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Wiring Adventure - Followup Posted by Justin VanAbrahams [Email]  (#32) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Justin VanAbrahams) on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:37:08
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Things are going very, very well. Some background!
I bought this beast in March of 1999. I saw it in a field - a 900T 5-door with Incas, H4s, a 5-speed, and a good interior. Minor surface rust in a couple places, but nothing problematic. I paid $450 for it - it started, but wouldn't go anywhere.
Turns out the front left hub's splines were completely stripped out, so the driveshaft was spinning but the hub went nowhere. I went ahead and upgraded the brakes to vented '86/'87 style ones and did a full tuneup. Got it smogged, and drove it to Oregon and back.
In April of 2001, I parted out an SPG and put the suspension kit on the 5-door. That was fun for a while, but by July I was ready to put in the 16vT too. That took me about four months... I could have just run CIS, but I wanted the full 16v experience so I hacked in LH 2.2, the Hall-Effect ignition, and APC.
I never really liked LH 2.2 - it runs, but stupid idle issues and constantly failing air mass meters are a drag, so in 2005 I swapped the 2.2 out for 2.4. That kept me happy for a while.
In late 2007, Boxwrench Garage needed a new motor for out Lemons car, so I donated the lump from the 5-door. It was a known good runner, and the 5-door demanded more attention. In went a low-mileage motor from a 1992 900T with a 2.1l head/manifold/fuel rail setup and a set of new Ford Motorsport 24# injectors.
In the spring of 2008 I ended up parting out my convertible due to excessive body damage I had intended to fix when I bought it, and realized I never would. I yanked the '88+ style axles & brakes from the convertible and put them under the 5-door, along with bigger calipers from a 9000, cross drilled rotors, and stainless steel brake lines all around.
That brings me to about a month ago, when every electric gauge on the dash died. I started troubleshooting, but became discouraged when I had to dig through my own hacked up wiring. I'd forgotten what a mess it was getting all the modern engine management stuff in the car. I hunted down a wiring harness from a 1986 900T and started mapping out all the connectors... I didn't wanna replace a whole car's worth of wiring - just the fusebox and the engine compartment stuff.
Turns out not much changed between 1980 and 1986 as far as the 152 connectors are concerned. Just a couple circuits moved! I got that all installed today and it seems like everything is working great. The 5-door doesn't have AC or power windows or locks or cruise control, so that kept things pretty simple. I've not yet rewired my foglights or the interior lights, but everything else works - headlights, taillights, directional indicators, hazards, cabin blower, windshield wipers, brake lights. It starts and runs, too, which was somewhat high on the priority list.
Gonna work on the interior lights and fog lights tomorrow, but I'm pretty thrilled with the results. Clean wiring and blade type fuses are a major win, but I'm thrilled to not have to rely on the 5-door's old relays anymore... things like the fuel pump relay are pretty much unobtanium anymore, and I was worried it was just gonna die on me someday. A problem no longer!
Thanks for all your prayers - I think they paid off!
posted by 65.78.132...
, Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:37:08 <-- Viewing This Message
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