Some thoughts...
First, it's really cool to see one of these keeping CFI and seeming to perform alright. I certainly wouldn't mind eventually making one of mine quicker, and I don't really believe in replacing an engine until it throws a rod or is otherwise not-live-with-able, so this is neat. Well done, and thank you.
Unless I'm missing something, the mods in place are only ones that enable flow to occur better, but not "more". e.g. stock cam so the valves are still opening the stock amount, but heads/intake/exhaust that don't present restrictions. That's my guess as to why it's coping with it pretty well.
In my early days with my Lincoln I had drivability issues that were very hard to chase down and I replaced pretty much the whole car chasing them. I did discover that there are multiple program revisions of the EEC-IV CFI ECMs, and multiple manufacturers of them, and some of them were better behaved than others in my car with all else being equal. e.g. so maybe there was a harness defect like an intermittent break that was a root cause to many issues (and I don't doubt there was), but one particular ECM ran the car properly despite that defect while the others did not. Perhaps your ECM swap accomplished the same.
There is definitely importance in drawing a line between EEC-IV CFI (1984-1985 on the 5.0 in Panthers) and EEC-III CFI (prior to 1984 on the 5.0 in Panthers). Mechanically, they are the same system. Electronically, they are rather different. I have no experience with III but on paper, it is dramatically different, and way less capable of adjusting to its surroundings, as well as way less capable of working around faults.
First, it's really cool to see one of these keeping CFI and seeming to perform alright. I certainly wouldn't mind eventually making one of mine quicker, and I don't really believe in replacing an engine until it throws a rod or is otherwise not-live-with-able, so this is neat. Well done, and thank you.
Unless I'm missing something, the mods in place are only ones that enable flow to occur better, but not "more". e.g. stock cam so the valves are still opening the stock amount, but heads/intake/exhaust that don't present restrictions. That's my guess as to why it's coping with it pretty well.
In my early days with my Lincoln I had drivability issues that were very hard to chase down and I replaced pretty much the whole car chasing them. I did discover that there are multiple program revisions of the EEC-IV CFI ECMs, and multiple manufacturers of them, and some of them were better behaved than others in my car with all else being equal. e.g. so maybe there was a harness defect like an intermittent break that was a root cause to many issues (and I don't doubt there was), but one particular ECM ran the car properly despite that defect while the others did not. Perhaps your ECM swap accomplished the same.
There is definitely importance in drawing a line between EEC-IV CFI (1984-1985 on the 5.0 in Panthers) and EEC-III CFI (prior to 1984 on the 5.0 in Panthers). Mechanically, they are the same system. Electronically, they are rather different. I have no experience with III but on paper, it is dramatically different, and way less capable of adjusting to its surroundings, as well as way less capable of working around faults.
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