Just 4 Wires Needed to Fire Up a 4.6L Modular V8 in our Ford Ranger - Trucks! S12, E6

today with some simple wiring we're gonna be firing up our 4.6 litre modular v8 in project Rolling Thunder and we'll show you the budget approach to rebuilding your alternator it's all today here on trucks hey welcome to trucks today we're back on project Rolling Thunder which is our v8 converted Mazda B 2500 which is nothing more than a reskin Ford Ranger so far we've stuffed in the 4 valve Marauder engine and transmission and reinstalled our shortened driveshaft following that with a custom bent dual exhaust system it kicks out the side just like a full-size Ford Lightning so that gets you guys up to speed on what we've already done to the truck and kind of brings us to an area that we've sort of been avoiding the whole time which is the challenge of wiring and starting an EFI swap like this one well we've got some help today Jeff Dunn from done ride performance is bringing something really cool to the table and if you remember we use Jeff's mass air conversion on our first gen Lightning a mass airflow system like the GT Mustangs have been a joint since 1989 is more efficient and infinitely more tunable so we're going to use this mass airflow conversion kit from done right performance that includes a new ECM or engine control module an injector harness that plugs into the module and accepts the vehicles injector harness allowing you to control and monitor the rest of the vehicle systems oh and by the way in case some of you Chevy guys have already forgotten it was the Ford that actually won the muscle truck series but even though EFI is nothing new there's still a lot of guys including myself that just get a little intimidated with some of the Voodoo involved in wiring an EFI engine swap so what makes your system difference it's interesting to use the word voodoo because you're right a lot of people see wiring one of these engines as sort of a black magic if you will and while we may not necessarily be able to eliminate the mystery of one of these engines we think that we've done a pretty good job to eliminate the complexity of wiring one of these engines yeah but you're telling me that but I'm looking at hundreds of wires multi pin connectors but yet you're telling me there's only four wires I need to be worried about connecting to make this thing run just for you got a battery positive battery and negative we got a fuel pump and it's well well Keyon that's no more complicated than a carbureted engine not with our kit well once you show us and everybody watching how simple this is to make this engine run let's do it cool this system uses a factory-style multi-pin connector and plugs right into the existing engine harness Don Baron also from done ride performance came down to help us fire off the Ranger he's routing a power feed to the existing four-cylinder fuel pump just so we have a fuel supply it to start the engine now this is kind of a demonstration on how simple the system is to hookup so we're using this toggle switch as our key on voltage source connecting the basic connections to a battery standalone and we'll be using a remote start later on to fire the engine off now what are connections made what we still need a computer to make our four valve four six run so Jeff also provided us with a ninety nine cobra production PCM with a chip installed that disables the passive anti-theft system and they also hooked us up with an 80 millimeter Pro M mass airflow sensor and High Flow conical filter now the done right system is designed to work with the more popular 99204 four valve cobra engines and while our Marauder 4 valve is largely similar there are some subtle differences with the intake facing the opposite direction put into the throttle position sensor and a few other items on the wrong side so to make the Marauder harness work with the done right system well they offer this adapter harness that plugs in between the two now if we decide to go to a cobra engine when we convert to stage two we simply remove this adapter harness plug everything back together we'll be up and running now Jeff likes to tell us that with his done right performance system we could get this engine to run in a shopping cart well as you can see we're about as close to a shopping cart as we could be with the engine sitting in the bare chassis but like any other internal combustion engine we got to have a fuel source now our truck came with a returnless system with the fuel pressure regulated in the tank now technically speaking our truck came from the factory with a mechanical returnless system au cobra guys well you know that you've got a returnless system but it requires a fuel pump driver module to make this system work since we have the option from done ride performance we decided to go return style just to simplify the system so we had to change a few things around our temporary fuel supply line comes from the in tank pump into a filter and then up to the fuel rail the fuel comes back the fuel rail into a temporary return line back into the tank recirculating the fuel creating a traditional return style system now if you're keeping up with this you're probably wondering how we're going to connect a fuel return line to a fuel rail that's designed to be returned lyst well Jeff's got us covered with that with a pretty cool solution that's gonna save you time and money stick around Bob next we'll convert to a return style fuel line system the easy way and later it's the least expensive way to save an old alternator stay tuned [Music] hey welcome back to trucks where we are moments away from firing off our 4.6 Mercury Marauder engine stuffed into our mini truck project Rolling Thunder using Jeff Dunn's done right performance harness system but before we do that we need to finish the conversion to a return style fuel system so the first thing we want to do here is we're going to remove the original fuel rail pressure sensor this is the sensor that feeds information to the original marauder PCM so that it could determine proper voltage to the fuel pump for correct fuel rail pressure and injector pulse width now our return line conversion starts with this adapter block just make sure the o-rings are lubed before installing [Music] if you'll outlet gets a new gasket and the fuel pressure regulators or inks also get Lu [Music] now to get the fuel back to the tank we're using a dash six ninety degree fitting sealed with teflon tape [Music] and lastly the vacuum reference hose is installed under the fuel pressure regulator now since we don't know the overall condition or how many miles are on the original Mercury Marauder spark plugs we're going to go ahead and replace them with a fresh set of these III diamond fire plugs that's pretty safe to assume that the stock fuel pump is not going to supply the demands of a big v8 engine this was made for an inline four-cylinder so what we did is went to a rowdy auto parts and got a Mercury Marauder fuel pump and just put it in line we also clipped the return line so it wouldn't get internally regulated but just flow freely into the tank so now we know our fuel pump is gonna match the demands of the engine because that's what it's made for speaking of fuel we know the fuel in the tank is decent we put it there and we drove around on it but we don't know about the fuel in the fuel rails of that engine it could have been sitting for years so we're to use some start your engines which is designed to stabilize fuel and bring vehicles out of storage so it should do a good job on those injectors even without a filter relocation kit it's a good idea to fill the filter up before you install it but remember this do not get any contamination into the fill hole it's a direct connection to your engine and will get pumped directly into the oil passages and could damage your bearings [Music] we're reusing the Mercury Marauder inlet tube what we bloated it with a proem air meter and filter that come with the kit the rest of the connections are just as simple they're one-way plugs that you can't make a mistake on all right with that stuff taking care of we're just about ready to fire this thing off and like we showed you earlier it only takes four wires to get it up and running but you may notice we got a couple of extra wires here because we're gonna need some more communication with the body once it's dropped down on the frame now one of these wires is an AC compressor on signal the other being a tack feed capable of running a traditional analog tachometer now this toggle switch is acting like our key on signal with this being our start switch [Applause] [Music] check that [Music] that is awesome there it is man it's as easy as you said it was four wires were up and running Jeff Don thank you guys so much for your help wow this is incredible oh and if you decide you want to go with the supercharged Cobra motor you're all set with that as well cool deal well you guys just get the truck back together and up and running we're gonna go check email and we'll check in with you when you're done I'm gonna stay here and listen to this thing run [Music] up next bring in a dead alternator back to life is much easier than you think we'll show you how stick around [Music] hey guys welcome back to the shop well our 66 c10 was kind of a high-end custom so we had a brand new shiny chrome alternator bolted to the engine to charge the battery but what if your truck isn't a show truck and your alternator isn't quite charging like it's supposed to be I guess you always have the option of going to the local parts store and picking up a new or remanufactured alternator but you can save yourself a few bucks rebuild it yourself build on a budget truck projects that save you time and money now most of the time a remand alternator is not going to cost you that much money but like we just told you if you do it yourself are you gonna save a few bucks and not only that you're gonna learn how this thing goes together a little bit about how it works and you can make sure the job was done right and the kit you're gonna need to get this job done isn't that expensive either now it's a pretty basic kit but it does include everything you're gonna need including springs brushes the brush retaining pin to help with assembly along with a voltage regulator diode trio and a new sealed bearing to make sure it spins nice and smoothly now the first thing we're doing is making a couple of marks on both the front and rear case hands that way we can reassemble it in the same orientation ensuring that the mounting holes and wiring connections are all in the same spot now separating the case halves is pretty straightforward just remember the case is aluminum so don't get carried away now an alternator obviously produces voltage but it does require an external power source to energize it and when you turn the key on 12 volts pass through the brushes and onto these slip rings which transfer the power to this field coil behind these rotor halves creating a magnetic field now half of this rotor is a North Pole effect and the other is a South Pole and they alternate and as the engine fires up and the belt spins the pulley this rotor spins inside the stator housing creating an alternating current but like most you guys already know cars run on a direct current or DC system so the voltage has to be modified that'll accomplish that they use a rectifier diode assembly and diodes are basically one-way electrical check valves only allowing current to pass through in one direction now once the voltage has been converted to DC it's got to pass through the voltage regulator assembly now without that part to be no way to regulate the amount of voltage the alternator produces because the faster it spins the more voltage it produces and it would do damage to the rest of the electrical components on the vehicle right here you can see the brushes we're gonna replace those as well now replacing the front bearing is as simple as pulling out the rotor and removing the bearing retainer then you just got to drive out the old one and seat the new one we're using an impact socket a hammer to get the job done and make sure you hit the outside ring of the bearing you don't want to damage it now stators rarely go bad but it does need to be removed to gain access to the parts you will be replacing now two of the screws holding the voltage regulator down are flange and you need to keep track of where they go [Music] you also want to make sure you apply a little bit of grease to the rear bearing to make sure this thing spins nice and smooth now the kit comes with new brushes and new Springs and even if your original Springs look like they're in good shape we'll go ahead and replace them with new parts just to make sure it's done right [Music] and here's where the brush retaining pin is worth its weight in gold because you'd have a heck of a time getting the spring loaded brushes installed without it during reassembly make sure all the original hardware goes back in the correct location and keep in mind these are small fasteners that don't require a lot of torque now before we install the rotor assembly we want to use a great scuff pad to clean up the surface of the slip rings so the brushes make good clean contact now when putting this thing back together here's where it pays off big time to keep track of the parts and the order in which they were removed and lastly don't forget to pull the pin because just like our grenade this thing would be rather ineffective if we did [Music] you're watching trucks for a DVD copy of this episode just go to power block tv.com and order your copy for just 595 plus shipping and handling start your own trucks collection delivered right to your door from the power block [Music] hey welcome back to the shop now I know you guys remember just how hard we beat qua das Bronco here so we're gonna do some badly needed preventive maintenance before we go out again now I know you've seen these ex lock spindle nuts for our dana 44 axles these are made by stage 8 locking fasteners and they act like a wrench on the fastener to keep it tight and in place fighting off the effects of motion vibration thermal cycling shock cycles and over tightening all the typical causes that will loosen regular fasteners over time here's how their ex lock system works first a thrust washer gets installed followed by a notched washer and then the grouped spindle nut once it's tight the locking retainer gets installed locking the spindle nut to the notched washer finally a snap ring holds it all together now the best part of a mechanical locking fastener is it not only prevents the joint failure itself but it also prevents any collateral damage from that failure now stage eight makes a lot of stuff for automotive applications but they also produce fasteners for other industries with 78 patents and trademarks stage 8 covers things in a range from as small as eyeglass screws to large industrial applications like these extreme heavy-duty fasteners for the railroad industry they even make a locking fastener for a gigantic bread dough machine cuz trust me you don't want this guy getting loose and showing up in your CIMMYT but check this out this monster is for the US Army Corps of Engineers to stabilize their bridges pretty impressive now what's really cool is all their products are made right here in the USA and with over 15 million installations over the last 25 years stage 8 hasn't received a single report of a failure now for more information about stage 8 locking fasteners go to power block tv.com check out the link to the website

Channel: POWERNATION

Views: 181,262

Rating: 4.905849 out of 5

Keywords: Car, PowerNation, howto, how-to, diy, automotive, cars, trucks, automobile, do it yourself, automobiles, auto, restoration, v8, truck, Ford, Ranger, 4.6L Modular V8, how to start an engine, how to wire an engine, start engine, ford, ford ranger, rebuild alternator, alternator

Id: Cb1QqhWHN4Q

Length: 17min 36sec (1056 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 14 2020