First Sounds of my Homebuilt 427 Stroker

[airbur]

Are the widebands in place of the regular o2 sensors in the exhaust?

 

[ScanmanSteven]

Congrats! Sounds awesome! Like everyone has said, there's nothing as sweet as your build starting up the first time. Man it sounds so strong.

 

[EFI Guy]

Are the widebands in place of the regular o2 sensors in the exhaust?

I would figure out who you are going to use to dyno tune it and ask them their preference. I hear some dyno shops like to use their own "lab grade" wide bands. If that's the case, I'd just save your money and not buy one, you will pretty much never use it except for when dialing in the tune anyway.
They will probably do all the tuning in open loop, so they could just install the wide band where your factory narrow band goes. For all I know they may insist you have both installed because they don't want to change them out or don't use their own wide band.

 

[Colorado75Bronc]

No a wide band is an additional sensor that goes to an individual gauge you can mount in the cab so you can monitor your air/fuel ratio

 

[Hank_]

Congrats on getting the bronco running! Was that you wife saying it was "so loud" ;D That was the first thing my wife said when I started it the first time too.

Henry

 

[Mountain Ram]

Congrats on getting the bronco running! Was that you wife saying it was "so loud" ;D That was the first thing my wife said when I started it the first time too.

Henry

That was funny... I am assuming it was open headers. I started mine quite a bit with open headers and it always freaked my wife out! My kids loved it though!

 

[airbur]

Yea....I tried to warn them. That was my wife and my mom is visiting and she was the 2nd voice.

 

[airbur]

I have zero experience using SCT, I don't use them because of politics, not because they are inferior. If it wasn't for SCT most of us would still be in the dark for tuning early Fords. That being said, tuning a Ford is pretty much the same no matter which way you go. Most of the screen shots I've seen of various programs look almost identical.

I'm sure that SCT does dumb it down quite a bit. I think you can just enter which injectors and MAF you are using and it automatically enters the values. Whereas with a QH you need to enter it manually. This isn't too bad to do if you are using parts with known values, and it looks like you are. Templates are pretty much readily available for this and it makes it pretty much copy and paste.

I'd still be lying if I said there wasn't a steep learning curve. The biggest thing is that it is just overwhelming at first. If you take it in little steps it isn't so bad. The hardest part by far is dialing in your idle. I still use a little notebook that I have taken notes in to dial in idle.

I have no idea how SCT's pro tunes do this correctly without some way to real time data log. I've played with very similar engines quite a bit and they all seem to like different values. So I'm not sure how that works, but real time data logging is just a must have feature IMHO.

The other thing I have noticed on a few of the "canned tunes" I've seen is dumbing down of tables. Like disabling all of the various altitude spark tables and only using the sea level table (just one example). This works great and simplifies it a bunch (especially for drag cars), but I believe some driveability is sacrificed here. Especially for those of us that may have a 7k feet change in altitude throughout the day. I believe the Ford engineers had good reason for the various tables, so I leave them be, unless we are talking a drag car. I use all the tables daily driving my Stang, and switch to the "simplified" set up when at the strip. Now I'm not saying SCT does this, I don't know if they do or not, but it is common practice in a lot of the "canned tunes" I've seen.

Anyway, that's my take on it. If you decide to go QH, I'll come spend a couple of hours getting you dialed in. You can later get it perfected on a dyno, but once your tune is perfected you shouldn't have to fiddle with it at all. If you decide to go SCT I won't blame you a bit. Sometimes simplicity is just best.

Thanks for the great info. These are the guys I was going to use....

http://www.rwrmotorsports.com

They prefer SCT....no idea why. Isn't dialing in the idle more or less a one time thing?

 

[airbur]

No a wide band is an additional sensor that goes to an individual gauge you can mount in the cab so you can monitor your air/fuel ratio

Thanks man. I was hoping that was the case so the Bosch O2s I bought wouldn't be worthless.

I got all the vacuum lines hooked up yesterday. Now waiting on some AN hose ends and tranny cooler. I need to bench bleed the MC and Hydroboost next.

Regarding how the starter was bogging down, I take it that's due to timing being off. Before I start it up again, would it be a slight clockwise or counterclockwise rotation of the dizzy I should make?

 

[ilovemaui]

As stated the wideband is in addition to the two narrow band O2's. It is up to you whether or not you run it all the time or just during the tuning process. I like having the gauge in the truck so I can see what it is doing at all times.

On the timing, I presume you have a timing pointer and correct marks on the balancer? You'll disconnect the spout and set it at 10 degrees BTDC. Once it is set the computer will take over.

 

[Nightstick]

Awesome! I too know the feeling, nice work!

 

[airbur]

Awesome! I too know the feeling, nice work!

Thanks! It does feel great.

 

[airbur]

...On the timing, I presume you have a timing pointer and correct marks on the balancer? You'll disconnect the spout and set it at 10 degrees BTDC. Once it is set the computer will take over.

So disconnect Spout, rotate engine so its 10 BTDC and then start it? Or is the engine supposed to be running before I do this?

 

[airbur]

Just found it. Thanks.

http://oldfuelinjection.com/?p=71

 

[Mountain Ram]

Very straightforward from that link. My engine liked a little more advance (12-14)- likely due to 30lb injectors on a non programed A9P...

 

[airbur]

Got it timed today and it was around 35 BTDC. Adjusted it down to 10 and it was purring. Starts right up and idles on its own even

 

[EFI Guy]

Awesome! That's a good sign.

Does it smell fat?

 

[airbur]

It stinks to high heaven! So yes, I'm sure it's crazy rich.

 

[EFI Guy]

I figured it would be, but if it's purring like a kitten now, it should be pretty easy to dial in.

 

[airbur]

Not much to look at but the sound speaks for itself.

[youtube]n6Rk-c1xukE[/youtube]