Fuel Injection System Musings

[85lebaront2]

If you want the integral ACT sensor you need a YC2F-12B579-BA or similar. That is the one from the 2003 E250 5.4L.

I just did some playing with it, Fluke 75 connected to E & F, gives me a resistance reading, apply a little warm air and the value decreases.

2nd trial, power to A, ground to B, Fluke - to C, + to D. Applied 14 VDC to C & D, Fluke read around 0.03 VDC, blow some air through the sensor inlet and output went up to around 2.3/2.4 VDC.

I think I can come up with a way to flow these, but you would still need some sort of standard to establish actual flow. I have an old Craftsman shop vac that was my dad's. It has a 3" hose and will pick up anything you get it near including water. Some PVC or similar plumbing, one of which would be a 3" ball valve as a throttle, a could more 3/4" valves (more standard ones) to serve as trimmers on either side of the ball valve. I have two nice Magnehelic vacuum/pressure gauges that I have for adjusting the VV carburetors, one is a very low one which teed to the MAF side of the apparatus would provide an indication of approaching/reaching max airflow capability.

[Gary Lewis]

I can do w/o the integral IAT.  I have the new IAT sensor awa an old one, so should be set.

Use another known MAF as the reference?

[85lebaront2]

Possibly, fun would be switching them without disturbing the settings, I am not sure they would work well in series. It would also be interesting to compare the two different air filter setups, factory vs my original home made one.

[Gary Lewis]

I think you could run two sensors in series.  It might slow the flow down a bit, but it would still be the same through both of them.  Do you have some of the hose you used for your first inlet system left over?

[85lebaront2]

Yes, and the conduit and PVC pipe pieces.

[Gary Lewis]

There you go.  Line up two, or even three, of them and test away.  

[85lebaront2]

Here is one of the Magnehelic Gauges, it needs the plastic replaced. Note the range on it, 0 - 2" H2O.

[Gary Lewis]

Wow!  That's sensitive!

[85lebaront2]

Sensitive enough that if I set it down on the table, it will read below 0.

[85lebaront2]

Here is the other one I was looking for:

I was able to get a new "glass" for the 0 - 2" H2O one, shipping was more than the part.

[Gary Lewis]

Man, that's a sensitive meter!

So, when does the testing begin?

[85lebaront2]

32nd of Juvember.

Once this weather you keep sending settles down, I need to finish my friend's 2003 E250 so he can come remove it. Then go get the plumbing fixtures (ball valves etc.) to build the test assembly. Once that is put together, I will order a new filter for the big shop vac so there won't be any restriction on it. I am waiting on a couple more pigtails so I can build one for each style MAF, ACT connection. I did notice something yesterday working on the E250, the 6 pin harness plug that goes to the air filter assembly (internal MAF) appears to have gold plated pins. I may have to either find a source or get a unit and enough wiring from a junkyard to duplicate it.

[Gary Lewis]

Man, you can HAVE this weather!  I've had all the winter I want, and then some.  I just spent a couple of hours shoveling the church sidewalks as we have a funeral there tomorrow, and we had at least an inch and a half of sleet.

It was 17F when it was sleeting, for 3 hours, and the stuff piled up like snow.  We had drifts 8" deep and when you drove over them they didn't squish AT ALL.  Just barely left any tracks.

Somehow the stuff bonded and became one solid sheet, kinda like the old white Styrofoam that was made out of little pellets.  So the only way to shovel it was to get under it with the shovel and break it free of the sidewalk.  

Anyway, I'm anxious to see what you come up with.  It will really be interesting to compare the output of different sensors when you know they are getting the same flow, regardless of what it is.

Interesting about the gold plated pins.  

[85lebaront2]

Gold pins are used in places with low signal voltage levels so that may be the reason.

I built a short extension harness for Darth when I get back to working on him, it will allow either type of MAF (with or without integral ACT sensor) to be used. With an integral one, the one in the filter housing will just be left unplugged.

While I had the MK 1 MAF system in hand I decided to make a template for a gasket and discovered two things, first, the F5OF-12B579-AA MAF I had ordered off eBay which looked a little rough, plastic housing etc. turned out to be an 80mm MAF with the sensor labeled F5OF-12B579-AA attached to it. Since the aluminum one had the sensor that went super lean when hot, I just pulled the sensor out of the plastic one and put it on the aluminum one.

Final item, in trying to make a gasket template, I discovered that I had a roughly 1/4" off location on any of the 90mm MAF housings with the air filter lid. It is now disassembled as far as the mounting went so I can fit it together better, I need to see if I can find a small cross section O-ring that will just fit over the end of the inlet cone from the Lincoln Continental air filter assembly.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, a lot of computer connections use gold-plated pins.

As for your harness, I like that plan but have too many other changes going right now to do that.  But I really like the idea of the IAT sensor being in the MAF sensor.

Interesting that you found a sensor that fits both a plastic and an aluminum housing.  I had assumed that the plastic housing took the larger stem on the sensor and that the aluminum took the smaller stem.  Guess I was wrong.

But I'm not sure I understand what you mean by having "a roughly 1/4" off location on any of the 90mm MAF housings with the air filter lid".  Are you saying that your 90mm housings, either aluminum or plastic, don't fit on the air box lid?  If so that may be due to not having the screen.  I can take a shot tomorrow of one of the housings on the air box lid w/o the screen if you need it.

[85lebaront2]

Gary, it was caused by a misalignment in the studs (I actually used some M6 X 1.0 bolts and had used the stand offs from the 80mm MAF) the studs and stand offs were angled up slightly. I had not wanted to pull the MAF against the inlet funnel (I guess that's a good term for it) as it is glued into the end of the lid and didn't want to push it out of place. The stand offs are too long as they put the MAF a bit off the end of the inlet funnel where it is through the end.

What I started with was a 1994 5.0L air filter and a 90mm MAF from a 1995 Lincoln Continental with the DOHC 4.6L V8. It was an extra assembly from a T-boned one in a local junkyard. I ended up buying the entire car for parts and stripping everything I could off it before the yard closed (property was sold to a church next to it to be their parking lot.) I cut the funnel out of the internal wall of the air filter after first trying to see if I could use the entire filter in Darth, no way it would fit without removing everything behind the left headlamp assembly. It is a roughly 1 foot diameter by 2 feet long cylinder that splits in the middle to access the filter element. The idea was to duplicate the 5.0L system using the 90mm MAF. Plan worked, the execution as far as using it worked, the precision of the build was not great. Part of the issue was actually bonding the pieces from the Continental air filter to the top of the truck air filter, I (a) do not remember what we used and (b) even if I did, no longer have access to it.

On that set of tests you posted, it was a 1988 which could have had an E4OD as that was the year of introduction. Gearing plays a part too, Darth has a 3.55:1 limited slip rear axle so I am only turning around 1500 rpm at 55-60 mph, the 12.5 mpg was on a run from Exmore VA to Falling Waters WV and once off US 50 in MD, a lot of the drive was at 70-75 mph on interstate highways. Back in the late 1950s Mercury built what were sold as "Turnpike Cruisers" using Lincoln engines and a 2.69:1 rear axle ratio. They probably had 14" wheels and bias ply tires and got pretty good economy cruising at the pretty standard 55 mph speeds in those days. One more item, neither Big Blue nor Darth have the exhaust restriction of a catalytic converter followed by a pair of fairly small pipes to the end, Darth's id dual 2.5" to the muffler just in front of the axle and a 3" tail pipe. BB's is pretty open and he has headers also.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, I think I understand what the issue is with the air box.  So, what are you going to do?  You think an o-ring might help?

Falling Waters.  Been there.  Met a nice young man.  

The MPC shows the E4OD in the applications list in '89, and that is what my searches found as well.  So if the Four Wheeler dually had a C6 they did very well to have gotten it to 10.5 MPG.  But if it has the E4OD then they must have 4.10 gears.

And you are right about the exhausts.  Ours are free-flowing, and especially the system on Big Blue.  I hope that helps on the MPG.

[85lebaront2]

I guess it was based on the book I had on the E4OD, it was dated 1988 and I figured that was when it was first released.

Here is the updated MAF mounting on the air filter top along with the short harness. The reason for making it the way I did, the other air filter has a different ACT sensor so if I have a 6 pin plug on either, the whole assembly can be swapped fairly quickly.



There will be a rubber gasket between the MAF and air filter top so no dust can be pulled in.

[Gary Lewis]

That air box lid looks good, Bill.  The curve looks like it would make the flow smoother.

And the MAF sensor is angled up, unlike the lid I have.  That would seem to help the flow as well.

[Gary Lewis]

Oh yes, I understand the harness, and it makes sense because it allows either type of sensor you want to use.