OUR 40 FORD

In less than 48 hours the ECU we sent away with FedEx had gone from the West Coast of British Columbia to Manassas, VA. It was delivered and signed for. Now I feel like an anxious father sitting in the waiting room for something to happen.
Very suddenly and without warning the Ford horn started to sound off. I turned the steering wheel left and the horn stopped. A turn to the right and, "What is that noise?" The horn circuit for these Saginaw steering columns is very simple and easily traced. Tomorrow it will be off with the steering and have a look. The other pending task is to match the shift lever at the C4 transmission to the detents and the indicator at the top of the steering column.

Bright and early this morning, I got a call from Manassas, VA. They have my ECU in the tech department and they plan to do the firmware upgrade today. The return shipping could happen today, but Monday is more realistic.
Playing with old cars is expensive enough. My making the choice to add high-tech to control the engine and other functions was not done without understanding the cost, before I made my order. The company who designed and built this system is being very helpful and I appreciate this. My having to have the firmware upgrade at this time is totally my doing. I bought this system in March of 2004. Thirteen years later I decide to get the car running which involves an ECU programing sequence. In 2010 there was a system improvement and I need to upgrade the ECU. For this bother, I will get an improved system with better, faster and more tuning options. The engine has four coils called DFU, or dual fire units. Each coil is connected to two spark-plugs. One spark is for ignition and the other is for exhaust gas clean burn. A DFU can produce up to 80,000 volts, if required. The ignition spark will not go higher than needed for combustion propagation. The installer instruction suggest, in the boldest terms possible, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE A GROUNDING CABLE FROM THE DFU MOUNTINGS TO PREVENT INJURY OR DEATH. I installed two dedicated ground cables.
This old V8 has lots of sensors to assist the ECU in making that perfectly controlled fuel injection through 8 sequentially triggered injectors.
One of the programing options is electronic engine RPM limiting. This will be set to 4500 rpm. The ECU will control the Gear Vendors overdrive. I want the ECU to power-up the OD at 45 MPH and I have added a manual control to prevent the GV from engaging. http://www.gearvendors.com/index.html
The old C69A Ford Flathead should come alive, hopefully. The stock, Canadian, C69A has 6.8-1 compression, so I thought it was a good candidate for an Eaton M90. I got my M90 from a Ford Recycling yard. It was a gift and included the intercooler and all the bits and pieces. The M90 was OEM on a Ford Thunderbird SC, 3.8 litre V6. The M90 is driven about 10% slower than it was on the T'bird. (aka turd)
This C69A was originally mounted on a small trailer and attached to a water pump for fire fighting at a lumber mill. The original record of mandatory annual fire service inspection was with the engine when it was sold at an auction.
I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to do this expensive and complicated project. I am pleased to have had the training and then exposure to electronic engine management at work. Would I do this again? NOT A CHANCE. No regrets.
If a person needs to know what this sort of stuff costs, PM me for the answer and then be seated for the reply. My next big challenge will be getting the electronics of a Cummins 24 valve to operate as stand-alone in a 1953 IHC. I bought the schematics and I have all of the OEM ECU harness and "black boxes".

All reminds me of supercar stuff. Really.
People are gonna freak when you fire and drive. Magazine articles will happen, too!
It's just SO WELL DONE.

Two of things that I look forward to are, 1) parking in the disabled parking at the White Spot Restaurant and 2) I hope the M90 Eaton whines like a spoiled child. 3) My neighbour has a 1940 Ford and he is rushing to get his finished before my 1940. We do not speak to each other, so,that is the rumour going around. 4) I want to drive past his shop this next week. I hope the
Ford runs better than I count.

Thanks for this thread- I needed to stay up tonight to get ready for night shift, reading this from post number one did the trick. I hope you get the 40 running soon, it sure looks great.

I took on a challenge over my head with a burned-out JD cab tractor- it sits and flips me the bird every day when I walk into the shop. It has run in the last two years, no cab or accessories and lots of gremlins to kill. This thread may just be the bump to get it going. OR, to fix the brakes on my Loadstar, or...

The horn circuit was making ground somewhere when the steering wheel was turned. I pulled the steering wheel and followed the circuit through the contact ring and into the steering column. There was nothing obvious, so, I put the column back together and whatever was the problem seems to have gone away. On the off-chance this situation happens again, I replaced the on-on Cole Hersee switch with an on-off-on unit. I can place the selector switch in the centre and cancel the horns. The Ford has an electric horn called "New York Taxi" in the right fender and in the left fender I installed a Brazilian Ford COE twin trumpet air horn. The air horn is supplied with air from a solenoid that is part of the air system of the car. I am a little disappointed with the air horn not being louder than the NYT electric, but the frequency is noticeably different.
This Ford has an on-board air supply with a compressor and storage tank for the air spring suspension.
The turn signal lever is drilled and fitted with a micro switch. This switch operates a Bosch latching relay to control the high and low headlight function. The tilt lever is also drilled and fitted with a micro switch to control a Bosch relay that breaks the circuit to the Gear Venders Over-drive, when the ECU calls for overdrive at 45 mph or 73 kmh.

Your skills are amazing, just like your Ford. Very cool. Breakfast time with your work guys will be a more enjoyable drive. Luke

I got a shipping advisory email today. The ECU has been upgraded and was shipped UPS this morning. I expect to receive it tomorrow. Hopefully, we can make some noise this week.
The shop was at 35C today. This is a little too warm for me. We are having more forest fires smoke.

95F is sweater weather at this point. We've been at 110F all week. Plastic is becoming rubber.

This arrived at our door about 36 hours after it was sent by UPS from Manassas, VA. I continue to be wowed by the speed of delivery service across the country. Crossing borders does not seem to slow things down.
Tomorrow will be the "Day-of Reckoning".