My '85 MGM, "Maisa"

[sly]

My 88 MGM had a TransGo shift kit. It was installed properly and worked very well. The "installed properly" part is the biggest issue with any of these kits. Baumann I think has the best instructions, then TransGo is so-so, but if you understand the terminology used, you can get by. No clue about the B&M kit, but I've not heard horrible things about it. Again, installing things properly and using quality components for the other parts goes a long way as well.

[Arquemann]

This seems to (mostly) be the correct diagram for EEC-IV CFI engine harness:

Pins 54 & 10 - "To A/C System". Where are these located in the engine bay / where do they go inside the cabin?
Looking at the diagram, those seem to be the only wires to take into consideration when removing the whole harness.

[Arquemann]

Ordered a dizzy and misc. stuff for the carb swap from RA. Even managed to get everything ordered from the same warehouse and saved a pretty penny on international shipping.
.Got a duraspark dizzy for a manual '85 Mustang 302. That and gaskets for the intake and thermostat, fan clutch and a the heater core valve. I was originally going to just delete the valve, but the vacuum and electrical connections would be left hanging and the valve was 24€.

A guy off finnish forums should have a used fuel pressure reg for me if I haven't bought anything else by easter. I'm still trying to get a certain (specifically) high pressure capable pressure reg, which is only 75€ at one store and wayyy more expensive elsewhere.
I've also decided to paint the valve covers in gold, a throwback to the older ford engine colours. The new dizzy should come with a black cap so I'll avoid terrible colour clash.

Is the engine light tied to oil pressure and coolant temp via the ECM, or straight? Obviously I wouldn't mind if it worked with the carb.

[sly]

Straight to both sensors. Oil pressure switch in the side of the block near the oil filter (forward of it in the gap between it and the alt bracket). I do not remember where the coolant switch is. The ECM temp sensor is the one on the thermostat housing or the heater pipe coming off the head just behind the thermostat housing.

None of the idiot lights are ECM controlled until the late 80s EFI stuff when they got an actual yellow check engine light.

[gadget73]

I think 85 Mustang manual is the wrong one. That will be for a steel roller cam. You should have a flat tappet iron cam. Mixing the two results in the iron part going away.

[Arquemann]

I think 85 Mustang manual is the wrong one. That will be for a steel roller cam. You should have a flat tappet iron cam. Mixing the two results in the iron part going away.

I picked one with a cast iron gear, don't worry!

[sly]

[Arquemann]

Regardless of what I put in my cart, it would seem I got a dizzy with a steel gear... I has a fine machined texture all over it.
But I do have 2 other distributors already, the original and the new TFI one in my car currently. I should be able to remove the gear off the original dizzy that's sitting in a box somewhere.

[Arquemann]

The plot thickens...

The old distributor that was on the car when I bought it also has a steel gear.

Either there's something I'm not aware of in the engine, or some twat put it a wrong dizzy sometime before I got the car. Either way it is an old dizzy.

[sly]

Take a picture down the hole and see if you can get a clean shot of the cam gear. Short of taking the cam out to verify, That might be the easiest way. If you have a borescope, that would be helpful here. Find out what the cam is. It may have been changed. Hopefully you don't see major wear marks.

[jaywish]

Is it that easy to tell steel from cast iron?

[sly]

Steel looks machined in it's entirety. Cast iron is only machined on the gear teeth. The neck is machines on steel and has a cast look on iron. It will be generally smooth, but have small lumps or other imperfections and no machine marks.

At least that's how I understand it. If the cast iron is really badly cast, it may be machined for fit and may make it look like steel... so there is that issue. But if there's no machine marks on the neck of the gear, that's an indicator that it's probably iron and not steel.

[Arquemann]

Doesn't help the iron theory that the PNs on the sticker are for 86+ models. The PN in the actual casting says its for 84-85 mustangs.
Ill have to check the old gear thoroughly tomorrow.

Worst case: I have a fucked up cam and no appropriate dizzy.
Best case: somebody put in a roller cam

[Tiggie]

I swapped an iron gear to a steel and they looked so similar, I couldn't really tell them apart side by side. I'll try to dig out the cast iron gear if I can find it and compare to a steel.

[gadget73]

Find the block casting number. Its not impossible you have a later block with a roller cam. Should be on the side where the starter is.

also curious what the spark plug holes look like. If someone put an 86+ engine in this thing they take a different plug and its fairly obvious looking at the spark plug hole which it is. For whatever its worth, if this is an 86+ engine and you are running the 1985 plugs in it, that might explain a lot of your problems. 'course if the cam gear is fucked that would explain a lot of things too.

if it is a flat tappet motor and its been running a steel gear you'd know it with a good look at the cam gear. If the gear looks fine and the distributor gear is fine, both are steel. An iron gear will wear against a steel gear. Less of problem when its the distributor, very bad if its the cam. All the little bits of metal are bad either way but a distributor gear is much less difficult to change than a cam is.