The engine came back and I fitted it into the rails. It looked quite spectacular with the candy-apple red powder coating. I needed a phenolic spacer to get the plenum to clear the polished aluminium, etched 302W rocker covers that Vicki had bought some time earlier. But even with the one inch thick spacer, they wouldn’t clear the plenum. I ordered a set of nice, polished 5L rocker covers from an eBay store, but they were a smidgen too squat for the roller rockers. On the third attempt, I got a pair of Ford Racing scripted aluminium rocker covers to fit just nicely using the phenolic spacer, but I would have to block the PCV holes (the 5L engine runs a closed system with the PCV valve in the rear of the manifold).
Like I said before, the car was to be powered by LPG injection, and I had been making enquiries into this technology for quite some time. I had even collaborated with Larry O’Toole (Graffiti Publications) to write another book, this time on LPG Injection. Larry was building a 36 Ford sedan using the same 5L engine as ours and LPG injection. He was also using the same BTR 4 speed transmission that I was going to use, but he was using a GM engine management system to control it.
This combination presents a bit of a conundrum. The BTR Transmission has a reputation for being a “weak” transmission. They (allegedly) can’t handle much in the way of horsepower. I had been advised by a reputable transmission place to go for a Ford AOD, as they were stronger and they didn’t need a computer. Well, I had an EL sedan that I bought new, and the BTR transmission was thrashed in the years that I owned it and hadn’t let me down. I also read of other auto enthusiasts using the BTR transmission in their projects, on such forums as Ozrodders. I wanted to use the BTR transmission, as I had set up the chassis to do so, including the rear crossmember. Besides, the starter motor was on the other side in an AOD, and the last thing I wanted was to start cutting and welding my lovely new powder coating!
To add to the drama, LPG injection requires full sequential engine management, and the EEC5 EMS was batch injection. I did a lot of research into programmable EMS, transmission controllers and LPG injection, and could not get any straight answers. After weeks of trawling the internet, discussions on forums and lots of phone conversations, I would not know if a particular system worked until I had paid for it and fitted it and tested it.
What I chose had to do all these things:
• Sequential engine management
• BTR Transmission control
• Ignition control utilising Ford’s unique PiP and SPOUT signals.
In addition, I had to source LPG injectors and fit them, and hope that I could get them to work. I also had to have the LPG system approved and get the tank tested. In the end, I decided to give up the idea and go back to what I knew; electronic fuel injection. The good news is that, after doing all that research, I discovered a few things had changed and improved since I wrote the book Electronic Engine Management. I also discovered that the BTR transmissions in the early 5L cars (the ED and NC) had the transmission controller separate from the EEC4/5. Surprisingly (or not!) this was denied by at least two so-called experts in the transmission business!
I scoured the internet forums and, sure enough, I had the transmission controller from the NC Ghia all the time! It is bolted to the brake pedal box. Now that I have decided to go back to petrol, I can take a whole new look at the Engine Management System.
The transmission controller is a done deal, I’ll use the factory BTR controller. Here’s another thing: When the engine came back from Queanbeyan Engine Service, I noticed that it had the EDIS trigger wheel on the harmonic balancer. Nice, I can run coil packs, as I have a complete EDIS 8 system that I was going to use on the Plymouth. Of course, that would mean re-selling my brand new MSD distributor that I bought specifically to replace the factory Ford dissy, but eBay is my friend! I tried the VR sensor that came with the EDIS 8 system, but it would not fit. I searched for pictures all over the internet, and it looked like I would have to buy VR sensors until I found one that fit. Well, second time lucky, the BA Falcon XR8 uses them, and it fits in the small threaded holes on the timing gear cover.
I then find heaps and heaps of info on the Megasquirt system that uses the EDIS 8 for almost every engine imaginable. I built a couple of Megasquirts while I was writing the EEM book, so I knew that they were a reputable system and worked well. Since those days, the Megasquirt 2 has been well established as a great all-round Engine Management System. The good news is that the Megasquirt 3 has been released, and it provides full sequential injection, MAF or Speed Density, trigger wheel or dissy, you name it! What’s more, the price tag is a fraction of the mainstream programmable EMS that I had been contemplating.
But I had a problem; what to do with the hole where the distributor used to be? You need a distributor to connect the cam to the oil pump drive, so what do they use when you run coil packs? After some investigation, there it was; a Camshaft Position Sensor! In the USA, the EDIS was used for most Fords from about 1993 onwards. In Australia, we stuck with the dissy until the BA 5L XR8. But Ford wanted about $700 for one! Summitracing.com had them for $75! A week later, there it is, in the distributor hole in the Vicki! I also located a Megasquirt store on line that had all kinds of things, like the bracket for twin coils for V8 coil packs! Done! The engine management system is decided; a MS3 in trigger wheel mode (no need for the EDIS 8 ignition module), full sequential and MAF as opposed to MAP.
