Completed Project 2000 Sport Long term project vehicle

i think i might have to watch this. also, with your new air intake system, do you know if that can be used in a northern winter climate, and snow?

I probably should have posted this a few days ago when you put up the Air filter post. but I was wondering what happened to your cold air setup that you devised with the stock box? are you going to make a heat shield and incorporate the hoses into it? or are you dropping the extra piping as it's no longer needed?

Justin

slow to update registry

I got way behind on updating my registry to reflect the mods I've done. I still have to add the cold air intake mod to the registry. I don't think snow would be a problem. There is a deflector in front of the upper cold air intake. Even if both cold air intakes were packed with snow, there is still the larger intake behind the headlight opening for air to flow thru.

ATF cooler, filter & temp sender

For more details:
Oil Coolers

The photo below shows the stock configuration (minus bumper and grille) of my Sport external ATF oil cooler.

The normal coolant flow is from the 5R55E outlet (top port) to the radiator ATF cooler, thru the radiator cooler, then to the front external cooler, thru the external cooler, and then back to the 5R55E inlet (bottom port). I had read that the 5R55E has internal thermostatic ATF control and only circulates the ATF externally when the internal ATF temperature exceeds the normal limits. My goal of my new ATF cooling configuration is to reduce the maximum temperature of the ATF which should increase the life of the transmission. I decided to purchase another stock external ATF cooler and not use the radiator ATF cooler since most of the time it is heating the ATF rather than cooling it.
The photo below shows the repositioned ATF cooler on the passenger side and the added ATF cooler on the driver side.

I cut off the stock mounting brackets and fabricated my own using aluminum angle stock.
I also decided to add a remote full flow type filter for the ATF. It is my opinion that the filter in the transmission is just a screen that traps very large particles and does little to keep the fluid clean. It is also inconvenient to replace the stock screen/filter and difficult to prevent contamination while doing so. My approach is to only replace the stock screen/filter when the transmission is rebuilt. Instead, I will replace the remote full flow filter annually.
The photo below shows the remote full flow filter installed in my selected location which prompted the raising and recessing of the stock external cooler.

ATF flows from the 5R55E outlet to the full flow filter. After passing thru the filter the ATF flow is split in half. One half goes thru the passenger side ATF cooler and one half goes thru the driver side ATF cooler. This reduces the flow restriction of the coolers. After the coolers the ATF flow combines and proceeds to the 5R55E inlet.
I decided to add an ATF temperature sending unit so I could monitor the effectiveness of my coolers.
The photo below shows the ATF sending unit installed at the full flow filter inlet.

On a cool afternoon this fall I drove up the mountain from Greenville, South Carolina to Flat Rock, North Carolina at the posted speed limit and the ATF temperature was always below the minimum gauge reading of 100 degrees.

Engine oil cooler, remote filters & temp sender

Being 63 years old I don't like working under a vehicle and I assume the older I get the less I'll like it. I decided to make it more convenient to change the engine oil filter by adding a remote oil filter. I also decided to add a bypass engine oil filter, oil cooler and temperature sender. The photo below shows the engine oil cooler I bought for my Jeep Wagoneer about 15 years ago and never installed.

It fit nicely in the space in front of the air conditioner condenser. I fabricated the mounting brackets out of aluminum stock.
The photo below shows the bypass oil filter mount in the middle and the full flow mount on the driver side.

The temperature sender mounted at the inlet to the full flow filter mount is visable.
The photo below shows the remote filter block adapter in place of the original oil filter. The hose on the right side of the "T" goes to the location for an oil accumulator to be purchased in the future.

The fitting on the left of the "T" is a check valve in the oil return line that prevents the back flow of oil toward the coolers when the oil accumulator is pressurizing the engine.
The photo below shows the economy filters in place in preparation for leak testing.

After a successful leak test and a few hundred miles of operation, the economy full flow filters will be replaced with Mobil 1 filters and the bypass AMSoil filter will be installed. At the same time of filter replacement the engine oil will be changed to full synthetic.

Engine oil external flow

The external flow of engine oil is from the spin on block adapter to the full flow remote oil filter. The filtered oil is then split with a small percentage going thru the restrictive bypass oil filter and the rest going thru the external oil cooler. The oil is then combined and all flows thru the radiator oil cooler before returning to the spin on block adapter. The photo below shows the combined oil hose (on the left) going thru an opening to the radiator cooler.

I have read that the ideal engine oil operating temperature is from 180 to 200 degrees. The objective of my oil flow configuration is to filter and cool the oil that leaves the engine and then warm it up to the desired operating temperature. The photo below shows the combined flow hose connection to the radiator cooler.

The AMSoil bypass filter is larger in diameter than the Mobil 1 full flow filters. That is why it was necessary to mount it in the middle. The photo below shows the filters after the bumper was reinstalled.

There will be just enough room to change the bypass filter without having to remove the bumper. The photo below shows the completed installation.

In the future I'll probably add a lower grille to hide the engine oil cooler and hoses.

Multifunction temperature gauge

The photo below shows the blue wire loom that routes the wiring from the ATF and engine oil temperature senders to a multifunction gauge in an A pillar pod.

The ignition switch controlled power for the gauge was obtained from a wire behind the lower instrument panel cover. The wire in the photo below identified with the red arrow was tapped with a trailer type quick connector.

The green arrow identifies the inline fuse that was added for circuit protection. Controlled illumination is also needed for the gauge and was obtained from the ashtray lamp circuit. The red arrow in the photo below identifies the tap for the illumination.

The black arrow identifies the ground tap. The photo below shows the multifunction gauge mounted in a pillar pod.

The switch identified with the arrow selects between ATF temperature and engine oil temperature. So far the ATF temperature has always indicated less than the gauge minimum of 100 degrees. The engine oil temperature increases gradually from a cold start to a maximum of 155 degrees. Switching to full synthetic engine oil will be a better match for the lower than desired oil temperature.

Cold air intake

I've used my Windows based Dyno-Scan to record intake air temperatures (IAT) while driving with my cone air filter. Even though the outside air temperature was 55 degrees the IAT when driving in town was over 115 degrees. To me that justified the effort to add a cold air intake. The photo below shows a shop vacuum hose kit I purchased for the ducting.

The hose is corrugated with an internal diameter of 1.75 inches. The photo below shows the two openings I cut using a 1.75 inch hole punch.

The corrugations on the hose hold it in place in the openings without the use of any clamps. The photo below shows the lower section of the stock air filter enclosure after some modifications.

I removed the stock inlet cone significantly increasing the opening size. I also used a 1.75 inch diameter hole saw to cut two new openings in the side. The photo below shows the modified air filter enclosure base mounted in position with the cold air ducts attached.

The side holes are low enough that they would not interfere with a stock air filter or low restriction drop in filter. I have decided to continue to use a cone filter and eventually modify the upper section of the enclosure to contain the cone filter. Until then, my IAT will be significantly higher than ambient temperature during low speed driving.

A/F ratio meter

In my opinion one of the most useful automotive instruments is an air/fuel (A/F) ratio meter. This is especially true if any intake system (air filter, inlet tube, MAF sensor, throttle body) modifications or fuel injection system (injectors, pressure regulator) modifications are implemented. Since I planned to modify all of the previously listed intake system items I purchased a meter and wideband oxygen sensor. The ideal location of the O2 sensor is as close to the exhaust manifold as reasonably possible. The best position was taken by the stock pre-catalytic converter O2 sensor so I had an exhaust shop add another O2 bung just downstream and then swapped the stock and wideband O2 sensors. The photo below shows the O2 sensors on the driver side downpipe.

I covered the wideband O2 sensor wiring with an 18 inch long section of heat sheathing in the vicinity of the downpipe and then routed the remaining wire bundle into the driver area via the grommet that passes the speedometer cable. From there I routed the wiring to the pillar pod mounted indicator. The photo below shows the completed installation of the A/F ratio meter.

The meter gets power from the same wire that powers the multi-function temperature gauge. I sized the fuse accordingly.

This is an AWESOME thread!! SO many great ideas and ways to implement them. Keep it up!!

75mm racing throttle body

For more details:
75mm throttle body for 4.0L SOHC?

There is at least one lengthy thread that discusses fuel economy gains from increasing the size of the throttle body Mustang 4.6 throttle body on a 4.0 SOHC Explorer . I was surprised that increasing the throttle body would increase fuel economy as well as maximum horsepower so I decided to see if I could duplicate the results. The photo below shows my stock 65mm throttle body and "comb" gasket that fits between the throttle body and the upper air intake plenum port.

I was fortunate to obtain a Ford prototype 75mm racing ported and polished throttle body to experiment with. Because of the 10mm diameter difference between the throttle body outlet and the plenum inlet I decided an adapter was required. The adapter I fabricated is shown in the photo below.

I used a section of my wife's kitchen cutting board as the adapter material. It was the correct thickness, easy to work with and dishwasher safe. I used a 2 inch diameter drum sander to shape the taper between the two openings. The photo below shows the mounted 75mm throttle body in the wide open position.

The thickness of the adapter was just right to remove virtually all of the throttle cable slack.
The photo below shows the completed installation.

It was necessary to work vinyl conditioner into the stock air hose in order to force it to fit over the large throttle body inlet port. I have no dynomometer or fuel economy results yet to report. I can state that the engine response to rapid throttle change has improved significantly.

90mm MAF sensor & amp

For more details:
80mm MAF Sensor for SOHC V6

Reducing air flow restriction by increasing the MAF sensor (MAFS) diameter has the potential to increase fuel economy as well as maximum power. To test the idea I purchased the largest MAFS that was readily available - a Lightning 90mm. Since the cross sectional area of a 90mm MAFS is much greater than a stock 55mm MAFS the air speed thru the 90mm MAFS will be significantly less - as will the MAFS output voltage to the PCM. The PCM will "think" there is less load than actual on the engine and the mixture will be lean. This error is normally corrected with a custom tune. However, I wanted the ability to change the richness in real time from lean thru normal to rich. I decided to design and build a MAFS amplifier (MAFSAmp) with a variable richness control. The first task was to obtain some airflow data from the two MAFSs. The photo below shows the test fixture I devised using an electric duct fan and an electric two speed leaf blower.

With the test fixture I was able to measure the output voltage of both MAFSs for a low, medium and high airflow. This allowed me to determine the approximate desired gain of the MAFSAmp. The photo below shows the three stage transistor amplifier that I designed.

The blue rectangular shaped items are 15 turn micropotentiometers that allow adjustment of the gain. The photo below shows the MAFSAmp wiring harness for inserting the amplifier electrically between the 90mm MAFS and the PCM.

The wiring allows me to return to the stock 55mm MAFS if desired. One connector goes to the IAT and another goes to the richness control potentiometer. The photo below shows the initial vehicle test configuration.

The air filter is connected to the 90mm MAFS which is connected to the 55mm MAFS allowing rapid switching from one to the other. Test results proved the validity of the concept so I permanently wired the vehicle for the modification.

2000StreetRod said:

Test results proved the validity of the concept so I permanently wired the vehicle for the modification.

Click to expand...

What if anything did you determine from this. Have you done any Dyno work with it yet? or can you give the old "seat of the pants" Dyno results?

Initial test results

97sprt4x4 said:

What if anything did you determine from this. Have you done any Dyno work with it yet? or can you give the old "seat of the pants" Dyno results?

Click to expand...

The initial test results demonstrated that it is feasible to use an amplifier to make a 90mm MAFS simulate a 55mm MAFS to the PCM. I did not mean for anyone to think that the results demonstrated that a larger MAFS increased fuel economy and maximum power. That conclusion will require future driving and dyno data. I'm sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

MAFSAmp & intake system

The red arrow in the photo below identifies the richness potentiometer mounted on the pillar pod.

The green arrow identifies a test jack that permits monitoring the MAFSAmp output voltage sent to the PCM.
My air intake strategy is to have the air speed increase as it flows from the air filter to the intake plenum. The photo below shows an interim configuration.

The cone filter outlet diameter is 4 inches - the same as the 90mm MAFS inlet and outlet. The intake diameter remains at 4 inches until just before the throttle body inlet where it reduces to 3 inches (75mm) in diameter. The 75mm diameter is maintained thru the throttle body and then is reduced by the adapter to 65mm to match the plenum inlet. The red arrow identifies the MAFSAmp. The green arrow identifies the loom that routes the wiring to and from the pillar pod mounted richness control. The blue arrow identifies the air tube to valve cover PCV flow tube. The red arrow in the photo below identifies the added IAT and connector.

The green arrow identifies the tube that connects to the IAC.

Initial driving results indicate a significant increase in throttle change response and power. Based strictly on driver "feel" I estimate the power increase to be at least 15 horsepower. The vehicle is a lot more fun to drive and I'm having trouble keeping my foot off of the accelerator. I suspect that some of the increase is psychological due to the air inrush noise. There also is a definite increase in low end torque. The transmission does not downshift as much as it used to when climbing hills at light throttle. Also, pulling away from a stop at light throttle has improved.

Using thermistors I was able to achieve satisfactory temperature compensation to stabilize the amplifier gain for engine compartment temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 120 degrees. However, after multiple attempts I have been unable to stabilize the gain during the first 5 minutes after ignition On. The output voltage decreases more than 10% which significantly affects the richness at idle speed. I can compensate for the change by adjusting the pillar pod mounted richness control but to me this is an unacceptable solution. Consequently, I have indefinitely shelved the MAFAmp experiment and am proceeding with obtaining an X3 Power Flash and custom tune for my unique configuration from Henson Performance.

Very cool thread ... I'll be watching this one.

Gave me a couple of good ideas already.

Changing rear axle lubricant

Ford recommends changing the rear axle lubricant every 150,000 miles and mine is due. The petroleum based rear axle lubricant has significant friction for the first several miles of driving in cold weather because of its high viscosity. The cold temperature friction is doubled on a four or all wheel drive vehicle. According to the Owner's Guide my 4.0L conventional rear axle was filled with SAE 80W-90 petroleum based lubricant. The 4.0L limited slip and all 5.0L rear axles came with SAE 75W-140 and 4 oz of additive friction modifier. Replacing the stock lubricant with synthetic lubricant has fuel economy and performance improvement potential. I decided to use SAE 75W-140 synthetic. In "the old days" there was a drain plug near the bottom of the differential housing and a filler plug at the top of the lubricant level. These days the lower plug is absent. Not wanting to remove the rear cover I purchased a suction gun from the local automotive parts shop. I drove my Sport for about 45 minutes to warm up the lubricant to make it easier to extract. The photo below shows the front of the differential housing with the filler plug removed and a small diameter hose inserted into the opening.

Even though the opening is fairly large in diameter, the internal gear is very close to the opening preventing the supplied suction gun hose from being inserted. The photo below shows the fitting combination I devised to transition from the suction gun hose to the smaller hose.

By the time I devised the fitting combination the lubricant had cooled significantly since the ambient temperature was 55 degrees. The thickened cooled lubricant made it difficult to extract with the suction gun (shown below) which is of marginal quality.

The smaller diameter hose contributed to the effort required to operate the suction gun and my arms were tired by the time the fluid was extracted. The elimination of the drain plug turns a 15 minute job into a multiple hour ordeal. I won't live long enough to do the job again (I'm 63 and only drive the Sport about 3,000 miles a year which equals 50 years until the next 150,000 miles) but it will be easier because synthetics flow easier.

2000StreetRod said:

Ford recommends changing the rear axle lubricant every 150,000 miles and mine is due. The petroleum based rear axle lubricant has significant friction for the first several miles of driving in cold weather because of its high viscosity. This friction is doubled on a four or all wheel drive vehicle. Replacing the stock lubricant with synthetic lubricant has fuel economy and performance improvement potential. In "the old days" there was a drain plug near the bottom of the differential housing and a filler plug at the top of the lubricant level. These days the lower plug is absent. Not wanting to remove the rear cover I purchased a suction gun from the local automotive parts shop. I drove my Sport for about 45 minutes to warm up the lubricant to make it easier to extract. The photo below shows the front of the differential housing with the filler plug removed and a small diameter hose inserted into the opening.
View attachment 56901
Even though the opening is fairly large in diameter, the internal gear is very close to the opening preventing the supplied suction gun hose from being inserted. The photo below shows the fitting combination I devised to transition from the suction gun hose to the smaller hose.
View attachment 56902
By the time I devised the fitting combination the lubricant had cooled significantly since the ambient temperature was 55 degrees. The thickened cooled lubricant made it difficult to extract with the suction gun (shown below) which is of marginal quality.
View attachment 56903
The smaller diameter hose contributed to the effort required to operate the suction gun and my arms were tired by the time the fluid was extracted. The elimination of the drain plug turns a 15 minute job into a multiple hour ordeal. I won't live long enough to do the job again (I'm 63 and only drive the Sport about 3,000 miles a year which equals 50 years until the next 150,000 miles) but it will be easier because synthetics flow easier.

Click to expand...

Man, do I hear you. I replaced mine at 156,000. I decided to replace the gasket. I cannot believe how much that stupid thing holds!! And it was SOOO much fun to fill it back up.

My brother did the same thing on his mustang. It took me 4 hours to do mine and I have a high profile axle. Imagine how long it took my brother. It didn't help things any when the autoparts store gave him the wrong gasket to begin with.

Good idea with the suction hose as long as your rear cover is still sealed up nice and tight.

Minor correction here ... if you have the limited slip rear, it should have come from Ford with synthetic lube in it already. That is what was spec'd in my 1998 Owner's Manual. Also, you should get a small bottle of friction modifier from Ford to put in there too. it is for the LS and is only 4, maybe 6 oz.

Don't have LS

CaptainComet said:

. . . Minor correction here ... if you have the limited slip rear, it should have come from Ford with synthetic lube in it already. That is what was spec'd in my 1998 Owner's Manual. Also, you should get a small bottle of friction modifier from Ford to put in there too. it is for the LS and is only 4, maybe 6 oz.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder but according to the plate I have the 3.73:1 without limited slip.