My 3650 swap

Thanks mikey, i really appreciate it. Ive got the last of the little pieces on the way, another week or two all i should need is a bottle of brake fluid.

@CDsDontBurn if you dont mind, that would be fantastic.
 
Driveshaft shop is telling me there are two different pinion flanges used on 8.8s. Anyone aware of which the irs 8.8 uses? Apparently the bolt circle options are 3.5" or 4.25"
 
Turns out a guy i work with thinks he has the stuff to flash my chip but hes not actually messed with stuff this old. He was wondering if anyone knows the hex or binary location for what we need to change to disable auto functionality.
 
The fact the eec is encrypted to keep us from fucking with it, makes the SCT PRP package $450. :) A poor tune, or a bad flash will brick your car, be careful letting some rando tune your car. It's incredibly easy to break something permanently.
 
Since i posted that we found tunerpro and it seems like its going to be pretty straight forward. Seems like the hard work has already been done and we just have to change a couple values for the transmission. Didnt find out yet how to disable the speed governor but that shouldnt be that hard i imagine. He was excited to read up on it to be able to play with it. Hes not new to tuning, just new to the old stuff, he does lots of ecoboost stuff, pats delete and what not.
 
Guy I work with didnt pan out, guess he doesn't have the hardware anymore. Last of my pieces parts finally got here. Was hoping to get this banged out this weekend, but long story short if I'm going to that it's going to need to be done in 24hrs. Feel confident about it, have a lift and trans jack only really crusty stuff is the diff mount bolts. Seems like the mgw shifter is pretty easy to attach, hope that's the case. Any words of wisdom or gotchas to look out for?
 
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You don’t really need the quarterhorse to tune it, you can just burn the tune directly to the chip. The quarterhorse is nice because you can make changes on the fly and datalog everything, but if all you are doing is deleting the automatic transmission controls, you won’t be going back and forth making a bunch of changes to the tune, so the chip will be fine.
 
MadMikeyL said:
You don’t really need the quarterhorse to tune it, you can just burn the tune directly to the chip. The quarterhorse is nice because you can make changes on the fly and datalog everything, but if all you are doing is deleting the automatic transmission controls, you won’t be going back and forth making a bunch of changes to the tune, so the chip will be fine.
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I can't even figure out how to interface with the chip. From what I understand I need the burner chip and cable to interface with it. All i can seem to find about it is everything to do with it is discontinued. Facebook groups are telling me everything from dont even need to disable auto trans functionality to just buy a holley terminator... lol. Guess ill put it together and try it with / without the chip to see if one of them seems to work ok, if not ill bite the bullet and drop pants for scp.
 
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Doxnoogle said:
Facebook groups
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No offense to anyone, but majority of the people there are morons.

After I finished most of the T45 swap I attempted to drive mine without a tune. It was barely able to make it down the road. It was backfiring so bad I was worried the engine was going to grenade
 
MGWs have trans tunnel interference from what I heard, you might need to hammer on the tunnel a little but I don’t know the details.

It will run on the auto tune but it will behave odd at times; pulled timing rev hang and bucking
 
XR7-4.6 said:
MGWs have trans tunnel interference from what I heard, you might need to hammer on the tunnel a little but I don’t know the details.

It will run on the auto tune but it will behave odd at times; pulled timing rev hang and bucking
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My understanding is I'll need flatten a spot out and drill a couple holes for it to mount, here's hoping it's as straight forward as that. Before work tomorrow I'm going to pull the console and start doing what I can. Not impressed with the brass bushing fitment for the shift linkage. The piece that fits onto the shift rail is perfect, the link bar bushings are sloppy before even taking the paint off. My linkage didn't come with the the bushings for the shifter end so I guess I'm stuck with using em there. Debating trying to knurled them so they will at least be tight for a while.
 
The MGW shifter will hit the top of the trans tunnel, so you will have to beat that area up a bit for everything to clear. For the rear mount for the shifter, it lines up pretty much perfectly with the rear bolts for the plate that seals the hole in the floor, so I just bolted everything through there, and it works great.
 
How much are we talking as far as beating the tunnel? Not new to bfh mods but is it a 15 minute massage or like fitting the 3" down pipe on my pickup that took 2hrs lol
 
Ok, needless to say, didnt get to the trans swap the other day. Its going to be happening 2nd or third weekend of may now. Still sitting on the fence with what to do about the chip. Since my last post ive been finding some stuff out. Ill leave the trans adjustments out because theyre going to be moot. Im getting 1.4-1.5mpg better without the chip, last few tanks have been without and i compared the average to my previous few months. That was with an outlier at a station i normally dont fill at that also only got about 20.5 (what i was getting with the chip) without the outlier, its closer to 1.7mpg better. Performance wise, butt dyno doesnt notice the difference really, the lower rev limiter has caught me a time or two when i hold it in 2nd to pass. Dont have good enough service around here for draggy to be very consistant. Either way, the mpg increase trumps the imperceptible difference in power if there is one. All that said, im not super married to my chip and am considering the mustang ecu or a handheld even more. My understanding is the mustang ecu would already have a "better" tune than non mustang as well as higher rev limiter and governor. This seems like win/win to me, does all the things i want the cheapest. Down side is im reading that the PATS system could be pissed after the fact... not sure what to do here. Next option would be a handheld. My question there is are these the kind of things i can change with just the tuner or would i be stuck buying the tuner AND a tune from someone?
 
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The only instance you can use adjustable parameters in a handheld tuner is if they’re programmed in there, so if you used a Mustang ECU and bought a brand new tuner for a 96-98 Mustang it’ll possibly be adjustable. Otherwise a standard handheld tuner needs a tune in it with the person programming it to add the adjustable parameters. As it applies to these cars the matter’s always been the case.

The adjustable parameters are very very limited both in selection and how far you can alter btw, not much worthwhile changing when you already have a stick to make your own shift points
 
XR7-4.6 said:
The only instance you can use adjustable parameters in a handheld tuner is if they’re programmed in there, so if you used a Mustang ECU and bought a brand new tuner for a 96-98 Mustang it’ll possibly be adjustable. Otherwise a standard handheld tuner needs a tune in it with the person programming it to add the adjustable parameters. As it applies to these cars the matter’s always been the case.

The adjustable parameters are very very limited both in selection and how far you can alter btw, not much worthwhile changing when you already have a stick to make your own shift points
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So dont bank on "just a tuner" being able to do what i want, roger. I know the mustang ecu has a 6250 rev limit compared to the birds 5500, and apparently no governor. That takes two boxes off the list and if i get a manual ecu (derp) then thats the last one off the list. Im doing more digging and waiting to see if i can get any confirmation on whether the 225hp '98 ecu will work or not. EIther way, i dont see any reason not to just get the mustang ecu at this point, i may be giving up a few torks or herspers but what the butt dyno dont know dont hurt it. Will give me an excuse to dyno tune it if i end up getting the exhaust on it before im ready to do the coyote.

*edit* Another duh moment, i just found out one reason for there being so many different calibration codes is that also includes variations in tire size and gearing. Since im running the signal doohickey i imagine im fine, but i know im right at the end of the range on the low end.
 
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The 98 one will not work right, and don’t get hung up on factory horsepower numbers, ford didn’t magically squeeze 10 extra horsepower out of just the tune, they simply overrated it for 98 because the word on the street was the 4.6 mustangs were underpowered from the 5.0s( so ford just changed the number to say nuh uh!)
 
New one for me, my clutch kit didnt come with pressure plate bolts, so thats fun. Im also trying to track down which wire on the speed sensor is the signal and which is the ground. Pink w/ orang and grey w/ black wires.

Had the cowl off to put in the master cyl, where the window washer line tee's the two sides together its come apart but im trying figure out what was going on there, two sides have boots, other side is bigger and no barb like the washer line was glued in there..? More a curiosity than anyting.
 
Well that was peak anti-climactic... Shifter mounted, sorta, clutch bled, 97 mustang (F6) ECU swapped, and have a no crank situation. Of course it then immediately occured to me that the mustang ECU could be looking for a closed neutral safety switch circuit. Not inclined to swap the ECU back right now on a hunch, hoping some of you gents that know these a bit better might chime in and have some idea how you would procede at this point. Not sure if a 96 would have the circuit / plug to jumper it even.

On another note, this shifter sits up throught the trans tunnel a LOT more than i was expecting. Going to dig through the other threads too, but wondering how others sealed up the floor.
 
Doxnoogle said:
Im also trying to track down which wire on the speed sensor is the signal and which is the ground. Pink w/ orang and grey w/ black wires.
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According to my '97 EVTM, gray/black is VSS+. Pink/orange is VSS-. Both connect to the PCM and other components through various distribution blocks.
 
Doxnoogle said:
On another note, this shifter sits up throught the trans tunnel a LOT more than i was expecting. Going to dig through the other threads too, but wondering how others sealed up the floor.
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This was something I went back to redo on mine recently. I didn't seal up the trans tunnel well the first time around. Originally I used rubber sound deadening material to close up the inch or so gaps. Not expecting so much heat to be generated in that area it didn't last long and eventually deformed and melted.

Last year I switched over the console to one from a supercoupe with the handbrake. I took this as an opportunity to fix it properly. The supercoupe shifter boot and hold down bracket filled in most of the area with a bit of modification, but since it's a T45 I needed to seal the front shifter too. I used a mustang shift boot on the front shifter and glued/bolted it down to the trans tunnel. After it was all sealed up I put down some thick carpet insulation over it all.
Since redoing it properly it is much quieter and no noticeable heat comes though the area. I definitely recommend to take your time and make sure you seal and insulate the area well.
 
Kenz said:
This was something I went back to redo on mine recently. I didn't seal up the trans tunnel well the first time around. Originally I used rubber sound deadening material to close up the inch or so gaps. Not expecting so much heat to be generated in that area it didn't last long and eventually deformed and melted.

Last year I switched over the console to one from a supercoupe with the handbrake. I took this as an opportunity to fix it properly. The supercoupe shifter boot and hold down bracket filled in most of the area with a bit of modification, but since it's a T45 I needed to seal the front shifter too. I used a mustang shift boot on the front shifter and glued/bolted it down to the trans tunnel. After it was all sealed up I put down some thick carpet insulation over it all.
Since redoing it properly it is much quieter and no noticeable heat comes though the area. I definitely recommend to take your time and make sure you seal and insulate the area well.
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It still amuses me we did the same exact thing at the same time but in reverse, with me going back to a 97 console from the SC one and using the opportunity to improve the sealing/insulation.

IMG_4397.jpeg
 
Yeah that was strangely coincidental timing, plus both pearl white Cougars:zshrug:

When I noticed the parts for sale it was a good excuse to go back and improve the previous work. Also strange is that all that parts I needed are not very common, and within a few weeks apart two different members posted everything I needed for sale.
 
Kenz said:
Yeah that was strangely coincidental timing, plus both pearl white Cougars:zshrug:

When I noticed the parts for sale it was a good excuse to go back and improve the previous work. Also strange is that all that parts I needed are not very common, and within a few weeks apart two different members posted everything I needed for sale.
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Kind of the same story, I was really struggling to find a regular parking brake lever and console, MN12s now being rare at chicagoland junkyards, yet within two weeks three cars with everything I needed showed up in three different yards inventory and found everything I needed and then some to get it all done ahead of schedule.
 
With a huge amount of help from xr7-4.6, did get the mlps wires jumpered, speed cal thing is hooked up. It starts now but revs to ~2k and dies, then it cranks and wont start unless i hold the throttle. Not sure where to go from here, the computer bits are a bit out of my element. I reckon i swap my computer back in and see what difference it makes.
 
Yeah, I would swap the computer back. There is nothing about the trans swap that should cause it to fire up then die. If you did somehow wind up with a PATS Mustang computer, that is what it would do, so if it runs fine on your stock computer, I would send that Mustang one back.
 
Yeah is it a used or remanufactured PCM? What's the 4 digit catch code on the label? I saw you mentioned F6 but I'm not sure what that's referring to outside the part number prefix, that doesn't really say anything about what it actually is
 
Its from a 97, 96 date code, catch code is zxa4. Cant really send it back, private purchase deal, could resale it. FB group is claiming mustang and mn-12 have different pinouts. I guess it was worth a shot... suppose i better get my chip down to the post office.
 
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