04 terminator swap

[MustangChris]

the doner car is keeping all the wiring to use on his TT build.
I'll have to snag all this stuff from his friend with the 03 termi.

i cant just pull my OEM dash harness and put in the terminator dash harness?

You should be able to for the most part. You have to in order to use the terminator cluster anyway.

here we go.... .. . lol.

 

[Magic]

I called my tuner and he told me that he "highly suggests" getting an 04 terminator wiring harness and ECU. So, i plan on getting those.

On what ground does your tuner "highly suggest" that you spend the extra time and money on the 03/04 wiring harness and ECU?

You will save time and grief by re-using all of your existing wiring and ECU. The 2 main things that you will have to consider are running the intercooler/heat exchanger pump in some way/form, and whether or not you want to convert over to coil-on-plug ignition or stay with the coil pack ignition.

Any reputable tuner SHOULD be able to tune ANY engine combination using your existing electrical/computer.

I really dont understand why your "tuner" wants you to swap this. Oh wait, he probably has some canned tunes using the 03/04 Cobra ECUs with certain setups, so its less work for him to spend time tuning your car. Typical tuner bullshit. Sounds like those guys that con people with 94/95 5.0Ls to switch backwards to an A9L foxbody 5.0L computer.

 

[Magic]

Not sure what they did to fix it but it is fixed in the 04 heads. Some people try to sell 03 heads as 04. 04 Heads have blue paint.

True revised 04 "Cobra" heads have the revised cooling passages in the left side (but still a good idea to do the "cooling mod") and more threads in the spark plug holes.

 

[KWClutch]

I called my tuner and he told me that he "highly suggests" getting an 04 terminator wiring harness and ECU. So, i plan on getting those.

On what ground does your tuner "highly suggest" that you spend the extra time and money on the 03/04 wiring harness and ECU?

You will save time and grief by re-using all of your existing wiring and ECU. The 2 main things that you will have to consider are running the intercooler/heat exchanger pump in some way/form, and whether or not you want to convert over to coil-on-plug ignition or stay with the coil pack ignition.

Any reputable tuner SHOULD be able to tune ANY engine combination using your existing electrical/computer.

I really dont understand why your "tuner" wants you to swap this. Oh wait, he probably has some canned tunes using the 03/04 Cobra ECUs with certain setups, so its less work for him to spend time tuning your car. Typical tuner bullshit. Sounds like those guys that con people with 94/95 5.0Ls to switch backwards to an A9L foxbody 5.0L computer.

Well Im not a tuner and I totally disagree. It makes it 10 times easier and less time to just take out 98 and replace with 03 components than to rewire.

 

[Shame302]

Well Im not a tuner and I totally disagree. It makes it 10 times easier and less time to just take out 98 and replace with 03 components than to rewire.

That and, it's important, at least for me, that it appears factory. Some states (like mine) would actually require him to use everything from the terminator in his swap.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Well Im not a tuner and I totally disagree. It makes it 10 times easier and less time to just take out 98 and replace with 03 components than to rewire.

I am a tuner, and I totally agree... If, Chris, you have a competent shop handling the tuning, then it's no big deal at all for them to reflash the 98 ECU to deal with the Cobra engine.

You would need to make a bracket to mount the coil packs, and upgrade your fuel pump to an SVT Focus pump. Tuning can deal with the rest.

Like I said, keep it simple brother.

Option number 2, if you don't have a competent shop, is to put ALL the Cobra component's in your 98, including dash, harness's, colummn etc.. This get's real pricey real quick, but does make for a turn key swap in your backyard.

I would choose option one and keep it simple. Get it in there, have it tuned, work the bug's out, have it running safely, then shoot for the moon with return style fuel, more boost, etc.

 

[MustangChris]

Well Im not a tuner and I totally disagree. It makes it 10 times easier and less time to just take out 98 and replace with 03 components than to rewire.

I am a tuner, and I totally agree... If, Chris, you have a competent shop handling the tuning, then it's no big deal at all for them to reflash the 98 ECU to deal with the Cobra engine.

You would need to make a bracket to mount the coil packs, and upgrade your fuel pump to an SVT Focus pump. Tuning can deal with the rest.

Like I said, keep it simple brother.

Option number 2, if you don't have a competent shop, is to put ALL the Cobra component's in your 98, including dash, harness's, colummn etc.. This get's real pricey real quick, but does make for a turn key swap in your backyard.

I would choose option one and keep it simple. Get it in there, have it tuned, work the bug's out, have it running safely, then shoot for the moon with return style fuel, more boost, etc.

So, this is the WHOLE story:

my GT broke.
I post a classifieds for a PI 4.6...
Jeff tells me about his home boy witha termi.
I called his homeboy and set everything up.
i get the money for his motor.
I called my head-guy to see how much my termi heads would cost to build for *my* custom build ($2,000 or something like that... and considering i dont have the internals, this is out of my budget)
so i ask him who he suggests to tune the termi motor and he told me. i called them.

He said that they can tune it with a popcicle stick and a ball point pen if needed, but he suggested the terminator equipment due to extra sensors. (two of which being IATs regarding the blower??)
so i start pricing this jibber jabber out... $150.00 for the engine harness, $250.00 for the dash harness, etc. etc. etc.

All the motor work will be done at my uncle's shop. he has lifts, tools, cranes, etc.

I was going to leave the fuel and computer stuff to the tuner, but since i will be with my uncle and have every tool ever made, i think i'll give it a shot first.

so thats where I'm at right now.

right now im going to just read more swap threads on modular fords and see what i decide. the problem is there is no "right way" of doing this. everyone has done it differently.

considering my final build will be a 900HP top mount motor, i would like the car to be terminator inside, as to have a more . .. "logical" computer system.

I guess that could wait until later.

Im going to do full bolt-ons for the terminator motor while its out of the car... (this includes a ported eaton) do you think that the 96 computer stuff will handle everything okay?


JR, i sent you a PM.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

You are right, there is no "right" way, and there are several way's.

And indeed, you give up several sensor's, none of which are critical really.

I really think you should just get it in there, get it running, and go from there. There's a certain Fox-bodied car running around Cleveland terrorizing the streets with a Terminator motor I set up using a 96 GT harness, ECU, and K member, lol. It work's well, run's well, makes 450 to the tires in a wrapper you'd never suspect, and he never misses (or knows) the extra sesors and functions he's missing.

 

[KWClutch]

You can use your ECM just fine, but you'll have to get it reflashed and most tuners charge a lot of money for that. But if my memory serves me right they went to a "'faster" ECM in 98 so if you have the faster one it should be no problem. I'm just saying you can do this yourself cheaper than what I think it would cost for a tuner to use the stuff you already have. I priced a few places and that's what I came up with. I spent about 7k in parts/motor/harness'/etc and did 95 percent of the install myself. After i swapped everything it was easy to find the bugs and work them out.

 

[danielson631]

hell yeah man im so jealous lol but thats awesome hope the swap goes well

 

[MustangChris]

i bought a DD.... so im just going to take my time on it.... ill try and do the ECU, but if its not ready by summer time, im gunna be pissed >.< lol.

 

[97ponygt]

Don't take this the wrong way man but you are getting in over your head. Take some time and really research this, Otherwise you are going to make an already very expensive swap un necessarily more expensive. I can't believe your paying a shop to do the work. There is no reason you can't do it yourself. I can only imagine how much they are going to charge you for their time/work. That would be incentive alone to DIY.

You said the engine is still in the cobra? Where is the car? Is it a wreck? The more you can get from a single donor car, the better.

This

 

[MustangChris]

Don't take this the wrong way man but you are getting in over your head. Take some time and really research this, Otherwise you are going to make an already very expensive swap un necessarily more expensive. I can't believe your paying a shop to do the work. There is no reason you can't do it yourself. I can only imagine how much they are going to charge you for their time/work. That would be incentive alone to DIY.

You said the engine is still in the cobra? Where is the car? Is it a wreck? The more you can get from a single donor car, the better.

This

are you lost? this isnt the politics section lol.

 

[97ponygt]

No but taking on this project without the utmost research and you will be lost

 

[MustangChris]

thats why im doing my research, and the only thing ive bought was the motor and the engine harness (which i got a good price on, so i could re sell it easily)

ill keep you all posted...

 

[97ponygt]

didn't mean to come off as a jackass but I'm really looking forward to seeing how this comes along.

 

[MustangChris]

you are a jackass... ... you wouldnt fit in here, otherwise. lol. dont worry about it. my feathers take alot of work to get ruffled.

im looking forward to it as well, ive got quite a bit of reading under my belt, and a few ideas on how to proceed, but im get crossed eyed everynight after like, 4 hours of reading forum junk...

anyone know of a termi swap book i could buy off amazon? lol.

 

[KWClutch]

I have one for 20 bucks

 

[MustangChris]

hhahahhaha, yea. i'll keep that in mind.

 

[Shame302]

Take your time and be patient. Like i said, if you can get the cluster, key and key cyl as well as locks would be nice), PATS module and computer, you shouldn't need a tuner. It can be a pain to get all those parts from the same car. Either way it will be really sweet and well worth it when your done. If your dead set on having a shop do it then get what they tell you to and let em at it but i really think you can do it.