"Cobra" conversion using 99-02 Continental 4V

James Gordon from Tuning by James is giving me a remote tune will either be sent tonight or tomorrow.

Looking for an initial fire up of Thursday or Friday. I'm cutting it STUPID close here... needs to be driving reliably in 2 weeks. Besides a few vac lines and putting the front fenders/bumper/hook back on and the tune its there tho.

XXWildCoyoteXX said:

They are nice but depending on the area you live, it tends to be hard finding someone thats a SCT tuner. Software is so expensive from them and unless you have a huge mustang following in the area, most of the time tuners wont have that software. Usually running HPTuners cause its cheaper and more versitile.
Other then that, Props to the swap.

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HP doesn't support the older models yet. Supposedly it's coming. But you know how that goes. SCT is actually the most popular software for these models.

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Yep, I was pretty sure that SCT is really the only game in town for the 04 down cars right now but wasn't 100%. I really wish the NGauge would be supported for these cars but whatever. Enough good remote tuners have SCT software, I paid like $100 for the X3 unlocked and it does everything I need it to.

Figured out re-routing the 2V vac lines for the 4V stuff... it actually all reaches without much issue. Gonna need to get a few little pieces of hose tomorrow but like $10 worth if that. Electric is done minus hooking up the stuff for the radiator/spit tank. Paid for the tune tonight and being told tomorrow or Wednesday, start it this weekend and then get it dialed in next week. Then drive it for a week to work out the kinks and then I move.

scottydsntknow said:

James Gordon from Tuning by James is giving me a remote tune will either be sent tonight or tomorrow.

Looking for an initial fire up of Thursday or Friday. I'm cutting it STUPID close here... needs to be driving reliably in 2 weeks. Besides a few vac lines and putting the front fenders/bumper/hook back on and the tune its there tho.

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Great guy to work with. Had him personally tune my Procharged Mach when i was living in FL and currently back and forth with him now tuning the now H122 swap i did on my Mach. Having a slight Fuel pressure drop during WOT so we have been trying to work that issue out before moving on.

slo984now said:

HP doesn't support the older models yet. Supposedly it's coming. But you know how that goes. SCT is actually the most popular software for these models.

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Yea, ive been drilling Hp forums with the questions about what there progress is with it. Mid this yr they said they're almost done but havent been able to get a peep out of them since. Theres a Podcast called "The Power and Speed Podcast" that Eric from Hp is on numerous times, been trying to catch there live podcasts to ask this question directly.
Pretty good podcast to listen to fyi.

XXWildCoyoteXX said:

Great guy to work with. Had him personally tune my Procharged Mach when i was living in FL and currently back and forth with him now tuning the now H122 swap i did on my Mach. Having a slight Fuel pressure drop during WOT so we have been trying to work that issue out before moving on.

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Lol you're probably one of the reasons I can't get him on the phone lol. I got him yesterday and last Friday. Said he should be able to get me a tune by tonight so we'll see. Car will be 99% together tonight. Radiator came in and I went and dropped $200 at Wally World today on a new battery and fluids. So I would like to be able to start it and have it running this weekend.

XXWildCoyoteXX said:

Yea, ive been drilling Hp forums with the questions about what there progress is with it. Mid this yr they said they're almost done but havent been able to get a peep out of them since. Theres a Podcast called "The Power and Speed Podcast" that Eric from Hp is on numerous times, been trying to catch there live podcasts to ask this question directly.
Pretty good podcast to listen to fyi.

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Probably going to be a bit tbth... I mean there are fewer and fewer of these cars out there but still probably enough garage queen Termi/Mach and random 2V cars still in good shape out there to warrant the work.

Engine=done. Have startup tune. Here's hoping. I'm going to probably have to figure out the aftermarket car alarm the PO installed that went nuts when I hooked the battery back up for the first time in a year but I'll get it.

scottydsntknow said:

Lol you're probably one of the reasons I can't get him on the phone lol. I got him yesterday and last Friday. Said he should be able to get me a tune by tonight so we'll see. Car will be 99% together tonight. Radiator came in and I went and dropped $200 at Wally World today on a new battery and fluids. So I would like to be able to start it and have it running this weekend.

Hahaha, yea we talk for awhile at times. We always get off topic and start talking about the newest things he's doing these days.
It is also hard getting ahold of him at times due to him being asked to come to all ends of FL for his skills.


Probably going to be a bit tbth... I mean there are fewer and fewer of these cars out there but still probably enough garage queen Termi/Mach and random 2V cars still in good shape out there to warrant the work.

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Yea i hear ya, just would have been nice to have that platform to work with also. Just chasing a fuel pressure issue, so after i upgrade the feed lines James and I will be getting back together and see if that issue is fixed.

Well he did get me my tune on Tuesday like he said but... 3 issues. 1 I had to tear apart the dash to figure out the alarm. Its actually a Ford "aftermarket" unit and was wired in ok but I'm OCD and going to fix the rats nest back there that the PO did with boost/fuel gauges. Once I figured out what the alarm was it was simple to download the manual and look up the reset/disable procedure.

2nd issue was my budget $75 SCT X3 was not able to unlock the ECU and upload a tune. Wtf I thought... thought it was the alarm kill switch but nope. Pulled the ECU out and BURIED back there was a cable I did not see running into the ECU. Car had a superchip in it... yet another "fun" thing I've found that whoever blew up the previous engine/supercharger in the car did. Removed that and did an OCD electrical tape job to seal up the opening in the box and put it back in. SUCCESS! Tune uploaded right away.

3rd issue... theft light is flashing. Something must have tripped PATS. I got ahold of James yesterday and he is going to send me a revised tune with PATS disabled.

So today/tomorrow is going to be finishing up fixing the wiring under the dash, install the wideband and put the fenders/bumper back on the car. If all goes well I will have it fired up early this week, running and driving by the end of the week and good to go next weekend. Will get new tires and 4 wheel alignment done, inspection, new registration and then tow it to Baltimore. I'm moving overseas in January (military PCS) and they're going to ship it to Spain for me for free. Why I'm in such a hurry.

Runs and idles just fine. Having some issues with the separator plate kissing the back of the flywheel and making a godawful metal/metal noise... need to get up in there with a prybar tomorrow and just get a little bit of clearance but besides that she is good. Starts right up and idles, still hunts a little at first but getting better the more I run it. Good oil pressure and cooling system seems to be working fine.

This was just a startup tune anyway and it amazes me how just talking to a guy over the phone and sending an email I get a tune that fires the car right up with the 2V computer fully properly reprogrammed.

As soon as damn amazon delivers my firewire I can get to datalogging. They lost my pacakge in the mail so I might just suck it up and go buy a cheap firewire locally tomorrow to get moving. I want to have a good log file to send to James tomorrow night or Thursday morning so I can get a driving tune for the weekend and get a finalized tune next week. I have to have it inspected and out of this house on the 28th... getting close lmao.

But at this point I just need a few back and forths with the tuner like I said, new wheels (found some mint OEM Termis with good tires locally), put the fenders and hood back on and get an alignment.

Impressive you got it up and running. Seems like a lot of "issues" to resolve, none of them too serious but just a lot of them.

Congrats on getting it running. I kept checking the thread waiting for that post.

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Yep, getting a revised tune sent as soon as freaking Amazon gets me a firewire without losing it in the mail so I can datalog...

Few other things I forgot... starter was too close to flywheel because the spacer wasn't made for going past the actual block so I needed to remove it and spacer it back (just a few stacks of washers on the bolts for now). Also the separator plate was just touching the back of the flywheel so I had to cut the bottom out and modify it and bolt it back in.

Car is basically done. Will post pics when its 100% back together.

I hate wiring... hate it... but I can do it at least. Got my firewire in tonight, ohm'd it out to see what variety it was (wound up being type 1), bugged the wideband power into the radio harness, installed the 12v to 5v stepdown that the PO didn't do for the radio to get rid of the pop and then bugged the firewire into the wideband.

Going to fire it up tomorrow, let it get a good idle going for 10 minutes and fully up to temp and then do a datalog as requested by James. Hopefully I'll get the revised tune back tomorrow.

Been going back and forth with the datalogs since last week. Getting closer. Really biggest issue is getting it to "catch" on the idle, IAC duty cycle is really high for some reason. But drove it around tonight and its smooth and has a lot of power and sounds amazing. The FTBR IRS is hard to describe... basically now that I've driven one I'll never own another 04-down car where its not one of the first mods I do... seriously.

Did you set the throttle stop with the IAC disconnected?

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Figured out idle. Set screw had it nowhere near 1 volt. Livelink makes it really easy, 205 value on the absolute throttle position is 1 volt so o turned the set screw to 203 for a little leeway and done. Idles like a champ now. Also got reverse sorted out. Another "gotcha" from the bellhousing adapter. Fork was bottoming out on the hole for it in the bell so I removed some material and nice and smooth.

Finally done! Well minus a little fine tuning on the ECU and an alignment... I'm still coming to terms with actually getting it done on time. And how well it runs...

scottydsntknow said:

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Finally done! Well minus a little fine tuning on the ECU and an alignment... I'm still coming to terms with actually getting it done on time. And how well it runs...

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ayyy! Awesome job man! Sleeper for sure now haha. Wondering why not a coyote swap? You better eaton swap this thing and drop a 2.9l whipple on it after you get the engine built, legendary stuff.

Lol, budget man. I only paid $500 for that engine lmao. $250 for the Mach intake and probably another $200-$300 for the misc parts. Find me a Coyote swap that cheap. Thanks for the compliments, yeah sleeper for sure but I'm moving to Europe so I'll be literally one of the only ppl on the continent with one haha. Moving to Spain for 4 years and then hopefully another 4 year extension there or to Germany. I have done a lot of traveling around Europe with the USAF and would not be opposed to retiring there...

As far as Eaton... yeah I would need a cowl hood for that and a few other things... Moving overseas means it'll be tough to get parts but if I had to pay to ship a hood over for an Eaton swap I would. I'm taking a .020 over WAP block, Boss rods, 3 cranks and Diamond pistons with me in household goods I'll supercharge it when that is ready.