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Motorsports "POS" Mustang Cobra Restoration Journal |
| #77: August 20th, 2012 - Transmission, Motor, Springs and Engine Accessories get installed... | ||
| Before
the Motor and Transmission went in, I cleaned up all the remaining
brake lines that go from the Master Cylinder to the ABS and installed
them. Next up were all new power steering hoses. With those out of the
way, I installed the original Transmission, crossmember and a custom
aluminum driveshaft. (A cut-down Crown Vic unit) | ||
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| I
put together the engine almost 3 years ago, to summarize, its an
Explorer short-block with the original GT40 heads (rebuilt) that were
on the POS when I got it. All the wearing parts were replace, and all
the sheet metal parts were powder-coated, including the upper intake. It went in fine. The only issue was I had to remove the Air Pump, as it would not clear the ABS module during installation. With the engine now bolted in place, my parts table is looking decidedly empty. | ||
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| Now
I could start bolting on the rest of the accessories, upper intake,
cooling system and engine wiring. A couple of parts, the radiator fan
& shroud and the air cleaner/MAF housing had not been cleaned-up
yet. Luckily, after disassembly, all the parts fit in my glass-beading
cabinet and cleaned up nicely. And there we have it, one completely installed Cobra engine! | ||
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| The
next thing to do was fill up the cooling system with H2O. That exposed
my first problem. Water was leaking out the bottom of the thermostat
housing. I found that the lower bolt was loose. I tightened it up,
which slowed the leak down, but did not eliminate it. But I really
wanted to hear the motor run, so time to hit the key.... And nothing happened! No starting and I did not hear the fuel pump come on. To say I was disappointed was an understatement! First thing I checked was all the grounds. I made sure that none were loose and I went from ground to ground with a ohm meter to make sure there was continuity at all locations. Next I swapped out the CCRM with the one from the racecar to verify it was working. Still no start. I knew the fuel pump worked. I had already tested the it the previous day when I did the final flush of the fuel lines. I made a jumper wire to put in the clutch switch, so I could eliminate that. Still no start. I pulled out my factory service manual, which had the wiring schematics, and with that in hand and a test light, started to test for power starting at the fuse blocks, which all tested good. I tried swapping out the relays in the underhood fuse box with ones from the racecar, but it made no difference. My test light confirmed there was no power in the wire that went from the underhood box to the starter solenoid. I went under the dash next and tested the ignition switch. I had power there. Next to the clutch switch. Power there also. Now the circuit goes to the rear of the car where the remote receiver and factory anti-theft system is located. Power is there too. Next it continues back up front, around the radiator support and then along the passenger -side to the firewall where it connects to the transmission harness. Power there too. Then it goes back around to the start relay in the undehood fuse block and down to the starter solenoid, which is were I lost the start position power. This all took a couple of days to do, and now I needed a little help. My answer was on eBay. I purchased a factory 1994 Mustang Electrical Troubleshooting Manual. | ||
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| I
took a break on the wiring problems while I was waiting for the manual
to arrive and turned my attention to other issues. First was bleeding
the brakes. I bench-bled the Master Cylinder before installing it, but
now I need to get the air out of the lines. This too, was not as easy as it should have been. I use a hand-held Mighty Vac to bleed brakes. It's nice & simple to use and I can bleed the system by myself. But I could not get any brake fluid to the front calipers. I disconnected the line feeding the ABS and was able to get fluid out, no problem. But just air came from the bleeder on the calipers. I took a break and came back to find a puddle of brake fluid under the caliper. It was leaking from the sealing washers where the line bolts to the caliper. So I picked up some new front brake lines and installed them when I did my next task. Installing "new" Eibach springs and the "correct" steering spindle. The entire front suspension on the car is from an '03 Cobra, except springs, which were '98 Cobra Convertible units, with one coil removed. I could tell as the car started coming together that even with the coils cut off, it was sill sitting way too high. So I picked up a set of 'nearly new' Eibach springs off eBay to fix the problem. The "straight-arm" '03 spindles and hubs were replaced with the correct, "bent-arm" spindles for a '94/'95 vehicle. New hubs were installed too. Finally, the recently power-coated, (and much sought after) 25mm front anti-sway bar & brackets were installed with new bushings. Oh, and the new brake lines were installed. | ||
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| A
couple of hours after getting the manual, I located the problem using
the information that it contained. Turns out, after the power comes
back from the transmission on its way to the starter relay, it passes
through a connector located under the air filter/MAF housing. So I pulled the housing and what do you know, it was not connected all the way! I connected the plug, walked around and hit the key and it turned over!!! (I did not try to start it as there was no MAF) | ||
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All images are property of Titanium Motorsports and may not be used without permission.Last Modified: August 24th, 2012. | ||