He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

I think it goes without saying, but big things are happening here at the Iron Hydroxide HQ. Grace is alive. She runs and even drives. I took her around the block last night. I have internet. This is evident because I am blogging again. And roomate Vaughn is smoking a salmon and t-bone steaks for a celebration dinner. 

Unfortunately my phone has a terrible mic, so all my videos sound like they were shot in a pineapple under the sea, but you get an idea of what the tractory turbo beast sounds like. There is still a ton to be done before she's road worthy, but she runs quite well for a totally un-tuned setup. I didn't dare get too crazy on my test drive since she's full of parts and who knows what other surprises, but it was good to see her progress from a rolling money pit into a driving money pit.

The neighbors must have noticed my working frenzy over the past few weeks and been drawn to it because last week I had 5 different neighbors approach me while I was working on the car to chat with me about it. I've spoken with the next door mechanic, Don, on previous occasions so we chatted about his health since he'd been having some scares with his diabetes but is doing great now. Don and all the other friendly neighbors aren't the only ones who have noticed though. I got a nice nastygram in the mail from an un-named sender. Don was appalled when I told him about it.

Stupid mechanic...

I've been promising a blog post about wiring for about two months now, so I guess it's a little late, but better late than never I suppose. Wiring is one of those parts of the build that is ironically dreaded and overlooked at the same time, more so than any other system on the car. It's like car guys feel that if they ignore it, it will go away. Of course this feeling is understandable, considering the massive amounts of wiring in modern cars. But I'm here to tell you something that if you are a gearhead you'll probably disagree with (If you aren't, hi, welcome to Iron Hydroxide. I'm Jesse, and I have an addiction).  Wiring is fun. 

Yep, you read that right, wiring is fun. I guess I should put some qualifiers on that. Tracking down a slow current drain in a modern car, or trying to figure out why your Jetta dies when you turn on the blinker is not fun. But rewiring a classic car from from the ground up is fun. If you spend the money (and you'll do a lot of that) to get good supplies and components, its a relatively easy and relaxing job. The yoga poses required to run wires under the dash aren't always awesome, but it's no worse than wrestling a greasy transmission into submission.

At this point I've only wired the functions necessary to run the engine but left the chassis un-wired.  I had a few rules for myself when wiring this car. First, there would be no splices in the wires. This was difficult because the terminals you crimp to the ends of sensor wires are extremely varied and can be incredibly hard to find. It's not something that is stocked by auto parts stores or even auto wiring shops. Eventually I contacted Ron Francis Wiring, the vendor that sold me my chassis wiring kit because they also sell factory replacement wiring harnesses. They were incredibly helpful in helping me find the terminals for my crank sensor and throttle position sensor and sent them to me for a very reasonable price.

Ford crank sensor terminal

Ford throttle position sensor terminal

Second, I insisted that all my wires be larger than they needed to be, and grounded better than they needed to be. This meant running 1 gauge battery cables, both positive and negative, from the battery box in the rear to the front of the vehicle. The Ron Francis Express wiring kit I used also provided wires that exceed their necessary size. I got the Express wiring kit from them and have been very happy with it so far.

Third, I refused to solder any connections on the chassis or engine wiring harnesses. I would crimp an  heat shrink every connection. I've mentioned this previously but this required me to buy another tool which as I'm sure you've noticed, I really hate can't stop doing. I inherited this affliction from my dad, Pa Davis. I think he's a compulsive tool buyer. He'll see a four foot long set of channel locks and think "I'm sure I need that for something". I'm not sure he ever does, but I always ended up finding a use for the four foot channel locks. In this case I had to buy a cable crimper. I suppose I could have found a stereo or lowrider shop to crimp my battery cables for me, but I didn't want to rely on a shop to complete this job, and why would I pass up an opportunity to buy another tool. The upside is that I've used this crimper way more than I thought I would and it only cost $35.

And fourth, I decided that all my harness wrap would be braided style wire sheathing with heat shrink protecting the ends. I had used this before on a project at school, but when I built my computer, the power supply had this style of wire sheathing and I fell in love with it all over again because of how tidy it made the computer case look.

My overkill mindset carried over into the battery, where I ended up buying a 750 CCA battery for a low compression 4 cylinder. I suppose this battery is a little large for the Falcon, and a bit of extra weight, but with the 1 gauge cables it spins the engine at 350 RPM while cranking (normal is 200-250) and I won't have to worry about it dying on me.

I also went with at 130 amp alternator from a Taurus. This is a common upgrade done to 1980s fords, as they often came with weak 60 amp alternators. Some have suggested I add a larger charging wire since this is only an 8 gauge wire on the alternator. I have the supplies and will probably switch to a 4 gauge charging wire.

It can be a bit difficult to show any meaningful pictures of wiring harnesses, so I'll just post photos and captions. That's what the kids are doing on the instagrams right?  (yes I'm on instagram too) @gearandlightning #metamucil #hotmixtape #hashbrownsofinstagram #followme #veganbacon #glutenfree

Wires!

GM intake temp sensor and wires

83 lb/hr injectors with EV6 connectors

Coil connector 

Firewall pass-thru

Boost control solenoid with incorrect wire colors (black is a +12v wire and should be red)

Boost control solenoid corrected

DIY Autotune relay board before wiring

DIY Autotune relay board after wiring (under dash, driver's side)

I wish I could tell you that after wiring, I turned the key and it fired up instantly. Such was not the case. after blowing a few fuses, I found that my ignition coils which I thought were LS1 type coils were actually LS2 type coils. In all honesty I did not realize that there was a difference, but there is. They use the same connector, but the wire positions in the connector are flipped. This meant I had to de-pin and re-pin the coil connectors.

After correcting the coil wiring, I still could not get spark. I had a few days of near insanity trying to track down the issue, but eventually realized that I had misunderstood the labeling of the printed circuit boards in the ECU and relay board. If you are a Megaquirt user, read on. If not skip ahead or prepare yourself for this:

S1, S2, S3, S4 on the relay board DO NOT correspond with spr1, spr4, spr3 and spr4 on the ECU as I had assumed. I had my ignition trigger wiring on s2 and s3 (relay board).

Relay board/ECU location/DB37 pin
S1 = IAC1A = pin 29
S2 = IAC1B = pin 27
S3 = IAC2A = pin 25
S4 = IAC2B = pin 31

I had jumpers from pad1 to spr2 and pad3 to spr3. There are two problems with this when using the relay board. the relay cable does not have wires in pin locations 3,4,5,6. This is where spr1, spr2, spr3, and spr4 are located. The second problem is that the spr outputs on the relay board are hidden from view, and to not have any terminals attached to them.

So in order to fix this, I kept my wiring harness the same, but removed all the jumpers that had previously connected

js0 > iac1a
js1 > iac1b
js2 > iac2a
js2 > iac2b

and then put jumpers from
pad1 > IAC1B
pad2 > IAC2A

Previous board setup

Current board setup

Ok dear reader, you can come back now. So yes, Grace is finally mobile. I'll register her next month. But as you can see, she's far from finished. It's just starting to get good, so stay tuned.

Man I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same

You'l have to pardon the terrible quality but it's all I have from Grace's first start since sometime in 1991. SHE'S ALIVE!!!

Without a doubt, I've pissed off the neighbors again.

I'll fill you in when I get a chance to write again, I just got internet yesterday.

She got a gold tooth, you know she's hard core

Dear reader, you might feel like I'm neglecting you. It's not on purpose. I don't have internet at home and I hate blogging on my phone. See how this text is centered? That's because I can't change this on my phone. Formatting sucks on the phone and typing is even worse. When internet is restored I will resume my blogging duties. In the meantime have this.

Soon...

And this as a consolation prize:

Life ain't nothin' but a funny funny riddle

I dedicate this post to pizza, the ultimate project food (and my new keyboard which works properly and doesn't put me in a bad mood). Not only is pizza nutritious and delicious, it is extremely convenient, and no pizza is more convenient than the the world's most adequate pizza, the Little Caesar's Hot-N-Ready. Where else can you walk in, lay down $5 (plus your local government's sales tax) and walk out with a large pizza all in less than one minute? It may not be great pizza, or even good pizza, but by Odin's beard is it adequate!

Disclaimer: Little Caesar's did not give me any free pizza or money for this ad.
If you would like to send me free things that are delicious or car parts, feel free
to do so and I will review them.

The reason I speak so highly of the Hot-N-Ready is because it allows me to accomplish great things without wasting time on silly things like stopping to eat. Instead I can inhale a slice of pizza and continue. Rapid work was the theme this weekend. I got Friday off work in observation of Independence Day but that didn't mean I spent all weekend on the car. Some people think there is more to 'Merica Day than building 'Merican Hot Rods, so I had some time limitations. I woke up early on Friday to do some parts hunting. Luckily most people are not crazy motivated like I am so there was no traffic on this pre-holiday Friday morning and I was able to visit all the shops I needed before 9:30 and get started.

At 10:37 I started to remove the powertrain so that I could access the firewall and move it back four inches. The picture above was taken at 11:57. I was pretty pleased with myself , so I went for a pizza. Once I acquired the pizza I was even more pleased with myself, but not being one to rest on my laurels I got started on the firewall replacement. 

firewall tacked in place

firewall finished

Because I want the body to look pseudo-stock, and it was convenient, I reused the firewall piece that I cut out well over a year ago. By mid afternoon it was time to clean up but I was happy with the day's progress. 

Saturday morning I got up early and got to work because I needed to be done by noon-thirty so I celebrate my freedom of assembly at a BBQ and pool party, and eat the finest communism-free beef. My transmission tunnel needed to be moved up four inches to accommodate the transmission location. The end result came out looking a bit like a patchwork quilt made of 16 gauge steel, but fully functional.

old cardboard boxes serve a valuable function

and in 16 gauge steel...

driver's inner footwell

more cardboard

complete (mostly)

Luckily I'll eventually have carpet in this car so passengers will not be able to admire my fine fabrication skills. I think the thing I'm most excited about with this new firewall and transmission tunnel is that I will no longer have to hear "uhhh, you have a hole in the floor" every time I show my car to someone.

Earlier this week I did a little bit of electronics work. For those unfamiliar with my plans, I will be using MegaSquirt 2 for my engine management system. MegaSquirt is very flexible, but requires some work on the end user's part. As standard, MS2 can control fueling, spark timing, and a few other basic engine functions. 

I purchased this MS2 from a guy named Beau who describes himself as some guy in a shed with a grinder. I know him from www.turboford.org and he previously had a Ford 2.3 turbo in his 1968 Mustang. Eventually he decided he wanted more cylinders and swapped to a 2JZ. The 2JZ didn't require this engine management and I picked up the whole setup for cheap. So yes, the brain that once controlled a 1968 Mustang with a 2.3 turbo will now control a 1962 Falcon with a 2.3 turbo. Funny how these things find their way around.

In the upper photo you can see the red, green, and black wires Beau added to enable boost control to this MS2 unit, and in the bottom photo the white and red wires that were added to enable a Variable Reluctance crank sensor input. I added the black wires on the bottom to enable direct control of the LSx ignition coils I swiped from a Chevy Suburban.

I know I've promised you a post about wiring at least as many times as Vanilla Ice has tried to make a comeback (or been in trouble with the law, both of which are equally hilarious). Keep the faith, someday ol' Robby Van Winkle will have another hit song, or reality TV show, or be taken seriously, and I will write a post about running wiring in the Falcon. In the meantime, do as the American Association of Doctors of America Association recommends and eat an adequate pizza.

Well the lampshade's on fire when the lights go out

I was never a farmer but I grew up in a farming community and my dad always used to say that you have to make hay while the sun shines. Well my girlfreind was out of town for a wedding this past weekend so I guess that meant that the sun was shining... I mean, umm, if you are reading this Jen I got the hungries for your love (and I'm waitin' in your welfare line) 

But seriously I had a lot of time to devote to injuring myself make a lot of progress on Grace. Friday night I worked about 8 hours, shutting down just before 2am and Saturday night I finished up just after 1 am, so I got about 3 full workdays in during the space of a day and a half. I lived on microwave chimichangas and string cheese, so life was good. I also got a ton accomplished.

Last week I sang you the mournful song of a non functional clutch. I called the manufacturer of the slave cylinder and spoke with an engineer who I imagined to be about 52, medium build, named Barb or maybe Jan. She said that any misalignment of the push rod would cause the piston to bind within the cylinder, so my very slight misalignment was causing me issues. I decided that I had made enough new brackets for that slave cylinder and it was time to try a new method, so I ordered a pull-type slave cylinder from Howe racing. I then set to work on what I hoped would be my last bracket.

The pull rod would need to pass through the hole on the side of the bellhousing

New tab mocked up and tacked in place

The slave cyl bracket is now attached to the motor mount

Finished product

The bracket was surprisingly easy to complete, so I drove the half mile to Home Depot because that's the american way only to find that they did not carry any fine thread hardware. A sad truth I've come to find is that the large hardware stores like Home Depot and Lowes are seriously lacking in their hardware selection, and mom and pop hardware stores are much more likely to have odd or uncommon hardware. And if the little guys don't have it, McMaster-Carr is your next stop. If McMaster doesn't have it, it doesn't actually exist, you just wish it did. In this case, the little guy didn't have what I was looking for, but they had something close enough for me to weld a few pieces together and get what I wanted.

Coupler nut by Millermatic

T5 hydraulic conversion complete

The third time really was the charm, and this slave cylinder setup works quite well. My only concern is that the clutch pedal feel is really light, much lighter than I'd prefer. I share this blog on the Pro-Touring Projects Forum and just about two weeks ago a rep from Centerforce Clutch commented on my previously mentioned clutch woes. We discussed the heavy pedal feel I used to deal with. They were very complimentary and actually tried to help me troubleshoot the slave cylinder binding problems. I found it a little humorous that I went to great lengths to avoid the same heavy feel I'd had before, and now it's too light, and I'm trying to figure out how to add a little more weight/feel to the pedal. I may switch from the 3/4" bore master cylinder to a 13/16" bore master.

A few posts ago I modified the fuel tank sump but neglected to test for leaks. I was tempted for a time to be lazy and not check it, but I'm glad I didn't. That would have bit me in the butt faster than Michael Vick's dog would bite Lady Gaga in her meat dress (I'll never understand why someone would waste that much delicious cow). I also took the chance to coat the tank in primer and chassis paint.

If I had a dollar for every minute I spent looking for a tool or part I just barely had in my hand, I could probably buy ever lockpick/toothbrush/flashlight combo ever sold at Harbor Freight since 1994. A classic case of this automotive Alzheimers happened on Saturday. I was making brackets to mount a battery box in the trunk. I made two brackets and then got to the point where I was to weld them to the crossbars that would tie them together. I got the tack welds on the first bracket and suddenly the second bracket was gone. I probably spent twenty minutes muttering and cursing while lifting toolboxes and checking in the trunk in hopes of finding that $@#$ bracket because so help me I'm not going to remake this stupid @!%! thing, DON'T MAKE ME REMAKE YOU YOU HEAP OF STEAMING MONKEY DUNG FINE I'LL DO IT, WHATEVER.... BUT I'M WARNING YOU!

Brackets in progress

So of course it took me only ten minutes to remake the bracket and as soon as I finished remaking it, just like magic it appears from under the battery box I had picked up three times already. In an attempt to teach a surly bit of shaped angle iron, I hurled it against the fence. I'm not sure if it internalized the lesson I was trying to teach, but it made me feel better.

And don't come back!

Trunk pre battery box

Trunk post battery box

Welded in place and grounded to the ground

Even though the intake was essentially finished the devil is in the details. Seriously though, you ever actually read the terms and conditions on basically anything? Pretty much the canon of the occult right there, complete with songbooks and curses. What I'm getting at is that while the intake was built, it was lacking some very important touches like vacuum ports and a throttle cable bracket. Luckily neither of those is too complex, so I made short work of it.

We now have air on tap

Building brake lines isn't all that physically difficult, but it can be mentally taxing. There are a number of bends and curves necessary to clear all the other components so you have to dig deep into the lobe of your brain that processes spatial functions. It's a puzzle you have to solve creatively but lacks the geriatric feeling you get from jigsaw puzzles, sudoku, and installing dentures in the morning. I had most of the lines finished a long time ago, but then made some changes under the car that required me to remake a couple lines. Yet I kept putting it off because every time I thought about it that same dread that most car guys feel about wiring would come over me and I'd pretend I hadn't thought about brake lines. Well on Saturday about 9:30PM I finally put on my big boy pants and build the lines I needed. All told, it ended up being a good way to unwind from a long day of working on the other systems of the car and came out looking really clean.

Double flaring tool

Brake light switch installed in the brake line, running next to the fuel lines

Over the past week I've done a ton of wiring as well, but you'll have to wait until the next installment. You've all had enough of this blog for the day, so in the words of a personal hero of mine, keep your stick on the ice.

And remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy