arghx

iTrader: (3)

Alright guys, I almost have my fully electronic auxilary ports running on my 88 GTU. I'm just waiting on the gaskets for the actuators and this should be working just fine. My best advice for this project is to find a good, small, local hardware store (NOT Home Depot). Bring the car and the parts over there and show them what you're doing if you ever get stuck. They should be able to find you what you need. I'm new to this custom stuff so their guidance was very useful.

First, I sort of followed the FC3S.org write up: http://www.fc3s.org/how_tos/electrical/6_ports.html Hopefully this thread can help supplement it, as I proceeded a little bit differently b/c I used a different pump.

Attached are some pics of what I did. The wiring is not exactly pretty: I used whatever bullshit I had lying around, hence the connectors and wires don't always have matching colors. I used a 12v smog pump off an LT1 corvette that I got from Ebay, since this should produce enough air and will last longer than some crappy air pump from autozone. When you're wiring this up, you will need to cut the connector off. Then there will be three wires: black, red, and orange. Black is the ground--I ran this to a bolt on the side of the strut tower. The red and orange wires control the air pump itself and a clutch that actually engages the thing. I spliced the two together and ran the wire to the 30 terminal on the relay.

As far as delivering the air itself, there should be an "in" hole and an "out" hole. Use some tubing, hose clamps, and various screw-on fittings with some teflon tape to prevent leaks. The last fitting should have a nipple on the end for a silicone hose that you can then hook up to the manifold.

When hooking up the Summit Racing rpm switch, the instructions are on their web site if you managed to get one used like I did:
http://static.summitracing.com/globa...m-830449-1.pdf
I connected the yellow wire to the relay by obviously crimping it with another wire and running it along the firewall, anchoring it down with some zipties at various points. The yellow wire connects to terminal 85 on the relay.

Terminals 86 and 87 need +12 volts. I plugged them both into the white connector near the shock tower, which I believe may have been designed for AAS suspension. If you're looking at the connector, the upper left pin supplies 12 volts, so just use some spade connectors. I tested stuff using either a multimeter or by jumping a wire to my air pump to make sure it worked.

Notes on mounting some of this stuff:

To mount the relay, I just used a screw, a bigass washer, and nut on the end.

To get the air pump back there you need to remove the charchoal canister and kind of jiggle it in there. I don't know if the previous owner removed some bullshit from back there, but I managed to find enough room. Actually mounting the air pump consisted of using an angled bracket from a hardware store. I attached it to the cruise control actuator mounting point near the firewall. Use a bolt and washer to mount the air pump to the bracket through one hole, and then I used a zip tie through the other hole. It's in there solidly enough, and I did some hard cornering to make sure that it wouldn't slide around..

Another thing: I fried two relays trying to get this wiring to work. The numbers can be hard to read on the relay, so it's easy to hook something up wrong. For the longest time I didn't know why my wiring wouldn't work despite all my troubleshooting and it turned out the relay was bad, even though it still made a clicking sound.

Thoughts? Criticisms? Take note that this system isn't completely working yet. I still have to get the actuators on once I get the gaskets... I've never had working auxilary ports on this car since I bought it. I'll probably take the car to a dyno and fiddle with the RPM switch to figure out when would be the best time to open the ports.

totallimmortal

the air from the pump goes to the actuators but what happens once they are open and there is pressure in the lines? does the pump stay on and continue trying to pump? the reason i ask is becuase i did a similar setup using a air pump for the lumbar of a ford tuarus and after a few months it n;y had enough power to keep the ports open for about 10 seconds after that the pump would get to hot and not supplie enough pressure to open the ports. hopefully this pump is up to the tast of you have devised a way to bleed off extra pressure

ViperDude152

be carefull running the pump on the power connector. Also be carefull with the summit switch. Mine ramped up voltage to the relay a few times and burnt the relay. I always had to open up the relay and fix it.

ViperDude152

Mine worked fine.

totallimmortal

^what did you do?

arghx

iTrader: (3)

What could happen from powering the pump off that power connector? I don't think I can get voltage creep from the RPM switch because I hooked it up to the yellow ground wire.

these radio shack relays are junk IMO. anybody have an idea where I can get a better one?

I think a really important factor here is picking the right pump. I believe silverrotor used a corvette smog pump in his system once his air horn pump burned out.

totallimmortal

yeah the pump you use either has to have a provision to bleed off extra pressure or be strong enough to notmind pumping againts the pressure, my radioshack 30 amp relays i've used have always been good and reliable but if you're having problems with them and autoparts store should be able to provide you with a good one

ViperDude152

used a new lumber pump that puts out 3.5 psi. It has a bleed off valve in it to automtically bleed the air out.

Its not designed for loads. You dont know how many AMPS that air pump needs. If its to much it could burn out where ever that wire comes from.

Doesnt mean anything. Its the ciruitry inside the switch. It will start ramping voltage at or around the rpm you set it at from 0-12v. Take a multimeter and hook it up to the switched ground wire from the switch. watch the voltage and slowly rev up the engine to the desired rpm. and hold it there. Then slowly go down and up VERY slowly to watch the numbers. If its 12v all the time and no ramp. Then good for you. But if there is. some time buy a MSD switch. They dont ramp the voltage.

They are junk. AUTOLOC relays are very good. I have it control my fuel pump with no problems. They say their relays will NEVER get stuck. hmm

Smog pumps probubly put out alot more PSI then a simple 3 PSI. make sure you have a bleeder valve in. Dont use a pump with a high amp rating. Just strains the Electrical system and puts load on the alt which puts load on the crank and you loose potential HP.

http://www.racingrotary.com/nt/portmod.htm

joeberentsen

I used a ford lumbar seat air pump that puts out 1.9 psi. I combined it with the MSD switch which turns on @3600 and it's worked splendidly for months. However sometimes at around 125 mph I wish the pump would put out about 2.5 psi to really push those old *** actuators open.

ViperDude152

ya 1.8 PSI is what they open with stock. Using old actuators with 1.9 PSI might be that much to little.

BTW. mine is from a ford too. did you test yours for the amount of psi. Or did you read that some place.

mine put out just about 3 psi after it ran for a bit.

totallimmortal

Well how long have you al been running these lumbar pumps? because i had mine for about a year and i don't know when it started to die but i'd check all you yous if it's rpm activated then jumper it and let it run for about 20 seconds and make sure it holds the ports open the whole time cause for a while i'd just have a friend flip the swithc an i'd see them come open so i figured they worked till i found otu that after about 10 seconds it was to much load on the pump and mine was a ford lumbar pump with the internal bloeed thing or whatever but i guess it didn't bleed enough

uRizen

iTrader: (2)

What kind of vehicles are the best to snag lumbar pumps out of? I need one for my VDI system, but checked all the Ford trucks at the yard and none had one that I could see (I had a buddy with lumbar adjusting seats in his Ford so I figured I'd give it a shot .)

I was also wondering if anyone was done their own RPM switch. I'm no electrical genius, but it doesn't seem that it would be that difficult to create your own rather then drop $60-70 on one.

totallimmortal, why do you have the pump running for 10 seconds? If you're driving agressivly enough to have the ports open you should be just popping through the gears and not lingering in the 3.5k-7 (or 8)k range.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

That wiring looks like a great way to burn down the car.

I don't see any fuses.

Electrical tape is not to be used for insulating connections. You need heatshrink.

No dielectric grease on the crimps. Either recrimp them with the grease, or replace with soldered connections and heatsrink.

Relays should not be mounted sideways unless they are sealed since it causes water to intrude and corrode the the interior.

What's with the unfused black wire that is connected to the battery side of the fuse box?

joeberentsen

I'd call you a jerk, aaron, but you always know what you're talking about.

I read somewhere that the actuators are fully opened at 2.1 psi.

You guys are right though, I should test them because I have a feeling the pump overloads after a while. I can't do that until I get a new air filter and intake piping, because I think they're holding me back too.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

He asked for comments and criticism. I provided it. It just so happened that I was on the phone at the time so I did it in a more abrupt manner then I usually take.

ViperDude152

Ill test mine too. I never seen it not work or loose PSI but lets see what happends.

ViperDude152

Not if your in 5th doing a WOT run

Was your pump used or new?