tonytheplumber
Jr. Member
So after nearly 6 years of ownership I FINALLY was able to drive this EB out of my garage and down the road. I must say, it runs like garbage. The engine in question is a supposed early 90's 5.0 which came out of a Mustang GT which an acquaintance of mine bought to make a drag car out of. He brought the car home, made a couple hot laps around his neighborhood, and yanked the engine. He said it ran great. I cannot refer back to him on any of this info as he has since passed away. He spit out some specs on the engine, but I can only assume it was what the previous owner told him. What I was told is that it has one of the Ford Racing alphabet cams in it (not an E303 or a B303. I believe it is an F303 or an X303) and supposedly slightly higher compression. What I do know it has is: GT40P heads, GT40 upper and lower intake from a 5.0 Explorer, 70mm Professional Products throttle body, 70mm Pro-M MAF (calibrated for 24lb/hr injectors), 24lb/hr Trick Flow TFX fuel injectors, a Painless Performance 60510 Ford EFI wire harness, Aeromotive Phantom 200 in-tank fuel system with 3/8" hard line and -6 AN run to the factory Ford fuel rails and regulator (38-40PSI at idle). The throttle body, MAF, and injectors were my add-ons as the engine should happily support them with the induction and camshaft it is running. Both O2 sensors are new. If I'm not mistaken, the computer is an A9P. It came with the engine when I bought it.
So, on to the issues. Idle is expectedly erratic due to the cam profile. Stalling at idle is a bit of an issue though. At a steady cruise RPM just under 3000 it likes to chug and fart and just generally sound rich, but the spark plugs are not showing a rich condition. At wide open throttle I can feel it erratically making power and feeling like its breaking up some. Doesn't have the power it should IMO. One factor that throws a red flag for me is that I cannot get the check engine light to illuminate, not even during the bulb check. The light itself is good, just doesn't receive power from the computer.
I ran a dry, cold compression test today on all cylinders because there feels like a slight vibration or soft misfire (I can't honestly tell) which I thought may be engine mechanical related. Compression ranged between 115PSI to 125PSI with a goofy reading from #6 cylinder of 135PSI. This seemed low until taking into account the overlap of the aggressive cam profile.
Ignition timing is set at 12 degrees before TDC with the spout disconnected.
I am currently still running the 3.50 gears with 33" tires. I plan to swap to a 4.10 or 4.56 but haven't gotten there yet. I am running a freshly rebuilt C4 with a 3000 RPM converter from PTC. Maddog outside of the frame rail headers into Flowmaster super 40s. O2 sensors are in the header collectors (mid-length headers).
If anybody can offer any insight, I would sincerely appreciate it. I wasn't raised in a blue oval family and I am not at all familiar with the EEC series' of engine management.
So, on to the issues. Idle is expectedly erratic due to the cam profile. Stalling at idle is a bit of an issue though. At a steady cruise RPM just under 3000 it likes to chug and fart and just generally sound rich, but the spark plugs are not showing a rich condition. At wide open throttle I can feel it erratically making power and feeling like its breaking up some. Doesn't have the power it should IMO. One factor that throws a red flag for me is that I cannot get the check engine light to illuminate, not even during the bulb check. The light itself is good, just doesn't receive power from the computer.
I ran a dry, cold compression test today on all cylinders because there feels like a slight vibration or soft misfire (I can't honestly tell) which I thought may be engine mechanical related. Compression ranged between 115PSI to 125PSI with a goofy reading from #6 cylinder of 135PSI. This seemed low until taking into account the overlap of the aggressive cam profile.
Ignition timing is set at 12 degrees before TDC with the spout disconnected.
I am currently still running the 3.50 gears with 33" tires. I plan to swap to a 4.10 or 4.56 but haven't gotten there yet. I am running a freshly rebuilt C4 with a 3000 RPM converter from PTC. Maddog outside of the frame rail headers into Flowmaster super 40s. O2 sensors are in the header collectors (mid-length headers).
If anybody can offer any insight, I would sincerely appreciate it. I wasn't raised in a blue oval family and I am not at all familiar with the EEC series' of engine management.
