I set out to do that exact same thing a couple years ago. I just haven't gotten around to it.
96dreamer's Never Ending Build Thread
- Thread starter 96dreamer
- Start date
I set out to do that exact same thing a couple years ago. I just haven't gotten around to it.
I think it was actually your WTB ad I saw that actually gave me the idea. I already have a second factory fog light button wired to a relay so I can use the cruise control button for the line lock. Should be as simple as wiring the new switch to what I already have.
Awesome sauce. I hope you get it done before I do
I also have a fog light switch to wire up still
Trying to slowly knock things out on the car when I can. I swapped dash covers with someone local who wanted to keep the factory 94-98 double din radio section and had one that was already cut up. Took a while to get that lined up and finally got the "new" cover so I can start putting the dash back together.
Machined a metco 3.2" 03/04 alt pulley to put on mine and hopefully slow down the alternator a bit with the 10% od balancer. Unfortunately this caused some belt issues. I have a 114.5" gates RPM belt right now. Jumping up to the 3.2" pulley makes the 114.5 belt way to short. I estimate I need about a 116" to fit the way gates recommends. Unfortunately 114.5" is the biggest belt gates makes in the rpm line so I have some thinking to do there.
Decided I was going to wire in a ford pwm fan controller so I can control the factory fan with the MS3. Depinned the CCRM harness and tied it into the pwm controller and made a mount to attach it to the ccrm cover. Forgot to take a single picture while I was doing it but it turned out pretty clean all tucked in the fender.
Next I am going to tackle wiring in a combo lowdoller motorsports oil temp/pressure sensor to replace the factory one. Hoping I can then send a signal to the factory gauge to keep that working correctly. Having a dead gauge would drive me nuts.
Once I get all that wrapped up I have a set of stifflers jacking rails to throw on. The car is to low to get a jack to the subframe connectors so that is the main reason for install. Any addition in stiffness is a bonus.
Machined a metco 3.2" 03/04 alt pulley to put on mine and hopefully slow down the alternator a bit with the 10% od balancer. Unfortunately this caused some belt issues. I have a 114.5" gates RPM belt right now. Jumping up to the 3.2" pulley makes the 114.5 belt way to short. I estimate I need about a 116" to fit the way gates recommends. Unfortunately 114.5" is the biggest belt gates makes in the rpm line so I have some thinking to do there.
Decided I was going to wire in a ford pwm fan controller so I can control the factory fan with the MS3. Depinned the CCRM harness and tied it into the pwm controller and made a mount to attach it to the ccrm cover. Forgot to take a single picture while I was doing it but it turned out pretty clean all tucked in the fender.
Next I am going to tackle wiring in a combo lowdoller motorsports oil temp/pressure sensor to replace the factory one. Hoping I can then send a signal to the factory gauge to keep that working correctly. Having a dead gauge would drive me nuts.
Once I get all that wrapped up I have a set of stifflers jacking rails to throw on. The car is to low to get a jack to the subframe connectors so that is the main reason for install. Any addition in stiffness is a bonus.
I got the 01+ lower dash piece grafted into the 96 lower. This plus the 01+ dash frame will allow the head unit to solidly mount and give 4 places for the radio bezel to attach too. I wanted to eliminate or mediate as many creaks and rattles as I could with the swap. Doing a whole dash swap would have been easier but I like the dash clock and wanted to keep it if at all possible. It also doubles as a wideband if needed in my car.
I cut out the inner portion of the factor dash leaving the ribbing. This allowed the newer piece to sit flush and not push out the bottom of the dash at all where the center console attaches. It also allowed the new piece to be epoxied to the factor ribbing to add a ton of strength Hard to explain and I didn't take a picture without the new piece in place.
Epoxied in place
Close up of the epoxy joint and one I tried getting of the backside showing the part attaching to the factory ribbing. Forgot to take a picture of it off the frame and its hard to get in there with it attached.
Decided I'm also going to go ahead and dye the whole dash to freshen in up before it goes back in. It is overall in good shape but I liked how the center console turned out so much I want the dash to be an exact match.
I cut out the inner portion of the factor dash leaving the ribbing. This allowed the newer piece to sit flush and not push out the bottom of the dash at all where the center console attaches. It also allowed the new piece to be epoxied to the factor ribbing to add a ton of strength Hard to explain and I didn't take a picture without the new piece in place.
Epoxied in place
Close up of the epoxy joint and one I tried getting of the backside showing the part attaching to the factory ribbing. Forgot to take a picture of it off the frame and its hard to get in there with it attached.
Decided I'm also going to go ahead and dye the whole dash to freshen in up before it goes back in. It is overall in good shape but I liked how the center console turned out so much I want the dash to be an exact match.
Almost exactly how I did mine, although I didn't epoxy mine in. Nice work! I'll probably need to need to epoxy mine in the future as the press fit palstic to plastic does creak some even with the top and bottom bolt in points.
Couldn't resist throwing the head unit and new phone mount on to see how it looked. Picked up the ball phone mount off Facebook a while back and got the smallest holder I could find off amazon. Always bugged me there was nowhere to put a phone in these cars. These seems like the least intrusive solution. Best part is it just screws to the existing HVAC mounts
Mine knew what she was getting into lol.
Set up some plastic in the garage today and shot the dash, airbag, glove box door, shifter bezel, gauze bezel, and clock pod. The color of the SEM color coat is pretty much dead on but if I'm staring at it while driving and I didn't match them it would drive me crazy. No after pictures but this stuff makes them look brand new and is pretty forgiving if you prep correctly.
Hoping I can start reassembly tomorrow while the little guy is down for a nap
Absolutely awesome build. Way to stick with it through all the adversity!!
Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com
Most head unit installs require full dash teardown and complete relooming of the dash harness right? Couldn't bring myself to put the factory harness back on with all the cloth tape from the factory falling apart. I incorporated all the new wiring for sensors into to factory connectors, removed some stuff I'll never need again and rewrapped in Tesa tape. Sometimes I question my decisions.
Having a buddy swing by tomorrow to help be put it back in.
Having a buddy swing by tomorrow to help be put it back in.
Oh, ok Rob Dahm.
I have some updates but I'll need to go back and take pictures of a bunch of stuff. Drove the car Saturday after rushing to get it done all week for an event. It got towed home.....
Prior to all of that, after I reassembled the dash, I replaced the MOV resistors in the dash thanks to the thread by @mwolson . No issues there, everything went smooth.
Replaced. None of my original ones were swelled but being 27 years old and 175k on the chassis I figured it was good insurance while it was out.
I also partially redid the starter harness to incorporate a new plug for the oil temp/pressure sensor. The blue factory looking plug will plug into the low dollar motorsports combo sensor. It then goes through the factory front o2 sensor wires back to the factory ecu plug where I depinned them and tied into the MS3.
Prior to all of that, after I reassembled the dash, I replaced the MOV resistors in the dash thanks to the thread by @mwolson . No issues there, everything went smooth.
Replaced. None of my original ones were swelled but being 27 years old and 175k on the chassis I figured it was good insurance while it was out.
I also partially redid the starter harness to incorporate a new plug for the oil temp/pressure sensor. The blue factory looking plug will plug into the low dollar motorsports combo sensor. It then goes through the factory front o2 sensor wires back to the factory ecu plug where I depinned them and tied into the MS3.
Story time.
After getting the dash in I was replacing the dome lights with leds and noticed they were not working. Traced it back to a blown #8 interior fuse. Replaced it and it immediately blew so I knew something was up. I spent entirely to long diagnosing the issue and ended up finding the wire to the glove box light pinched. After finally finding and correcting the issue, I replaced the fuse and it didn't pop. Unfortunately the keyless entry did nothing unless the doors were opened and the headlight knob was turned on, then everything seemed to work normally. With the headlight knob off the door lock/unlock buttons turned on the exterior running lights and the keyless entry did nothing. I tried figuring out wtf was going on for a good 3 hours with no luck and left defeated to go to dinner with the wife. I came back 2 hours later to work on it again and everything worked fine. I have not been able to recreate the issue to date. I am still absolutely perplexed by this.
I spent the rest of that week buttoning up odds and ends trying to get the car ready for an event on Saturday morning. I get it mostly back together and fire it up for the first time but all of the MS3 sensors are acting wonky. This issue ended up being a loose ground pin in the connector for the MS3. No idea how it got messed up as the connectors have been plugged in for this whole project but I digress. I fixed the pin put it back together and everything seems good....
I fixed the MS3 grounding issue Saturday morning shortly before I was getting ready to call it quits. I scrambled to get the car drivable let it idle in the garage to warm up and head out. Car was driving great, which it should nothing mechanically changed, but I was not getting good readings out of either wideband. O well I thought, they probably need free air calibrated, the tune is close enough to drive on. Get to the event trouble free, take some friends on a few rides while we were there, do a successful celebration burnout leaving and head to grab dinner at a nearby place all with no issues other than the wide bands.
Much later in the night I fire up the car to drive home, no issue. Get about a mile from my house and the car completely shuts off. No dash lights, headlights nothing. Luckily I was able to coast to a side road. Had the wife drive me home to get the jump pack and some tools. Messed with it to no avail until a neighbor drove by and we tried bump starting it, again nothing. Another neighbor happed to pass by and we tried pull starting it with his truck, yet again nothing. So I towed it home defeated.
The next day looking things over I notice the battery voltage is very low, like ~8volts low so I threw it on the charger for a few hours. Try to start it, CLICK! nothing. No big deal it needs a starter. It's the original with 175k miles so it was due. After some research I ended up getting a Motorcraft starter for an 18 mustang. It is a little smaller and about 1.5 lbs lighter.
Comparison
![20230503_101258[1].jpg](https://svtperformance.com/attachments/20230503_101258-1-jpg.1793330/ "20230503_101258[1].jpg")
It installed fine but was a little close to one of the ARH primaries so I decided to pull it back off, wrap in heat shield and reinstall.
Get it final installed and was very relieved when the car fired up with no issues and quicker/quiter than the old starter. Now we're getting somewhere I thought.
With the car running I disconnected the battery and it died instantly. Which proved, as I had suspected, the alternator was doing nothing the entire day I was out driving on Saturday. So for anyone considering Odyssey battery I would highly recommend. This was all done on an Odyssey 925 AGM battery I installed over the winter.
So new problem, alternator doing nothing. I diagnose it to a break somewhere between the dash and the alternator on the battery light circuit to the dash. I pull every connector apart testing for continuity between one another. All test good.... Put them back together one by one testing continuity as I go. Get it all back together and it is still testing good. Put the gauge cluster back in and the battery indicator is working now. Start the car, unplug the battery and it's working fine. So to recap, I again took it apart, put it back together changing nothing and it works now.
Finally I get back to the wideband issue. Free air calibrate the sensors and both the lc2 controllers show all is good. Fire the car up and again bad readings and one of the controllers is now flashing red indicating a fault for heater circuit. I replace the sensor with a spare I had, key on and now both are throwing error codes. Both controllers are now not heating past 20% for whatever reason. O well I had never been happy with the lc2's so I used it as an excuse to upgrade to some 14point7 controllers. They should be shipping out this week.
Has to be done now right? WRONG? Passenger rear caliper was leaking from the piston again. Grabbed another from a brick and mortar store this time, painted it to match and threw it on.
Then I want to change the oil and saw some wetness around the power steering pump. Thinking it was the fitting for the braided hydroboost line I pulled the pulley off to change only to find the main shaft seal was the cause of the leak. Another gut punch but I take it in stride, ordered a new one off LMR.
Lastly I sent the oil sample to black stone for analysis. It is literally in the mailbox right now so I don't have results but I fully expect them to tell me the motor is ready to grenade. I have no reason to think that, everything looks healthy but that is the way things are going.
Hopefully after I get the new parts from 14point7 I can finally get some finished pictures of the double din/center console swap. It is torn apart right now to rewire the widebands.
TLDR/Cliffnotes:
Cars are stupid.
After getting the dash in I was replacing the dome lights with leds and noticed they were not working. Traced it back to a blown #8 interior fuse. Replaced it and it immediately blew so I knew something was up. I spent entirely to long diagnosing the issue and ended up finding the wire to the glove box light pinched. After finally finding and correcting the issue, I replaced the fuse and it didn't pop. Unfortunately the keyless entry did nothing unless the doors were opened and the headlight knob was turned on, then everything seemed to work normally. With the headlight knob off the door lock/unlock buttons turned on the exterior running lights and the keyless entry did nothing. I tried figuring out wtf was going on for a good 3 hours with no luck and left defeated to go to dinner with the wife. I came back 2 hours later to work on it again and everything worked fine. I have not been able to recreate the issue to date. I am still absolutely perplexed by this.
I spent the rest of that week buttoning up odds and ends trying to get the car ready for an event on Saturday morning. I get it mostly back together and fire it up for the first time but all of the MS3 sensors are acting wonky. This issue ended up being a loose ground pin in the connector for the MS3. No idea how it got messed up as the connectors have been plugged in for this whole project but I digress. I fixed the pin put it back together and everything seems good....
I fixed the MS3 grounding issue Saturday morning shortly before I was getting ready to call it quits. I scrambled to get the car drivable let it idle in the garage to warm up and head out. Car was driving great, which it should nothing mechanically changed, but I was not getting good readings out of either wideband. O well I thought, they probably need free air calibrated, the tune is close enough to drive on. Get to the event trouble free, take some friends on a few rides while we were there, do a successful celebration burnout leaving and head to grab dinner at a nearby place all with no issues other than the wide bands.
Much later in the night I fire up the car to drive home, no issue. Get about a mile from my house and the car completely shuts off. No dash lights, headlights nothing. Luckily I was able to coast to a side road. Had the wife drive me home to get the jump pack and some tools. Messed with it to no avail until a neighbor drove by and we tried bump starting it, again nothing. Another neighbor happed to pass by and we tried pull starting it with his truck, yet again nothing. So I towed it home defeated.
The next day looking things over I notice the battery voltage is very low, like ~8volts low so I threw it on the charger for a few hours. Try to start it, CLICK! nothing. No big deal it needs a starter. It's the original with 175k miles so it was due. After some research I ended up getting a Motorcraft starter for an 18 mustang. It is a little smaller and about 1.5 lbs lighter.
Comparison
It installed fine but was a little close to one of the ARH primaries so I decided to pull it back off, wrap in heat shield and reinstall.
Get it final installed and was very relieved when the car fired up with no issues and quicker/quiter than the old starter. Now we're getting somewhere I thought.
With the car running I disconnected the battery and it died instantly. Which proved, as I had suspected, the alternator was doing nothing the entire day I was out driving on Saturday. So for anyone considering Odyssey battery I would highly recommend. This was all done on an Odyssey 925 AGM battery I installed over the winter.
So new problem, alternator doing nothing. I diagnose it to a break somewhere between the dash and the alternator on the battery light circuit to the dash. I pull every connector apart testing for continuity between one another. All test good.... Put them back together one by one testing continuity as I go. Get it all back together and it is still testing good. Put the gauge cluster back in and the battery indicator is working now. Start the car, unplug the battery and it's working fine. So to recap, I again took it apart, put it back together changing nothing and it works now.
Finally I get back to the wideband issue. Free air calibrate the sensors and both the lc2 controllers show all is good. Fire the car up and again bad readings and one of the controllers is now flashing red indicating a fault for heater circuit. I replace the sensor with a spare I had, key on and now both are throwing error codes. Both controllers are now not heating past 20% for whatever reason. O well I had never been happy with the lc2's so I used it as an excuse to upgrade to some 14point7 controllers. They should be shipping out this week.
Has to be done now right? WRONG? Passenger rear caliper was leaking from the piston again. Grabbed another from a brick and mortar store this time, painted it to match and threw it on.
Then I want to change the oil and saw some wetness around the power steering pump. Thinking it was the fitting for the braided hydroboost line I pulled the pulley off to change only to find the main shaft seal was the cause of the leak. Another gut punch but I take it in stride, ordered a new one off LMR.
Lastly I sent the oil sample to black stone for analysis. It is literally in the mailbox right now so I don't have results but I fully expect them to tell me the motor is ready to grenade. I have no reason to think that, everything looks healthy but that is the way things are going.
Hopefully after I get the new parts from 14point7 I can finally get some finished pictures of the double din/center console swap. It is torn apart right now to rewire the widebands.
TLDR/Cliffnotes:
Cars are stupid.
Dang, you have been busy! How do your ground cables look? And the Engine to body cable? I have found issues with grounds to cause a lot of electrical and component issues.
I wish you wouldn't have told us about the 18' starter being a bolt on weight savings. That gives me another item to spend money on to save some weight.
I wish you wouldn't have told us about the 18' starter being a bolt on weight savings. That gives me another item to spend money on to save some weight.
Ground cables are all solid. I redid them a few years ago. dedicated 2awg from block to frame and from block to fuse block. I also triple checked all the grounds from the dashDang, you have been busy! How do your ground cables look? And the Engine to body cable? I have found issues with grounds to cause a lot of electrical and component issues.
I wish you wouldn't have told us about the 18' starter being a bolt on weight savings. That gives me another item to spend money on to save some weight.
The only think I can think of on the first fuse issue and goofy behavior is it back fed the pats/keyless module somewhere it shouldn't have. Letting it sit, with the key in the ignition but off, allowed them to reset/ recalibrate. Doesn't make much sense but it lets me maintain some sanity on what happened.
On the starter I initially found the ford performance starter kit, part#M-11000-C50 which peaked my interest. I ended up getting the Motorcraft SA1067 which from everything I can find is the same thing without the cables/hardware. It was a little cheaper since you're not paying for the extra stuff.
Did you also use the CCRM to power the PWM controller?
Yes and no. I initially depinned the hot at all time power to the ccrm for the fan and wired it to the pwm controller. After setting it up in tunerstudio I realized it wasn't going to work the way I wanted.
So the way it is set up now is fan control from ms3 controls the ccrm relay which sends power to the pwm controller. I have that controlled with a generic pwm out table.
I stole the pwm controller idea from @MalcolmV8 YouTube video. Unfortunately I didn't take the time to watch the whole thing to see that was how he wired it up, shame on me.
That's where I go the idea as well. I saw he used the fan power from the CCRM. I was debating on just wiring the PWM controller straight to the battery instead so I wouldn't have to do the extra relay that he did.
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