I thought I would do a quick check-in. Today.
I had my crappy exhaust, bodge job replaced. The shop I found to do it would not cut the Mustang cats off due to state restrictions, but since I have an antique plate, I can run without them. The Tech suggested that I cut them off before I brought the car over. I did just that, and drove the car 12 miles to the shop with fire and brimstone belching out of the headers. Fun, but I wouldn't want to do that everyday
He did a real nice job, and I doubt that I will be hitting the top of any speed bumps anymore. The car sounds much better with the extra piping running out just in front of the rear wheels. (I can hear the tire noise again. Something I haven't heard since getting the swap done)
Still looking for a good tuner in my area to fine tune the beast. Now that spring is here, I will be able to spend some more time dialing it in myself.
Things to do:
1. I get an occasional spike in the TPS signal that causes the Megasquirt to freak out just a bit. Only happens when I am at cruise for a minute or two. 2 things that might be causing it are, one, I have not made custom length spark plug wires, and the ones on the car are a bit long. And 2, No shielding of the TPS wire to the Megasquirt. Logging is showing an obvious spike on the TPS when the issue occurs.
I'll probably just install a shielded cable for the TPS to start. Custom made wires have not been made due to the funky Ford coil packs, and the inability to find just the terminal crimps for the plug ends. I know they exist, I just haven't found and purchased any yet.
One last thing that needs work, is the air intake temp sensor. Ford has this thing right in the drivers side of the intake manifold, and it heat soaks like a bastard. (Even though it is a open element type) I have changed the settings on the Megasquirt to ignore it at startup, and that helped, but I will be swapping it out for something that lives in the intake tube before the throttle body to get a more accurate air temp.
All in all, I am super happy with the final product, and have had a lot of positive feedback. I get a lot of thumbs up wherever I go, and have started showing the car at local cruise nights, and car events.