American Iron Coyote Cobra Swap

[xtort]

Good call on the vacuum caps. I should put some clamps on mine.

I'm taking my car to get tuned next week - did 390 rwhp come pretty easily? I'm also using a truck motor with the BBK swap headers, but I swapped out the intake cams for the Mustang cams. I'd be happy with 400 rwhp, but I should probably tell myself that I'd be happy with 350 rwhp so as to not be disappointed.

 

[97CasperCobra]

One lesson learned... make sure you use tight fitting caps on those vacuum ports and zip ties! I lost one while racing in my championship race a couple weeks ago. It created a huge vacuum leak that made the engine run funny. It wouldn't idle and it shut off every time I would brake into a corner and clutch. I had to refire the engine by popping the clutch and it cost me a bunch of time. So, zip tie those unused vacuum caps! I thought I had blown the engine but a quick fix was a relief once I got back to the garage.

Maybe this is the reason why mine keeps stalling when I put the clutch in while slowing down to low speeds....

 

[xtort]

Maybe this is the reason why mine keeps stalling when I put the clutch in while slowing down to low speeds....

Do you have the speed signal run to the Coyote PCM?

 

[97CasperCobra]

Do you have the speed signal run to the Coyote PCM?

Honestly don't know. None of my gauges work and the RPMs are WAY off. Not happy with the shop who did the install...

 

[xtort]

Honestly don't know. None of my gauges work and the RPMs are WAY off. Not happy with the shop who did the install...

Your car is a 97? The tach should just work when you hook the wire up to the gauge. That's weird that yours isn't working.

The VSS sensor must be hooked up to the Coyote's PCM, and it has to pass through a FRPP Speed Dial first (Ford will send you the pins and instructions for free, but you need to buy the Speed Dial) because the PCM is expecting an OSS signal, not a VSS signal. With the speed sensor hooked up to the PCM, it knows that you're still moving and to keep the RPMs a little higher to account for brake/steering loads, etc.

Tuners can supposedly work around it, but I can't see how that's better than giving the PCM what it needs, which is speed.

 

[97CasperCobra]

Your car is a 97? The tach should just work when you hook the wire up to the gauge. That's weird that yours isn't working.

The VSS sensor must be hooked up to the Coyote's PCM, and it has to pass through a FRPP Speed Dial first (Ford will send you the pins and instructions for free, but you need to buy the Speed Dial) because the PCM is expecting an OSS signal, not a VSS signal. With the speed sensor hooked up to the PCM, it knows that you're still moving and to keep the RPMs a little higher to account for brake/steering loads, etc.

Tuners can supposedly work around it, but I can't see how that's better than giving the PCM what it needs, which is speed.

Good info, thanks very much. I'm pulling the cluster this weekend. I'll check.

 

[BeanCrusher]

Can you datalog? If so you can log vehicle speed to see if the PCM is seeing speed...but...given what seems like an inordinate amount of...shall we say...suspect electrical integration that you have reported, it seems unlikely that they would have bothered with the Ford speed cal...

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Honestly don't know. None of my gauges work and the RPMs are WAY off. Not happy with the shop who did the install...

Only my OEM fuel gauge worked after my swap. I have aftermarket oil pressure and oil temp gauges that I reinstalled. You need to rewire the gauges or come up with an aftermarket solution. There are a bunch of options. I'm told getting the oem gauges to work is a lot of work but it would be nice and clean.

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Your car is a 97? The tach should just work when you hook the wire up to the gauge. That's weird that yours isn't working.

The VSS sensor must be hooked up to the Coyote's PCM, and it has to pass through a FRPP Speed Dial first (Ford will send you the pins and instructions for free, but you need to buy the Speed Dial) because the PCM is expecting an OSS signal, not a VSS signal. With the speed sensor hooked up to the PCM, it knows that you're still moving and to keep the RPMs a little higher to account for brake/steering loads, etc.

Tuners can supposedly work around it, but I can't see how that's better than giving the PCM what it needs, which is speed.

My tuner fixed this and stalling was never an issue (until I lost that cap.)

 

[97CasperCobra]

Only my OEM fuel gauge worked after my swap. I have aftermarket oil pressure and oil temp gauges that I reinstalled. You need to rewire the gauges or come up with an aftermarket solution. There are a bunch of options. I'm told getting the oem gauges to work is a lot of work but it would be nice and clean.

That's what I would like, keep the factory look

 

[97CasperCobra]

My tuner fixed this and stalling was never an issue (until I lost that cap.)

Good to know, thanks so much!!

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Good call on the vacuum caps. I should put some clamps on mine.

I'm taking my car to get tuned next week - did 390 rwhp come pretty easily? I'm also using a truck motor with the BBK swap headers, but I swapped out the intake cams for the Mustang cams. I'd be happy with 400 rwhp, but I should probably tell myself that I'd be happy with 350 rwhp so as to not be disappointed.

My tuner is the best Coyote tuner out there. My "startup tune" put down 395/395 using work he'd done on other similar Coyotes. That was the very first pull on the dyno. He tuned it DOWN from there because every horsepower I make means I have to carry 9 more pounds in the car. The torque is so huge in the mid range that the peak number is ...just a number. I could have easily made 400+ if it was a street car. All I did was make it fit, make it run, and then detune it for my class.

 

[xtort]

Who tuned it?

 

[xtort]

That's what I would like, keep the factory look

The tach is a one wire hookup. Speedo should have worked just like factory with no changes, unless they didn't bother running the wiring to the transmission, in which case you'd also have no reverse lights.

 

[97CasperCobra]

The tach is a one wire hookup. Speedo should have worked just like factory with no changes, unless they didn't bother running the wiring to the transmission, in which case you'd also have no reverse lights.

Pulling the cluster tomorrow. I'll check on both and also check the reverse lights.

 

[xtort]

Pulling the cluster tomorrow. I'll check on both and also check the reverse lights.

The tach can be hooked up near the stock PCM in the passenger footwell, or at the gauge cluster. I honestly don't remember where I did it. If you follow the Coyote harness as it comes into the car, it will split off into 6 or so individual wires that get hooked up to the various places.

Look at 8.2 in the Ford installation instructions (American Muscle site here, but you can get the PDF elsewhere):

http://www.americanmuscle.com/frpp-coyote-engine-control-install.html

 

[97CasperCobra]

Look at 8.2 in the Ford installation instructions (American Muscle site here, but you can get the PDF elsewhere):

Thankfully I still have the Control Pack instructions. Thanks for the advise and help!!!

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Get a copy of the wiring diagrams for your year car and one for the 11-14 Mustang and start matching things up. I know some shops have done this but they aren't as likely to publish the results. You may find some help googling and on this and other forums. I bought the 2014 Ford DVD on ebay for less than $20.

 

[Mystic_Cobra]

Who tuned it?

Adam at Revolution Automotive in Baltimore.

 

[mwolson]

If your tach is off, make sure you check pin 9 of cluster connector C251 to ensure it is grounded. If it isn't grounded, the tach will go into V6 mode and it will be way off. Here's a writeup about cluster pinouts: http://www.accutach.com/94-04-ford-clusters/94-98-cluster-pinouts