StangNet' Built to Cruise

BTC Blog Moved to Auburn Customs

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:14:00 -0700

We have moved all of the content here on Posterous over to its new home at Auburn Customs.

You can search this archive as well if needed.

To access the latest information please follow and bookmark here.

http://www.auburncustoms.com/

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Ford Racing Electronic Pedal Bracket Adaptor

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:43:00 -0800

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We have had a ton of requests for our pedal adaptor that we designed. You can find out more about it over at our Auburn Customs site. Plan to have these ready to ship in March. Details Here.

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BTC Water Overflow Setup

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:07:00 -0800

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We have had severn inquiries about our reservoir setup on BTC so I wanted to post an update.

We chose not to go with a DE-Gas bottle setup as we wanted to keep the setup clean and also not have to plumb and make fit the oversized DE-Gas bottles. We went with the old school setup and made it easier to mate to the FOX style radiator and also kept the engine bay clean. We have several miles on the car, in HOT weather, and have never really ever went anywhere near 200 degrees on water temp... she seems to stay steady at 185.

The setup: We mounted a Canton overflow bottle on the passenger side fender liner panel. On the engine, there is a water housing with a long silver nipple that sticks straight up in the air. We believe this to be the 'fill' point when the cars are at the factory, this way they can pressure fill the system. This is also the highest point on the engine and perfect for the vent area. From this nipple we ran some water hose to the bottom fitting on the reservoir. Then the larger open nipple pointing at the radiator at the water housing connection we just capped this off, this is the connection for the DE-Gas bottle which we do not need. Then since our reservoir radiator cap is higher than the radiator cap, we designed this setup for it to be the cap that would vent. We used a 16lb cap on the reservoir and then a 19lb cap on the radiator, which really could just be a non-vented cap but we chose a 'just in case' option for it to spill over. Then from both overflow nipples, we just ran water hose from that and down and out hidden to spill through the frame if overflow occurred.

See the noted images for help.

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BTC Update: Tuning and Such

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:49:00 -0800

It's been a while I know, after our major rush to finish the car and take it on tour this summer and the car being basically done, we took a moment to focus on some other tasks. Another reason for some of the delay on progression was our ability to drive the car consistently/safely in traffic or trips. There was a serious idle issue once you came to a stop and this just caused the car to die. If you are physically doing this swap or have been following these Coyote swaps you know what we are referring to.

As of right now, we were able to get a 'tune' for the current idle issue from JMS Chip (contact them for more info). They have solved the majority of the issues as far as we can tell. We still want a full blown tune and plan to head over to JMS in Mississippi in the coming months. This will give us a solid tune to get the most power and drivability; and we will also be able to give you guys some numbers you have been hammering for. ;)

We are also hearing from several sources that Ford is working/suggesting that VSS be setup/modified on these swaps to help with the known idle issue. We will be mapping this out soon in upcoming posts.

House Cleaning Updates:

1. Clutch cable seems to have stretched and binded on us. We are replacing that soon and also will be removing the 'black' support from the clutch fork, as it seems to be causing the clutch to not fully engage giving us some slip at 3rd and 4th low rpm pulls. Anyone see this before? Decking somewhere is causing plate finger height clearance for us we guess, the combo of the 5.0, 4.6l bell, 4.6l RAM clutch possibly.

2. Front Sway Bar - We are going to try the High Flow Performance Coyote project setup they have working for now. As some may or may not know clearance for a FOX swaybar is just not obtainable due to the Alternator location, and also the P/S if you have that in the A/C location. We are going to take some SN95 swaybar brackets and mount them to the FOX location tabs in the engine bay. Then use end links without the sleeves and space them with some washers. It's not pretty but its better than 'NO' swaybar. It will hang low, but everything on the car hangs low. :) Will post up our findings later.

3. Exhaust - We are going to replace the Magnaflow Magnapak mufflers for their normal Oval mufflers they produce for the 5.0. Don't hear me wrong, the exhaust has a killer note and makes a statement with this setup, but it is really loud. Maybe Im getting old but it just needs to be toned down a bit. Driving softly constantly worried about a cop hearing you is no fun when all you really want to do is play a bit, not get everyone to look! :)

4. Pedal Bracket Adaptor - For the swap we had designed a bracket for the swaps. We currently are having these produced and plan to have them ready for sale at the beginning of the year. This design will allow for easy installation in to any 79-04 Mustang and any project you have that utilizes a vertical firewall, like a kit car, truck etc. We have a lot of requests for this part so stay tuned for more information.

Look for more detailed updates, I hope to start posting some more information about our project detailing some of the steps and components used.

Also, personally I have been very busy over at StangNet rebuilding our Forums to a new system and that took away my shop time for computer time. If you have not stopped by recently, please do and let us know what you think (http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums)!

Cheers, MRaburn.

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BTC at MustangWeek on display

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:08:10 -0700

Project Built to Cruise is on display at MustangWeek over here in Myrtle Beach. Be sure to stop by the Late Model Restoration booth and say Hi!!

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BTC Teaser Video

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:46:42 -0700

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We are about to head out to Mustang Week on Thursday and we did some little touches to BTC today and got her cleaned up for the trip. Thought we would post up a quick teaser video for those that have been asking. Once back from Tulsa we plan to do some more videos with a GoPro for your enjoyment. We are also currently working with VMP Tuning and Ford Racing to figure out our idle stop problem (which seems epidemic to these crate motors at present). Any of you other builders out there having this same issue please contact me as I have info to pass on.

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BTC at Tulsa Mid America Event

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:35:00 -0700

Here are some shots of the debut of 'Built to Cruise' at the Tulsa Mid America Event. The Mustang drew a ton of attention. We will be heading up to Mustang Week in July to attend that event as well.

We are waiting on a tune to fix some idle issues because of the long tube headers, once we get that fixed look for some killer videos of BTC in action.

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BTC on the way to Tulsa!!

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:46:28 -0700

Watch for updates all week.

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BTC Update: BTC hits the streets

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 12:08:16 -0700

Our project is complete. Still minor tweaks as we drive her more, but she lives. Many more updates to come once we catch our breath. We head to Tulsa on Tuesday for the Mid-America Shelby and Ford Meet. Check her out there if you are attending. More soon, we are just gonna cruise the roads the next few days!!

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Sent from my iPhone

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BTC Update: Interior Completed

Tue, 31 May 2011 17:09:00 -0700

We wrapped up the interior today. Here are a few shots for your enjoyment. We converted a stock Blue cloth interior to all black with leather GT seats in the Mach1 style. Shout out to TMI Products for them working with us to pull off a nice interior upgrade. From TMI we have the Mach1 seats in Leather with all new foam, their new Coupe headliner and their awesome door panels with some of our own custom touches. Half the interior hard plastic parts are originally in black purhcased from Prestige Mustang and the rest of the original parts were painted to match using some Late Model Restoration interior paint and some PPG Jet Black die.

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BTC Update: Magnaflow MagnaPak Exhaust

Wed, 25 May 2011 13:37:00 -0700

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We got the exhaust hooked up today. Magnaflow had sent us a prototype Fox MagnaPak system for our project. Magnaflow has never produced a MagnaPak system for the early FOX Mustangs but let's hope they start. The BBK X-pipe 3" tubing and ball sockets but we wanted to run tail pipes on our LX so our best bet was to stick with a 2.5" system for clearance reasons. We had to modify the Magnaflow extension tubes. We the tubes on the muffler sides because the BBK X-pipe exits are a little longer and exit evenly at the ball sockets compared to a factory style exit which is staggered and shorter. We then cut off the 2.5" female sockets and welded on a set of Hedman 3" female header reducers to mate up to the BBK X-pipe. Check out the video for the initial sounds... we of course will get more video later with take offs and drive by's but for now a nice idle and some revs sure do sound good! Magnaflow needs to make this system available for sure. All we lack now is some power steering... some day I'll write a book on that saga.

Exhaust Setup:

2011 Ford Racing 5.0 Coyote Engine
BBK 5.0 Fox Swap Longtube Headers
BBK 5.0 Fox Swap X-pipe w/Cats
Magnaflow MagnaPak Mustang Exhaust (A 15677 w/ 15630 Hangers)
MRT Black Chrome 18" Exhaust Tips

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Built to Cruise Update: ISIS Master Cell Install

Fri, 20 May 2011 13:40:55 -0700

The ISIS Powered Master Cell is in place inside Built to Cruise. We found a nice spot right above the driver side kick panel and it is accessible without having to remove any interior panels. All the wiring is done and all accessories are working properly... brake lights, headlights, turn signals, parking lamps and reverse, ignition and starter. All is good to go. Look for a detailed blog at a later date with all our steps installing the ISIS Powered system in the Mustang.

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BTC Update: Black Interior and Dash

Fri, 20 May 2011 12:32:00 -0700

Interior for project BTC is done pretty much. Still have some tweaks to the door panels and the front seats and we are done. Looking good going from Blue interior to Black!

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BTC Update: Rear Interior

Tue, 17 May 2011 17:36:00 -0700

The back half of the Coupe/Notch is about wrapped up. Here you can see a shot of the TMI Mach1 Fox Leather back seat and the dyed 'Black' rear trim panels and the new TMI Coupe headliner.

A note on the rear panels. Various model years are not the same. I am not sure of the year of these panels but there is a difference at the rear where it meets the rear deck, some kind of notch cut out for something, does not quite wrap the rear window correctly and then the shoulder belt hole is higher up on these panels and will require drilling a hole to match the B pillar bolt hole. One day I will try to find some '89 panels and dye them black. The only reason we switched panels from the ones that came in the car were because they were blue in color and all chalked up from sun fade... paint/dye was not going to stick. So be warned, check the year of used panels with the year of your car and make sure they are the same.

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BTC Update: Water Temp Sending

Mon, 16 May 2011 18:02:00 -0700

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We had to find a place to tap the water sending unit for our Coyote swap. We are using the Autometer Ford Racing gauges and a sending unit is sent with it. The new engine is not like your old school intakes and water ports are not readily available. We checked out the water flow chart for the new 5.0 and found that the passenger side heater hose is hot water before the thermostat so it will suit us fine for a tap sensor. Autometer has an adaptor to allow use of this 3/4" hose. It is the Autometer 2281 adaptor. We were able to tap right above the fuel rail and tilted the adaptor just so, and it clears the engine cover. A nice clean spot and hidden from view.

On the heater hoses. This was easier than expected. Just order you a set of factory 2011 5.0 hoses from a Ford parts source as the engine side connectors are quick connecters and the ends are not nippled for regular hose and clamps. Then on the passenger side hose you can cut it off at the FOX location and secure it to the heater core input side. The sizes are the same. Then on the driver side, we cut it off after its factory bend turned the corner behind the intake near the fire wall, then used a 5/8 hose adaptor/conector to connect it to a piece of 5/8 hose with a 90 degree end on it. We picked this up from a local parts house. Just ask to look at their hose rack in the back and find a 90 degree piece and measure to make sure it is a 5/8 size then you trim to fit and mount it to the return outlet on the heater core with the 90 degree end on the heater core and turning back to behind the intake. Easy peasy.

2011 Heater Hose Part #s

18472A

18472B

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BTC Update: TMI Leather Mach1 Upholstery on

Fri, 13 May 2011 15:25:00 -0700

Got our TMI Leather Mach1 Mustang style seats back from the shop today. Looking great! Notice the Gray stripe to match the color of the paint job!

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BTC Update: Ford Racing Autometer gauge cluster

Fri, 13 May 2011 13:55:29 -0700

All wired up and ready to roll.

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BTC Update: MGW TKO Shifter Installed

Tue, 10 May 2011 17:09:00 -0700

We have the MGW (www.mgwltd.com) shifter installed in our TKO 500. All is well and it feels great. (Note: The dust boot is removed for the pictures). The 5-speed Rally Shifter Ball is from MGW as well. Silver stripe matches the car nice.

Notice the carpet is now in the car as well. We are getting close. Hope to be proving out the Mustang some time next week.

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ISIS Powered 'Push to Start'

Mon, 09 May 2011 16:58:08 -0700

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As mentioned earlier, we have installed the ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System (www.isispower.com) to manage all the power functions of our 89 Mustang. We were basically able to remove all of the original factory wire harness... we did however keep the pigtails and short harness for the front and rear lights, this made wiring them up a little faster. Many more details to come in how we wired up our FOX but for now check out the cool feature you can use with the ISIS system, which is a true 'push to start' system, no key needed. Basically the system handles the procedures. When we depress the start button (hold it down), ISIS turns on the ignition (ACC), a power (positive) connection is made to the Ford Racing Control Pak ignition input wire, then ISIS waits 2 seconds, then it sends power to the starter wire connection on the control pak. The car then turns over to crank. Then once the car starts, we release the Start button and the car stays on and running. To turn the car off, you simply depress the start button again, and ISIS kills the ignition signal to the control pak and it turns off the motor. Who needs keys!? FYI - The ISIS comes with a key fob, if you depress the 'Lock' button, then all ignition and starter signals are locked and the car cannot be cranked, thus it cannot be hot wired... sorry! :P

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BTC is on her own feet now!

Fri, 06 May 2011 09:00:53 -0700

Finally after a years hard work she is sitting on her own again. Some final wiring in the interior to go and them some power steering love and we will be cruising. Stay tuned!

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