Hi all,

I've just finished rebulding a 1989 305 TPI MAF engine, and I'm about ready to start it for the first time. I'm a bit nervous about it because this is my first ever engine rebuild so naturally I want things to go right the first time.

The engine I've had some help in building and I've done the electronics all by myself, and so far everything appears perfect with the ECM able to be put into service mode priming the fuel pump etc, and the PROMinator works etc etc. The engine is in a cradle at the moment with its engine harness connected to an in-car harness that I made up for the purposes of starting the engine out of the car.

The engine is not a stock build as it has a larger aftermarket custom cam installed, 24lb Ford SVO injectors, 1.9" intake valves with head porting, ported and matched throttle body, plenum and runners. I've installed new various sensors and things like knock, EGR, TPS and the IAC valve. This engine should make 300HP.

My real concern at this point is how the engine will behave when I start it. I've taken a 1989 ARAP bin and made these changes so far and uploaded it to the PROMinator Pro...

Injector constant at 24
Closed loop temperature enable: 300 (i.e turn off closed loop)
Fan turn on at 188, off at 185 (have a 180 thermostat installed)
Calc BPW (don't use table): Set, this is the default
VATS: off

Because of the fuel requirements of the larger cam and better flowing heads I'm concerned about how well it will run on the otherwise stock bin. Obviously I don't want to run too rich or too lean otherwise I'll damage my first engine. So what else do I need to do? Should I keep the engine in closed loop or not, and when it is OK to put the engine back into closed loop mode? I have done a lot of searching on this site but I haven't been able to locate the answers I need. And sometimes when you read a lot you forget the initial stuff.

Thanks

 

Personally, I'd start with AUJM. It's newer, and has a conservative timing table for iron headed cars. It's also an F-body bin (ARAP is corvette, and you'll have to switch the Fans control bit, and whatever else). ARAP also has lots and lots of timing.

You won't damage it with fuel or spark on an engine stand, almost impossible, unless you let it blow black smoke for a long long time. Keep the cooling system working though - make sure it's purged of air. Make sure there's oil in it, and primed. If you have ceramic coated headers, put some fans on them at first. Be ready with at timing light and get that set first.

 

OK, I'll go with that. I just used ARAP because that seemed to be what everyone else was using along with $6E mask. I see in AUJM (I download AUJMV - hopefully it's the same thing!), that Calc BPW is not set. Should it be? Is it a good idea to turn off closed loop until I get open loop tuned? Is it OK to begin data logging straight away or should I do that when it's in the car with a load attached to it?

Cheers for the tip.

 

I would leave closed loop on (if there's some form of exhaust on it), and use it to tune the MAF tables first (AFTER installed in the car) (probably not even necessary unless you descreened or otherwise modified your MAF). Keep PE enabled also. Get your BLMs to about 124-128 everywhere except full throttle. PE will usually just fall into place if those conditions are met.
If you want absolute maximum power, you'll want some dyno time to tune spark, and get PE to the 12.5-13:1 A/F, but honestly the engine will probably run great with the above method.
Just start with a stock bin (with correct injector constantS), see how it goes. Modify the little things like fan turn on temps, EGR (set enable temps to a high number), torque converter settings if you feel the need (like disable the full throttle lockup at 75mph).
If you notice startup or something else is a little funky or unreliable, post on here, describe the problems, do some tests, fix it.

Do you have a wideband??? That'll make everything easier to fix. WELL worth their weight in gold.

 

Thanks for all those useful tips. I will keep them in mind when it's installed in the car.

I did what you said with the bin, just changing the injector constants and the engine fired right up. Man I was wrapped! It's my first engine rebuild and first time I've ever wired up an injected engine and it worked first time. Because I don't have a radiator hooked up and just have the engine fill of water I can't run the engine for very long at all, but it revs with no load very, very freely.

 

Hehehe, congratulations! Yeah, it's nice to hear hard work come to life. I just did a 91 5.7TPI/700R4 swap into my dad's 79 Malibu when I was home in February. 8 LONNNGGG days of cleaning and rigging it all up in an un-insulated shop (but with a big fire breathing dragon heater), were well worth it once it roared to life (without an exhaust system, still no exhaust, hehe, love Iowa), and left some of the longest one wheel burnouts that poor stretch of highway has probably ever seen. Too bad the tranny's 2nd gear was slipping from day 1, though. With the 2.41 gears or whatever they are, the thing lugs down the highway when the converter is locked (manual control for now - bought a new VSS with electric and cable drive to be installed once he gets some time).