03 fliptrac $700 daily driver (summer of fun with 4 sport tracs)

[oklagp1200r]

Was that abs module any good? What are you going to do with it?
Bosch alternator I replaced my factory one some years back because of a bearing noise with the Bosch one!

 

[410Fortune]

This one is actually bad believe it or not it refused to communicate with the rear speed sensor. I juggled them around a little bit you see the abs module in the 01 trac went bad (this one) so I had previously swapped it with the one from this 03… so this module is bad and will get crushed/recycled

The good one from this 03 is currently under the hood of the 01 v6 trax and working great

Confused yet? Too many sport tracs

I will not buy reman alternators only Bosch or motorcraft

 

[oklagp1200r]

This one is actually bad believe it or not it refused to communicate with the rear speed sensor. I juggled them around a little bit you see the abs module in the 01 trac went bad (this one) so I had previously swapped it with the one from this 03… so this module is bad and will get crushed/recycled

The good one from this 03 is currently under the hood of the 01 v6 trax and working great

Confused yet? Too many sport tracs

I will not buy reman alternators only Bosch or motorcraft

Nope not confused I have been keeping up! Lol

 

[410Fortune]

And so the conversion wiring happened

My 5.0 pcm and engine side harness are from a 96-97 truck
Truck side of things all 03 sport trac
There are several wiring changes to make

First thing to do is
Map out the 42 pin plug 97 vs 03
This is the result
14 pins and wires that do not match up 97 vs 03

Now out comes the books

I have done several 02+ 5.0 conversions
Each time they are a little different, this time is due to the early pcm with no pats, lucky me I don’t have to wires in a pats module. However I do have some extra wiring to do because of the 5 speed I will be wiring in a 3 position clutch switch

So the 14 pins at c115/c110 needed to be sorted out

Also some wires at c139 on the truck side needed to be moved around

Looking back at a 02 trac I did recently and with the help of my books the conversion wiring was completed in just a couple of hours

Pins 4, 8, 31, 37, are a wash, meaning the same functions on each side so nothing needs to change

Pin 10
Blank on 5.0 side, fuel level to pcm on truck side. 5.0 pcm do not have input for fuel level so this wire remains right where it is

Pin 13
Pink/orange on 5.0 side, circuit 676 “case ground” this is the ground wire for a 96-97 vss mounted in the tailhousing. 03 truck no vss in tailhousing but we will be sending the pcm a vss signal on the + wire from the Dakota box, so this wire will actually get grounded

Pin 23
Blank on 5.0’side, db/lg 343 this is pcm to theft light on the v6 side of things. I no longer have pats so this wire remains blank (my pcm does not control pats or have any pats functions)

Pin 26
5.0 side this is oil pressure from engine to dash, dg/w 253. Oil pressure wire on the 03 is routed to plug c139. Wire was removed from c139 and re located to plug c110 pin 26. Now oil pressure gauge hooked to sender

Pin 27
Lb/ok 305 on 5.0 side. This is an unknown wire my book does not cover! It is blank on truck side. Pin 27 remains

Pin 28
394 og/bk on 5.0 side this is air suspension in to pcm. Trac does not have air suspension. Dark blue with orange on truck side, this is 325 pcm to starter relay control. The v6 pcm would ground this wire as soon as it is happy with the pats key. I don’t have pats and I don’t have a v6 computer, so this wire is cut on the 5.0 side and run to ground. Now the ignition switch will control the starter relay as it is always grounded at this wire

Pin 32
Blank on 5.0 side
Gy/o rx signal on 03 side, 5.0 pcm do not use rx and tx signal so this wire staus
Blank

Pin 35
Blank on 5.0 side
347 bk/ye on 03 side ac clutch relay control from pcm. 5.0 pcm does not have this so it remains blank

Pin 38
Blank on 5.0 side
Rd/wh 463, neutral safety on 03 side from dtrs. All 5.0 were rwd or awd never 4wd. This is the nss feed from dtrs to truck for electric 4x4 shift. If we were running an electric shift t case I would add this wire to the 5.0 side of things. I actually run a ground wire to dtrs and this nss red/w out the other side. This truck using manual shift t case so I leave this wire
Blank

Pin 41
Pin 41 is blank on 5.0 side
It’s 1017 bk/w on truck side. This is the pcm to check fuel cap light in instrument cluster. 97 5.0 pcm does not have this wire, so it remains Blank


So here are some pics of all that wiring

Starter enable from ocm
For pats gets grounded near pcm

Dark green w white oil pressure to dash is re located from c139 to c110 pin 26

Rx signal that was in pin26 not needed. Replaced with oil pressure wire from c139

A few wires are moved around inside of the c139 plug also. Feeds for ac clutch and high pressure switch run through here so pins must match on engine side and truck side. Easy enough. Also the starter motor feed from start relay goes through here as does the alternator regualtor power from dash battery light. Wires were moved pins and added as needed

Conversion wiring completed engine bay side, everything g plugged in and ready for testing. Once it passes the test it will get wrapped back up
Now I need to wire in the Dakota digital speedometer interface this will take the place of our now missing abs module and also do the speedometer math in place of our missing v6 pcm

 

[allmyEXes]

On the ABS unit, which line is the rear body line (running to differential) and on the master cylinder is it plumbed front bowl to front brakes and rear bowl to rear brakes?
I started practicing with my new line flaring tool and I may need to be cleaning the cut with a drill and bit after using the tubing cutter. That is before starting the flaring process...

 

[410Fortune]

Yes I file and drill and sand before flare after flare and during flare as needed

The rear port on master goes to rear line on abs pump it is obvious which is which as the front feed has two lines besides it the rear has just the one

 

[97Sandbox]

However I do have some extra wiring to do because of the 5 speed I will be wiring in a 3 position clutch switch

I'll be very interested in your approach to this. Is there any way to use the wiring for the park interlock from the auto for the new clutch position switch? I'm guessing it's not that simple, but it'd sure be nice as the function seems similar.

 

[410Fortune]

The park interlock uses the brake switch
The clutch switch is wired into the neutral safety circuit not the brake switch
It’s rather simple really, and most of these trucks are pre wired for the 3 pos clutch switch…
Just not this one! Of course

It is called a 3 pos switch because:
1 position if for starting, truck won’t start without clutch pressed in
2 position for 4low shift. Can’t shift into low without having clutch pressed in
3 cruise control so when you depress clutch the engine does not overrev

I will be wiring in the starter circuit this truck is using no cruise control and a manual shift t case so I only need the one position

 

[97Sandbox]

Ahh that makes sense. I'll have to check if my Mounty has the wiring...thankfully I can use my Sport for reference.

 

[Nctruckman]

How much more involved would it be to wire up a 03 with pats for a V8? Just trying to understand this stuff.

 

[410Fortune]

So if you have the pats module key and pcm from the 5.0 donor it can be wired in quite easily. I have documented that process before when I converted a 02 trac.
I am about to do it again for the 05 trac in bay 3 I will show what is required.‘basically there are 7-9 wires on a 98-01 pats module that can easily be wired into your 03 then you add your key and tumbler and 5.0 pcm


Got some 5/16-18 threaded rod to
Make my intake bolts for the spacer
I ordered 7” long bolts but got tired of waiting

Carefully cut them

Then I found a good radiator and ac condenser

So the cooling stack is in complete w fan

I plumbed the old trans cooler as the new power steering cooler. I made some simple
Metal lines from old trans lines

Finally time to add fluids starting with brake fluid

Brake master was “bench bled” in the truck. Very light and small pushes on the pedal until no more air

Next identified the rear vss to abs wires, I need these to feed my Dakota box

They were cut on this truck, no abs needed

Finally ended the night by assembling the new clutch master cyl and hydraulic line and bench bleeding the assembly
I put this screw on my lift post to hang things from, works perfectly for this

 

[allmyEXes]

I see something similar on your lift post that I have on mine, I/we have strong magnets that were "harvested" from dead microwave ovens to stick things to the post. We have them stuck to other things too. Tool lockers, one under the hood of something to stick bolts to.
The conversion is looking good as usual.

 

[410Fortune]

Thank you!

She’s coming along that is for sure

I finished up the clutch master install
This is the twist lock style master cylinder, they can be tough to seat. First I removed the fender skirt make things easier. Also made it possible to drill a new hole for some through wires, the speed sensor. The clutch master was locked in place, line to slave run and inserted. The master cyl to firewall bushing was pressed in and then the pedal to plunger went in.
Boom! Clutch pedal

Speed sensor wires attached

Clutch master goes where the shift cable used to reside

No place to run wires!

Drilled hole added grommet and wires filled w silicon

Now time to mod the steering column
Deleted the column shifter, brake interlock, od button, pats halo, and cruise control buttons

Instrument cluster had two mods, the tachometer wire ground feed was moved from the v6 location to the v8
A blank was installed in place of the gear indicator

M5od-r2 was filled with 3.5 quarts of dex/merc iii
4406 t case was filled with 1.75 quart of dex/merc iii
Engine was filled with 5 quarts of Mobil one 5-30w full synth
Power steering fluid
3+ gallons of pre mix coolant
Battery
and time to turn the key

Guess who’s running!!

Yes I took video

Swapped wheels tires
need to Bleed Clutch slave and a few other odds and ends then test drive!!

 

[97Sandbox]

Woohoo! I'm very excited to hear your review of the 4.2 clutch setup.

Deleted the column shifter, brake interlock, od button, pats halo, and cruise control buttons

Did you just want to get rid of cruise, or is there no good way to keep the ECU happy running cruise after you've had the auto trans functionality deleted? I hadn't thought that far in my swap planning, but I'd really like to keep cruise when I do my 5.0/M5R2 swap.

 

[410Fortune]

Should be no problem to keep cruise. We just don’t use it especially on this truck so I removed it. Speed control is independent of engine and transmission controls

 

[97Sandbox]

Sounds good.

I used to not use cruise much living and working in the same city, but now that I commute 100+ miles a day mostly interstate, I can't imagine not having it.

 

[oklagp1200r]

Sounds good.

I used to not use cruise much living and working in the same city, but now that I commute 100+ miles a day mostly interstate, I can't imagine not having it.

DAM 100+ miles a day! F that lol
What the hell you do for a living?

 

[Josh P]

DAM 100+ miles a day! F that lol
What the hell you do for a living?

When I worked for the cable company in Phoenix, I did a minimum of 150 miles a day with my van.

 

[97Sandbox]

DAM 100+ miles a day! F that lol
What the hell you do for a living?

It's not so much what I do as where I live. I commute to the city 30 miles away from home, then 50 miles back past home to get my son from daycare (opposite direction of work) then 25 miles back to home. If we could get him into a more convenient daycare we would but there's nothing out here!

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I complain about driving 28 miles round trip to get my grandson from daycare once or twice a week.