. The 1992 up dash that I had decided on for several reasons, one being the OD cancel switch on the shifter, the other being the column in the 1980-1991 trucks sits at a slight angle toward the left side of the truck and due to it's design can't be repositioned without a lot of work.

The 1992 up dash has a large cast aluminum steering column and parking brake pedal support that bolts to a brace on the left side of the cab and the left door post. There is nothing at all like this on the 1980-86 or 1987-91 cabs, and since I did not own a welder I was going to have to fabricate something. I used a piece of 1/8" flat bar to make a piece I could insert into the left A pillar so the casting's two rear outboard bolts had a location. Once that was done I stuck the stripped dash onto the previously built upper mounts and loosely mounted the casting to the side and installed the 4 M6X1.0 bolts w/washers attaching the duct assembly to the casting and supported the dash at the correct angle so I could locate the front bolt attachments. I used some more of the flat bar bent in a rough "L" shape to line up with the holes. I used one existing air box cover screw and added one for the lower bolt. After I had everything located, I took the flat bar sections off, took some M10X1.5 nuts and had them welded to the flat bars to emulate the nut plates Ford used. Ford actually says to R&R the dash on the 1992 up models as an assembly with the steering column by removing the 4 M10 bolts, two M6 bolts on the bottom and 1 more M6 at the right end then taking the 4 self tapping screws out of the top and with a helper rolling the dash and column back far enough to reach the HVAC cable and vacuum harness and antenna cable. This is after disconnecting all the wiring harness plugs.

On the wiring, the 1992 up system has two bulkhead penetration connectors on the left side of the steering column, two smaller ones to the cab interior harness, one lead to the brake switch and on M/T trucks a clutch position switch, and another set on the right end for power locks, windows, roof clearance lights and the fuel pump inertia switch, both side have a nice big ground connection, also on the right end there are the HVAC electrical wires for the blower and A/C compressor, it is a 6 pin one basically the same as the older models and can be a royal PITA to get apart. The courtesy light wires have to be removed at both ends of the dash. The basic idea is the dash harness is no longer like the 1980-1986 models, no rubber grommet penetrations and everything unplugs. There were two lower attachments on the dash, one is a pretty strong brace from the top of the transmission tunnel area on an angle to the dash just about the edge of the driver's seat on split seats. The other is just inboard of the glove box on the bottom and is a thin bent flat bar that is definitely not structural and may just be there to keep any loose wires from hanging down. I left it off.

Once I had the dash and column located I hooked up the lower steering shaft to get an idea where the boot and bearing needed to go where the shaft penetrates the firewall. It is in a rubber cone shaped piece so it has a bit of give. The actual column is referred to as a "stub column" and is pretty universal assembly. My 1994 Taurus has the same basic unit as did my 1990 Lincoln Town Car and 1995 Lincoln Continental. It can be built with or without a column shift, with or without a clockspring for an airbag and many different steering wheels. People have put later model clocksprings and super duty steering wheels with radio and HVAC controls. The steering column now sits parallel to the frame and sides of the cab and is a tilt wheel. The wipers are now on the combination switch and are actually controlled by a module on the right side of the dash near the glovebox.

It uses a set of three rotary knobs for HVAC control rather than the levers on the older trucks and is much easier to reach and change when driving, there are two versions of the temperature blend door, 1992-1995 used a push-pull wire cable similar to the older trucks, in either late 1995 or 1996 this was changed to a pair of very flexible cables like bicycles use for brakes, these run left from the controls then back across the bottom of the dash and loop back from the right end to the top of the inside HVAC housing allowing enough slack to roll the dash back enough to remove the housing end.

[85lebaront2]

After getting the mechanical and electrical setup the way I wanted it, it was time for some interior work. Original interior color was a dark red, looked ok, but kind of dark inside. Since I had done the electrical upgrades I was able to use the later ignition switch with it's 5 power sources rather than the 2 from the same fusible link system the 1986 used and the 1990 also used. Mounting the dash required some work, 1986 and 1990 both attach the dash to the steering column and brake pedal support, the dashes are also mounted to the cowl at the windshield base. The difference starts here, the 1986 dash has 4 vertical screws holding a set of fore and aft braces that are hidden under the dash pad, the 1990 up has 4 angled screws and an alignment pin at the cowl. The 1992 up dash that I had decided on for several reasons, one being the OD cancel switch on the shifter, the other being the column in the 1980-1991 trucks sits at a slight angle toward the left side of the truck and due to it's design can't be repositioned without a lot of work.

The 1992 up dash has a large cast aluminum steering column and parking brake pedal support that bolts to a brace on the left side of the cab and the left door post. There is nothing at all like this on the 1980-86 or 1987-91 cabs, and since I did not own a welder I was going to have to fabricate something. I used a piece of 1/8" flat bar to make a piece I could insert into the left A pillar so the casting's two rear outboard bolts had a location. Once that was done I stuck the stripped dash onto the previously built upper mounts and loosely mounted the casting to the side and installed the 4 M6X1.0 bolts w/washers attaching the duct assembly to the casting and supported the dash at the correct angle so I could locate the front bolt attachments. I used some more of the flat bar bent in a rough "L" shape to line up with the holes. I used one existing air box cover screw and added one for the lower bolt. After I had everything located, I took the flat bar sections off, took some M10X1.5 nuts and had them welded to the flat bars to emulate the nut plates Ford used. Ford actually says to R&R the dash on the 1992 up models as an assembly with the steering column by removing the 4 M10 bolts, two M6 bolts on the bottom and 1 more M6 at the right end then taking the 4 self tapping screws out of the top and with a helper rolling the dash and column back far enough to reach the HVAC cable and vacuum harness and antenna cable. This is after disconnecting all the wiring harness plugs.

On the wiring, the 1992 up system has two bulkhead penetration connectors on the left side of the steering column, two smaller ones to the cab interior harness, one lead to the brake switch and on M/T trucks a clutch position switch, and another set on the right end for power locks, windows, roof clearance lights and the fuel pump inertia switch, both side have a nice big ground connection, also on the right end there are the HVAC electrical wires for the blower and A/C compressor, it is a 6 pin one basically the same as the older models and can be a royal PITA to get apart. The courtesy light wires have to be removed at both ends of the dash. The basic idea is the dash harness is no longer like the 1980-1986 models, no rubber grommet penetrations and everything unplugs. There were two lower attachments on the dash, one is a pretty strong brace from the top of the transmission tunnel area on an angle to the dash just about the edge of the driver's seat on split seats. The other is just inboard of the glove box on the bottom and is a thin bent flat bar that is definitely not structural and may just be there to keep any loose wires from hanging down. I left it off.

Once I had the dash and column located I hooked up the lower steering shaft to get an idea where the boot and bearing needed to go where the shaft penetrates the firewall. It is in a rubber cone shaped piece so it has a bit of give. The actual column is referred to as a "stub column" and is pretty universal assembly. My 1994 Taurus has the same basic unit as did my 1990 Lincoln Town Car and 1995 Lincoln Continental. It can be built with or without a column shift, with or without a clockspring for an airbag and many different steering wheels. People have put later model clocksprings and super duty steering wheels with radio and HVAC controls. The steering column now sits parallel to the frame and sides of the cab and is a tilt wheel. The wipers are now on the combination switch and are actually controlled by a module on the right side of the dash near the glovebox.

It uses a set of three rotary knobs for HVAC control rather than the levers on the older trucks and is much easier to reach and change when driving, there are two versions of the temperature blend door, 1992-1995 used a push-pull wire cable similar to the older trucks, in either late 1995 or 1996 this was changed to a pair of very flexible cables like bicycles use for brakes, these run left from the controls then back across the bottom of the dash and loop back from the right end to the top of the inside HVAC housing allowing enough slack to roll the dash back enough to remove the housing end.

I know this is an old thread, but other than driving Darth, replacing all 6 tires and have to replace a portion of the dual exhaust pipes not much has been done. I had been given a set of 1994 Ford OEM Alcoa rims for a dually, so when the tires were replaced I had four of them mounted to the Alcoas.

Electrically, I added some Lincoln parts, a Lighting Control Module that incorporates delayed interior light shut off, and allows automatic headlamps. I also installed a right front door module that gave me remote keyless entry and the magic keypad. Since the module is from a car, it has a "trunk" button on the key fobs, I have a remote start system I removed from a customer's used Dodge Ram as he had no remotes for the alarm system that tied to it. It takes either a + or - signal to activate, so the "trunk" button will become my remote start. While I was pulling Lincoln parts locally I also got a nice automatic day/night mirror with a compass. Since my front seats are from a Lincoln Continental, I am hoping that the driver's door module and the memory seat module will be able to talk to each other. The seats currently sit a bit higher than the should, so the base needs to be lowered. When that is done, I will probably remove the center seat and replace it with a Flex refrigerator/freezer module which is also a center armrest.

Since one of the other members on here had ordered and received a Marti report, and due to the driver's door replacement I no longer had the OEM VECI label, I ordered a deluxe report and replacement label which arrived Friday. Once Darth is painted, that will go on in place of the one we did on the fancy label printer at the Shipyard laboratory.