Keith's '95 Cobra money pit

[bird_dog0347]

holy crap man, I just read through 19 pages of awesome... You aren't too far from me either. I know you have heard it at least 50 times on this thread but you have done an excellent job man. Thanks for your service, and congrats on the baby you have on the way. Boy or Girl, first?

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by bird_dog0347

holy crap man, I just read through 19 pages of awesome... You aren't too far from me either. I know you have heard it at least 50 times on this thread but you have done an excellent job man. Thanks for your service, and congrats on the baby you have on the way. Boy or Girl, first?

Thanks for reading and thanks for the compliments.

First kid and a girl.

[psychotuner]

you dont happen to have your onld fuel injection harness do you ?

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by psychotuner

you dont happen to have your onld fuel injection harness do you ?

I do

[Mustangmichael]

I was wondering if you had this figured out yet, but if you need a break, that's understandable. I do that often as well. I've got a 6 yo girl and she's my first and only. She takes a bunch of my time, but I give it willingly. Family trumps car everytime. Plus I imagine it's like 110* in Texas about now, lol.

[Wicked03GT]

I would REALLY like to hear more about your P/S braided lines conversion...

I want to do this to mine along with the radiator hoses and probably the by-pass lines as well...

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by Wicked03GT

I would REALLY like to hear more about your P/S braided lines conversion...

I want to do this to mine along with the radiator hoses and probably the by-pass lines as well...

There is a thread in the 94/95 forum where I documented it in depth. It is the same for fox bodies as it is for my year.

If you have any specific questions, hit me up on PM.

[89BlackGtVert]

Spent most of my work day yesterday reading this entire tread LOL..

Was wondering if you ever figured out of it was teh AEM or not?

VERY VERY good work man. If I had your talents and money, I would built my Vert Fox the same way..

[PonyExpress94]

Originally Posted by kbscobravert

ABS delete manifold is in

Where did you find this ABS delete manifold? I have not been able to find this particular style.

Thanks in advance for your help. Any luck getting the tuning issues worked out with the car?

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by 89BlackGtVert

Spent most of my work day yesterday reading this entire tread LOL..

Was wondering if you ever figured out of it was teh AEM or not?

VERY VERY good work man. If I had your talents and money, I would built my Vert Fox the same way..

Thanks a lot for the compliments. As you can see from the thread, it has taken a long time to get it finished (is it every?). Thanks for taking the time to read the whole thing. I have wasted many a day at work reading some of the great build threads on here myself.

Much to a lot of dissapointment here, I have not touched the car since June/July when I replaced the alternator and rewired the charge wires.

I have had a lot going on in our life; went back to work in Afghanistan, had a baby girl (on the same day as your revive post by the way, thanks) and other projects at home.

I have a 10 day trip home scheduled in April and plan on getting the car back together and over to a buddy of mine to look at the issue, tune it again and make some more power on the dyno.

Originally Posted by PonyExpress94

Where did you find this ABS delete manifold? I have not been able to find this particular style.

Thanks in advance for your help. Any luck getting the tuning issues worked out with the car?

To be honest I can not remember the guys name other than Paul; I think. There are several threads mentioning his name and email address. I will see if I can find one or two and repost their links here for you.

[PonyExpress94]

Originally Posted by kbscobravert

Thanks a lot for the compliments. As you can see from the thread, it has taken a long time to get it finished (is it every?). Thanks for taking the time to read the whole thing. I have wasted many a day at work reading some of the great build threads on here myself.

Much to a lot of dissapointment here, I have not touched the car since June/July when I replaced the alternator and rewired the charge wires.

I have had a lot going on in our life; went back to work in Afghanistan, had a baby girl (on the same day as your revive post by the way, thanks) and other projects at home.

I have a 10 day trip home scheduled in April and plan on getting the car back together and over to a buddy of mine to look at the issue, tune it again and make some more power on the dyno.



To be honest I can not remember the guys name other than Paul; I think. There are several threads mentioning his name and email address. I will see if I can find one or two and repost their links here for you.

Thanks for the response and congratulations on the new bundle of joy!!!! Sorry to hear about the slow progress. I too in recent years have seen projects stretch far longer than I want due to family matters. However, fixing that car will seem ho-hum compared to seeing that little girl grow. My 10 month old has been a lot of fun for me and my wife despite the work associated with children.

Your memory of the ABS delete block manufacturer's name is correct. You must have gotten it from PRB Machining.

I hope your time overseas passes safely and quickly so you can get home to your family and make some progress on the car.

[XThe ResurrectionX]

This car is just perfect. Congratulations on the new addition, and be safe. Looking forward to updates.

[psychotuner]

sorry this is way off topic. (however I always keep up with your build)

Topic, trunk struts. Kieth or anyone can chime in... is your Cobra trunk hard to open? I have a cobra just like yours! my trunk is hard to open. I bought 4 sets of trunk struts from junk yard and all were the same this has lead to my assumtion that the trunk struts ONLY keep the lid open not help assist with the lifting of it, am I worng? Do I just need to purchase BRAND NEW supports from Autozone or pepboys? or do I need to source out a stronger lid lift support ?

thanks!

[fede86gt]

Originally Posted by psychotuner

sorry this is way off topic. (however I always keep up with your build)

Topic, trunk struts. Kieth or anyone can chime in... is your Cobra trunk hard to open? I have a cobra just like yours! my trunk is hard to open. I bought 4 sets of trunk struts from junk yard and all were the same this has lead to my assumtion that the trunk struts ONLY keep the lid open not help assist with the lifting of it, am I worng? Do I just need to purchase BRAND NEW supports from Autozone or pepboys? or do I need to source out a stronger lid lift support ?

thanks!

Same here, new struts, and it doesnt open on its own

[phatboy5015]

My 04 GT is the same way. I have to pull up hard enough that you can see the back of the car pick up a little..

[kbscobravert]

I don't think the trunk lids were ever designed to spring open but moreso to not fall or close on their own. I know mine has resistance when opening outside of the weight of the light decklid and spoiler.

[kbscobravert]

The running issue aside, which I think is burnt plug wires on the pass side between valve cover and DP. Time to rethink my gauges to get a tach in cluster to work and to minimize the other pods. Besides, have the factory gauges in the cluster don't work anyways.

Last time the dash went back in, I broke two of the bolts near the CD player where the frame bolts to the body of the tunnel, combined with the fact I hate the fact it is rust orange; the dash needs to come out.

I really want to find another frame to clean, paint, and strip out the airbag and ABS wiring from. Then pull mine and swap them over.

Right now I am using three pods to hold AEM digital gauges. An Autometer cluster bezel to hold two gauges, a clock pod for two and a steering column pod for another. Too much to float around to see.

I have an email into Florida 5.0 for new cluster to replace my half dead one. The goal is to fit a new Electric Speedo, Tach, Oil PSI, Water Temp, Fuel Level, Air Fuel Ratio, and Boost along with turn signal indicators, high beam indicator and my electric vacuum pump activated light.

Autometer makes a digital electric speedo and tach combined 3-3/8" gauge. They don't make one in white but I can change my AEM stuff over to black very easily.


This is the configuration I am looking for.


I took a picture from their site and by duplicating their openings in powerpoint I managed to squeeze them all in there.....on paper. This still leaves out the Voltmeter but I can put it in the glove box or center console and since I might move to an auto with transbrake I can put both in there.


If they can't do the above I am gonna go with this style. But this will require me to either ditch the CD player and use a plate for two or three gauges or use the clock pod for two gauges.

[psychotuner]

Kieth. I had the same issue. With my 3.5" down pipe I burnt wires. So now I have 10mm livewires which have heat sleeve on them but I also wraped heat sleeve over and use boot protectors. And zip tied the wires to the fuel rail tight. Also wrapped my downpipe in titanium wrap.

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by psychotuner

Kieth. I had the same issue. With my 3.5" down pipe I burnt wires. So now I have 10mm livewires which have heat sleeve on them but I also wraped heat sleeve over and use boot protectors. And zip tied the wires to the fuel rail tight. Also wrapped my downpipe in titanium wrap.

The car starts fine. But absolutley will not drive. The slightest load it just stumbles and stumbles. It has to be cooked wires on the driver's side. So when I get home and pull them, the coils are getting relocated to the K-member.

[kbscobravert]

Since I already have an Autometer Phantom II 3-3/4" tach with shift light I am gonna go ahead and try to do all Phantom II stuff in the dash to match the AEM white face black bezel stuff. That and when it is dark and you turn the Phantom II lights on, it blacks out the bezel, same as the AEMs.

Already have a tach adapter to work the Tach with the coil on plugs set up or the tach output from the AEM ECU.

I am thinking of pulling the Pass Air bag and getting a delete plate from florida5.0 and possibly putting the ECU, Injector driver, and Tach adapter in the dash behind the cover. Airbags don't work anyway.

I have another dash frame lined up so when I get home I can clean it, paint it and swap all my stuff over and get rid of the Airbag wirring harness at the same time I wire in the new gauges.

Keeping the clock pod and keeping the steering column pod. I am still working out the gauge configuration but I think I have it close. Autometer Phantom II Clock and full sweep voltage gauge in the clock dash pod. A partial sweep would be much cheaper but it won't match the full sweep of the clock.

Move the Oil PSI into the steering column pod and putting a Phantom II pyrometer and full sweep fuel gauge in the cluster trim pod.

Take the 3-3/4" tach which is not a dash mount and figure out how to stuff it and lock it down into the florida50 cluster panel. I am sure they can help with this. I like it even more A) it is already a $200 gauge paid for B) has a shift light attached and the gauge controls it, saves me another $190. The shift light can protrude through the cluster face too.

Air Fuel, Boost/Vac, Fuel PSI and Water Temp right in the center
Here is the proposed cluster and trim pod.........crappy powerpoint work lol


Pyrometer off to the far right, fuel level far left and Oil PSI close to the Water temp on the steering pod. Voltage and Clock can sit out of the way.


In the future if I go with an automatic, I can ditch the clock, move one or two around and put a trans temp in there without having to loose the radio/cd player or putting a gaudy pod on the pillar.

[lchauvin88]

Boooo! Autos are the suck!

Youre never going to finish this car.

Gauge cluster does look super cool. If you pull it off that would be even more cool.
Good luck.

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by lchauvin88

Boooo! Autos are the suck!

Youre never going to finish this car.

Gauge cluster does look super cool. If you pull it off that would be even more cool.
Good luck.

Auto street car does suck but it beats killing a thousand dollar clutch one at a time to find one that will hold.

Projects are never finished. That is why they are called projects; I think.

The dead oil psi, water temp and tach annoyed the crap out of me on the trip to OK and back.

I did find the only convertible pillar pod for two gauges made by sound of speed performance (or something like that). They stopped making them for verts and only produce them for coupes now. Ditching the Phantom II clock and the entire clock pod and ditching the steering column pod (never liked anyways) will clean it up even more.

Found all my Autometer stuff on Ebay for $100 less than what summitt wanted, or 12-15% off. Found a dash frame for $35 local.

With any luck I can get some garage time when I come home in April for 7 days.

[kbscobravert]

Big plans coming but slow progress should be expected. Now until October 5th, I only have 7 maybe upto 10 days in the US to spend. So it will most likely not hit the road again until October. Its okay, not like I will be home to drive it.

In short: New gauges, trim the fat in the dash and ECU harnesses, box in the radiator and improve on the cooling, rewire virtually the entire car, ditch Airbag and mount all the electronics its spot, drain fuel tank of old E85 and fix some odds and ends with the fuel lines, repair plug wires and relocate coils to under the motor.

Phase One
Pull interior (seats, carpet, center console, dash
Strip down my new (used from Ebay) dash harness to remove all the junk I don't need (factory: oil psi wire, water temp wire, tach signal wire, seat belt buzzer wire, oil level wire, ABS light wire, all Airbag wiring and Passenger Airbag)
Extend HVAC controls to mount in center console under the ashtray door
Swap HVAC temp control cable with new and longer one (used from Ebay for a 95 F150 about 16-18" longer than the mustang one) and extend HVAC vac lines.
Cut the face off the passenger airbag - grab 12v batter wire a switch and airbag and go set it off in the backyard. The neighbors love me.

Phase Two
Install new Phantom II series gauges in new Florida50 cluster panel
Wire up all gauges and graft the harnesses into what is left from the factory one
Buid electronics mounting tray to sit inside the cove of the passenger airbag.
Position and make room for ECU, Injector Driver, Tach Adapter, Bussman modular fuse and relay distribution box RTMR 15303 (look it up; it is bad azz and MUCH cheaper than anything from Painless)

Phase Three
Pull fenders, again (bumper is already off)
Pull ECU harness, again.
Strip out the wires going to the main fuse box for power & ground, and pull out all the command and power wires for the CCRM.
Clean up firewall wires above the HVAC

Phase Four
Wire in the components going in the airbag cove. Probably the longest part of the new work.

Phase Five
I am buying a Mark VII fan to replace the factory. It should flow 4,500-4,900cfm
Build an aluminum shroud to cover the entire surface area of the radiator
Trim the Mark VIII shroud to lay inside the aluminum one and mount it up
Box in the entire intercooler, A/C condenser and radiator section
Install 8" electric fan on oil cooler

Phase Six
Remove fuse box and all associated wire harnesses
Strip out unused wires. I am not entirely sure yet but the fuse box under the hood will only house a few components if I even need it at all by the time I am done. See above Bussman 15303 fuse/relay panels.
Since there is no longer ABS pump & sensors, no longer Air Bag - no need for crash sensors, the only wiring really needs to be left behind are lights. I can control then from the new fuse/relay panels and simplify the harnesses circling the wheel wells and front end.

Phase seven
Drain fuel tank
Drop fuel tank
Clean out and dry fuel tank
Install (tig in a -an valve system) a better drain
Section the feed and return fuel lines since they are a pain to work with at the tank.

Phase eight
pull the coils from the valve covers and mount them down below on the K-member.....I think....or in the fender wells with all the new space.
Run new coil pack wires.
Build new plug wires

That is as far as I have planned. My wife is right. I will never be done with this car.

[mustangheaven]

I see your throwing around ideas for a gauge cluster, have you seen the autometer race panel. it uses 3 3/8 tach and speedo with 4 small holes for auxillary gauges 2 1/16.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

i use it and here is a pic installed, its not the best angle i just took a picture when i had the chance that day. it lines up good and when installed its pretty solid.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

do you have the florida50 one already if so could you take a side profile pic of it, i always wondered what it looked like after i found it on the net and i bought the autmeter version.

when you do your radiator mod with the mark fan, could you do a nice write up because im considering doing this to my car.

oh yeah good luck, this time youll do it perfect, although i though your previous version was already perfect im sure youll surpise with an exceptional outcome.

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by mustangheaven

I see your throwing around ideas for a gauge cluster, have you seen the autometer race panel. it uses 3 3/8 tach and speedo with 4 small holes for auxillary gauges 2 1/16.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

i use it and here is a pic installed, its not the best angle i just took a picture when i had the chance that day. it lines up good and when installed its pretty solid.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting

do you have the florida50 one already if so could you take a side profile pic of it, i always wondered what it looked like after i found it on the net and i bought the autmeter version.

when you do your radiator mod with the mark fan, could you do a nice write up because im considering doing this to my car.

oh yeah good luck, this time youll do it perfect, although i though your previous version was already perfect im sure youll surpise with an exceptional outcome.

I looked at Autometer's panel but they just wouldn't meet my needs. I have to stuff a lot of gauges in because it is a street car and at the same time I want to be able to monitor everything. It is not a car I want going down away from the house. Wife would be pissed and tow bills suck.

I will take plenty of picks on the shrouding and radiator work.

In the mean time I have been reading, a lot. Mostly automotive wiring principles and methods. I am learning way more than I thought I could. And it is spending MORE of my money. Now I need to add tons of 2ga, 4ga wire to my charging, starting and power system. It may have something to do with the way it is getting a little warm in traffic.....low amps at idle to power the fan(s) speeds. etc.

For a good read I really suggest SA Designs (SA160 and SA209) both written by Tony Candela CE Auto Electric Supply - Home . Because of him, I am looking at $500-600 in stereo wire.

[kbscobravert]

Unpacked mound of parts. Sad thing this is minus a few big boxes by the door still.


Florida5.0 came through with a bada$$ gauge panel. I am loving this thing already.


Mocked up the Autometer Phantom II gauges. The two empty cavities on the top will be my AEM Digital Oil PSI and H2O Temp.

I was surprised at how similar the in dash Speedo and the dash mount tach are. The faces are identical.


Only the rears are different and the hole in the dash panel only lacks a little massaging to slip the tach in. Holding it in is gonna take a little engineering. Speedo on the right, Tach on the left.


Electronics, electronics, electronics. Time to rewire the dash and factory fuse boxes to eliminate some unneeded stuff and ditch the CCRM.


Aermotive fuel speed controller


Leash Electronics 4 relay potted boxes. Very nice and solid. Even have weight to them for their size. [Russian]heavy means quality[/Russian]



Here is the new fan relays, BOTH. The dual 40amp Leash Electronics, is the Lo and Hi speed controls for the coolant fan. The other is the Derale adjustable for the new oil cooler fan.


Aforementioned oil cooler fan. I am swapping out my -8an cooler for a slightly larger -10an with a fan mounted to it. I can not say enough about the quality of the Derale stuff.






.....and the Earls oil thermostat. Aids in engine warm up and the quicker I can get the oil to temp the minimal amount of moisture in the crankcase.


You can see the pre/post temp sending units. For the oil temp gauge that will be on a rotary switch to flip between.


made for the Autometer probes.


Got a NEW and used Lincoln Mark VIII fan. The new one was actually cheaper than the used one. Should pull 4,800 to 5,000 cfm and once I box in the radio and intercoolers, will hopefully cool it.


The plan is to cut the shroud down the bare minimum and build an aluminum shroud to close off the radiator.

[Helomech74]

Aren't you running a BBRC tank with a Magnafuel pump in it? The Magnafuel pumps aren't meant to be ran with a pump controller, are you having issues with it running hot or something? I have the same setup and don't have issues at all.

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by Helomech74

Aren't you running a BBRC tank with a Magnafuel pump in it? The Magnafuel pumps aren't meant to be ran with a pump controller, are you having issues with it running hot or something? I have the same setup and don't have issues at all.

Yep, BBRC with submerged pump.

Your right. The controller was a last minute add. After searching you are right, cannot run a controller with Magnafuel pumps.

I haven't noticed fuel temps too high on the street but I was ditching the CCRM needed a relay to power the pump. Guess I can push the controller off to the side and use a leg of the 4 relay boxes. Actually saves me some wiring.

.....and gonna have the tank out and am thinking about putting a temp sending unit in just for #####s and grins.

[psychotuner]

that fan will hang off rad about 2" I have one in my 95 cobra. i just riveted a plate from bottom rad support to fan... seems to work. I never over heated

[Helomech74]

Originally Posted by kbscobravert

Yep, BBRC with submerged pump.

Your right. The controller was a last minute add. After searching you are right, cannot run a controller with Magnafuel pumps.

I haven't noticed fuel temps too high on the street but I was ditching the CCRM needed a relay to power the pump. Guess I can push the controller off to the side and use a leg of the 4 relay boxes. Actually saves me some wiring.

.....and gonna have the tank out and am thinking about putting a temp sending unit in just for #####s and grins.

Looking forward to seeing how you remove the CCRM, I'd like to do the same thing.

[kbscobravert]

Originally Posted by Helomech74

Looking forward to seeing how you remove the CCRM, I'd like to do the same thing.

I am looking for a GOOD plug with about 6" of wire (factory colored) and a relay from a FOX EFI harness. It uses the same circuit design that is internal to the CCRM as far as WOT cut out and low/high pressure switch. With that I can remove the CCRM and it's associated wire all together.

[kbscobravert]

Started putting the cluster together. I was able to use the shift light and used the clamp to hold it in place. It actually locks the tach in place too.


I need to trim the cover in half to sit flush to the light.


If you look at the black ring gauge holders you will notice that I had to cut the centers out of each to get them to clear the panel and tighten the gauge to the face.

[droopie]

Originally Posted by kbscobravert

Auto street car does suck but it beats killing a thousand dollar clutch one at a time to find one that will hold.

Projects are never finished. That is why they are called projects; I think.


I did find the only convertible pillar pod for two gauges made by sound of speed performance (or something like that). They stopped making them for verts and only produce them for coupes now.

Speed of Sound is here in Memphis. He makes some killer stuff! Even if he quit making it, I bet if you call Alan, he would make you one.

[Helomech74]

I think Speed of Sound will modify your pillar, but you need to send it to them. I know they posted something about this a while back.

[svt99cobra]

Man that is a ton of work you have done lol....your right project cars are never finished lol