"Mess to Modern" A 67 Cougar Project

[jstanard]

My son got some LED lights for Christmas. I finally got around to installing them in the Mustang. BadDad.

[jstanard]

Before I started customizing the wiring harness for a cleaner fit, I needed to know that I at least had my wires run to the correct places. I made a few temporary wire runs - over the seats and through the rear window opening to the trunk mounted battery. Once I know the engine starts, I'll work on the permanent runs.

After cycling the key on/off many times to prime the pumps, I finally let it try to start. And it did! I was actually surprised that it started on the first try. I couldn't run it long because it was so loud with exhaust dumping straight from the headers but I did verify that the driveline is functioning. There is no telling how long it has been since this car moved under its own power but I was able to back out of the garage and pull back in. Unfortunately, I don't have any video worth showing and no pictures to commemorate this milestone. How about a few emojis instead?



I did take this picture right before I started it. It has come a long way since I began the project, even if it still doesn't look like it.

[Michaels 69]

Good job on hunting through the junk yards for parts!!

[jstanard]

Finally, my build thread updates have caught up so all future posts should be relatively current.

Here's some of the things I worked on over a 4 day Memorial Day weekend.


I've been considering doing some of the upholstery work myself. Well, more like just wondering if I COULD do it. I bought an old sewing machine from a "garage" sale at our church.






My Speedway Motors X-Pipe and chambered mufflers arrived.




Even though this was a generic kit, everything happened to line up just right so I didn't need to modify anything. I welded everything but the mufflers.




One of the few things that came with the car that was actually reusable was the 2" tailpipes and hangers. I cleaned them up and painted everything with VHT ceramic header paint.





With the exhaust on, I was able to run the engine without annoying the neighbors. I discovered that it ran fine at idle but at part throttle, it was misfiring consistently. I spent a good bit of time troubleshooting the misfire, thinking it was ignition related. After all, I crimped the plug wires myself - they had to be suspect. I replaced the spark plugs, swapped wires around and even tried the old wires. I almost ruled out timing since I had set the time when I started it on the engine stand and hadn't touched the distributor since. I did replace a very loose timing chain though.

I put the light on it and found that with spout connector out, it was hitting right on TDC. After I bumped the time up to 12 BTDC, the miss is gone and it pulls a steady 20 inHg vacuum.

[jstanard]

Good job on hunting through the junk yards for parts!!

I do enjoy it. Especially when I find exactly what I am looking for.

[Michaels 69]

Agree it can be fun when you can find treasures! Good Job!!

[jstanard]

I spend so much time in my garage, I had to get a proper shirt. "Grandview Garage" is no business, it's just the street I live on. This shirt has a special power. When I wear it to auto parts stores, the clerks assume I know what I am talking about and nobody tries to sell me upgraded "muffler bearings".





I've been working on cleaning up the mess of temporary wiring and customizing the harness. Besides being too long on most runs, the engine harness and ECM harness are separate and connected with two bulky 10 pin connectors. I spliced the harnesses together, eliminating the connectors and a lot of extra wire. I can still remove the entire harness by disconnecting at the ECM.

This mess is just before I pulled the harness out.

[jstanard]

I removed all of the plastic wire loom and wrapped everything with Tesa harness tape. It's not pretty enough to be a feature but hides well enough to not distract.

[jstanard]

With the engine and ECM wiring done, I started working on the chassis harness.
I don't have many circuits to protect yet but the fuel pump relay and heated O2 sensor relay needed to be fused.

[jstanard]

I am going to hide the wires for lights, turn signals, fan, etc. by running outside of the engine bay. I see this done a lot but I don't remember anyone using heater hose as conduit. Is this a bad idea?

This is the basic concept, although I didn't have a long enough hose to make the whole run. Temporarily, I joined two pieces with a hose clamp. I'll secure the conduit with cable clamps so that everything is pulled up tight against the top of the fender, out of sight.

[jstanard]

I tested all of my newly soldered splices and, thankfully, the engine started right up. I backed the car into the driveway to clean up the garage and ...

The miss is back.




I pulled all of the brand new plugs to do another compression test because I couldn't remember what the numbers were, only that everything seemed ok at the time. Compression was good with all cylinders within 10 psi of each other. Each of the plugs looked normal, for an engine that had only idled with an occasional rev. Well, all except #7. It was still perfectly clean without a trace of carbon or fuel. It was either getting no fuel or getting steam cleaned by a head gasket leak. Of course, I thought the worst and assumed I would be pulling the heads. My fear was reinforced by the condensation dripping from the tailipes. This thought got me sidetracked for a day or so into researching the best "bang for buck" head swap. I mean, if I have to pull the heads, I might as well make it worthwhile, right?

Eventually, I came around and decided to first eliminate the fuel injector as the source of trouble. It is too easy to pull the upper intake and fuel rail to not at least check the injector.
Electrically, everything checked out. +12v on one pin, other pin had continuity all the way to the ecm. Impedance between the pins was 14.8 or 15.8 (can't remember) but it was the same as two other injectors. A fully clogged injector seemed unlikely since the entire fuel system is new and I had previously overhauled and tested each injector but I couldn't rule it out. I pulled the injector and connected it to a 9v battery. I could hear and feel the solenoid clicking. I rigged up a bicycle pump and rubber tubing to verify the injector was opening. At 30 psi, I triggered the solenoid and ... nothing. After fooling around with it, eventually the blockage cleared and it would spray a perfect pattern of carb cleaner.

After reassemby, the miss is gone. I suppose the proper fix would be new injectors but I think I'll wait and see if the miss comes back. Why? Well, if I have to buy new injectors, I would want to go bigger and then I'd need heads and cam and another fuel pump to make use of the bigger injectors and then I'd need to convert to MAF or, more likely just replace the ecm with Megasquirt. If I'm going to do all of that, might as well just LS swap.
So I'll wait and see.

[JustJohn]

I like the harness behind the fender idea. I did it with my AC lines but didn't think about the wire harness.

I am going to hide the wires for lights, turn signals, fan, etc. by running outside of the engine bay. I see this done a lot but I don't remember anyone using heater hose as conduit. Is this a bad idea?

This is the basic concept, although I didn't have a long enough hose to make the whole run. Temporarily, I joined two pieces with a hose clamp. I'll secure the conduit with cable clamps so that everything is pulled up tight against the top of the fender, out of sight.

[jstanard]

I like the harness behind the fender idea. I did it with my AC lines but didn't think about the wire harness.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about running AC lines that way. On my Mustang, it was easy enough to hide the lines under the export brace. If I make a brace for this car, it won't be big enough to hide a couple hoses so behind the fender could work.

[beater65]

Why? Well, if I have to buy new injectors, I would want to go bigger and then I'd need heads and cam and another fuel pump to make use of the bigger injectors and then I'd need to convert to MAF or, more likely just replace the ecm with Megasquirt. If I'm going to do all of that, might as well just LS swap.
So I'll wait and see.

I'm glad that this train of complete snowball thought isn't just me ROFL!!

[HotRod47]

I am going to hide the wires for lights, turn signals, fan, etc. by running outside of the engine bay. I see this done a lot but I don't remember anyone using heater hose as conduit. Is this a bad idea?

This is the basic concept, although I didn't have a long enough hose to make the whole run. Temporarily, I joined two pieces with a hose clamp. I'll secure the conduit with cable clamps so that everything is pulled up tight against the top of the fender, out of sight.

I ran my heater hoses through the passenger fender well for a cleaner look. The wiring through the driver side like you. The only issue I would have with the rubber hose like you are running is it is completely concealed. Should you ever need to run another wire it would be really hard to get it in that hose, and if you ever had to do a repair or anything you won't have easy access to the wires. I ran mine in the plastic split loom and secured it up with clamps on the same bolts that hold the fenders in place. Just a thought.

[jstanard]

Yeah, access could be a problem. If there's room, you could easily pull a wire with flexible fish tape. I have enough room right now to fit a few more wires easily. I did consider opening up the hose and using it like split loom but the fenderwell is a messy place - especially on a daily driver.

Edit to add...

I ran my heater hoses through the passenger fender well for a cleaner look.

You certainly achieved that. Your car looks amazing!

[langleylad]

I ran my front end wiring through a small piece of tubing inside the driver side wheel well . Then I decided to add another wire , then another , then change one , what a PITA . So now I have a small run all wrapped up in Painless Powerbraid going along the top of the frame rail . It's away from heat and hardly noticeable because it's the same colour as the rail . If I ever need to change anything , it won't be a pain .

[wfo guy]

I have some info for you incase you need it in the future. Instead of pulling heads, use a leak down meter and check every cylinder before making the teardown decision. A comp test is nice but it won't tell you where the problem might be. By leaking each cylinder at tdc, you will be able to hear where the air is going to make a more accurate diagnosis. I'm happy for you that it was an injector.

[Motown 454]

Just read your whole post, nice job! I'll be checking in to see more.

[Twentyover]

On industrial equipment, it is not unusual to run additional wire in conduit- if 1-3 wires are in conduit, you add an additional wire, 4-8, a second additional wire, etc, so you always have the repair/addition option available.

Heater hose is also fairly thick walled- not a bad thing, but maybe a thinner wall hose would allow more room for wiring, better turn radius, etc?

I am going to hide the wires for lights, turn signals, fan, etc. by running outside of the engine bay. I see this done a lot but I don't remember anyone using heater hose as conduit. Is this a bad idea?

This is the basic concept, although I didn't have a long enough hose to make the whole run. Temporarily, I joined two pieces with a hose clamp. I'll secure the conduit with cable clamps so that everything is pulled up tight against the top of the fender, out of sight.