the momstang rebuild begins TOOK A TRIP AROUND THE BLOCK!

ttocs · Dec 14, 2021

lwarrior1016 said:
Dude, that totally sucks. I’m sorry to see this. Glad it didn’t all burn down though.

Also, the picture you questioned is the vent line for the transmission, typically it bolts to a bell housing bolt up high to vent case pressure.

it is solid metal on the end and as "alumalite" or something stanmped into it. I am not sure how it would vent if it was but damn I hope the trans is ok... I might be having a friend come by saterday to help pull the motor.

lwarrior1016 · Dec 14, 2021

The metal cap on the end is a vent. Kind of like a pcv vent

joemomma · Dec 14, 2021

Dang man that sucks! Hopefully the damage is minimal and you can get it sorted quickly.

ttocs · Dec 14, 2021

I further into it and broke off the melted insulation and traced the wires I could see. All the related trans wires are gone, the holley o2 sensor and the harness going to it, Some other factory wiring that is not hard to replace but what really sucks is that it looks like it made its way up the back of the motor/firewall to where the ecu harness comes out. I can see it melted some wires in the harness right at the firewall but its in a location that I can hardly see to diagnose let alone get both hands and a tool or two to do any work on them. Looks like the motor is getting pulled out so I can have enough space and do it right.

So that sucks of course but its one of those things that I have already accepted and I have a friend coming by sat to help me pull it and get it start. But fffffffug man now I get to drain the coolant again, the trans, pull the exhaust and I really didn't want to do all this till I was replacing the motor with the 347 or 408 I have been dreaming of. In good news though if my neighbor had not come by to ask he to look at his garage door opener it could have been really bad. When I got out there I could see open flames under the car and a few more minutes and it might have been really bad. Not sure why the smoke detector in the garage didn't work other than it does not work. The battery is good but the test button does nothing.

96blak54 · Dec 14, 2021

Dayum!!! What a set back....im sorry mang! Im glad all is good tho. Its to easy for a small fire to destroy a house, so good thing you caught it fast.

95opal · Dec 15, 2021

Little tip when it comes fo running wires. Use Heatshield poducts hotrod sleeve or lava sleeve. Youll never have to worry about your car going up in smoke again

ttocs · Dec 15, 2021

95opal said:
Little tip when it comes fo running wires. Use Heatshield poducts hotrod sleeve or lava sleeve. Youll never have to worry about your car going up in smoke again

I have already been looking into that very stuff, anything NEAR the exhaust is getting covered in it. I put a heat shield on the bottom of my trans tunnel a few years ago to help keep the heat from the exhaust out of the interior and it looks like it will need to be wiped off at the very least, but it didn't hurt.

ttocs · Dec 15, 2021

after some thought last night I realized pulling the motor was probably not going to buy me much help. I was hoping with it out that I could possibly save the harness that was in there but after seeing how bad the O2 sensor harness was smoked and reading that between the high current wires for heating it and the sensor wires that its not really suggested to modify/shorten/dick with it and because of that it would all need to be replaced. I can basically cut the old one out and pull the new one through although I know it will not be that easy. So good news is not pulling the motor, bad news is holley is pretty proud of their wiring and will not ship till new years.... Hell I was amazed to see the same system I have now is $500 more.

On the side of the trans the reverse lock out harness and the housing it plugs into look to be one piece now. I was trying to get ahold of the place I got it from but my phone kept sending him straight to voice mail and he was busy when I called.

ttocs · Dec 25, 2021

the rebuild began with some parts ordered. A new speed sensor, reverse switch and some heat/fire shielding.

As I started to fix the wiring I came across this new wire connection method that I have been seeing vids on for a while and came across this kit last summer at a hot rod show. I got the kit and completely forgot about it till today and decided to give it a try. Its a piece of heat shrink that has solder in the middle as well as glue on the ends to seal it. You put the piece/connector on one of your wires and then twist the wires together, slide it back over the splice and then use a heat gun to melt the solder and the glue/heat shrink all at the same time.

It definitely made it easer/faster by doing them all at the same time but my only complaint is the insulation seems a bit thin. I am use to the marine grade/thick stuff and this might be ok but I am still going to put a piece of tape on each one.

joemomma · Dec 27, 2021

I've seen ads for those and wondered how they worked.

ttocs · Feb 7, 2023

damn I open this up for the first time in over a year and the last thing it shows is the wire that caught fire. The speeds sense and trans solenoid lock out wires had to go up/over the exhaust and I didn't take the time to properly secure them. The fell, that techflex that looks so nice caught fire and it ended up making a small enough fire to take out the holley ECU wiring but not bad enough to burn to the ground or take the house with it so I was lucky.

I started to get into it back in feb when it happened but I just lost interest when I realized how much I had to do to get it back working. After walking past it all year I miss it and decided to start chipping away at it to fix the problems and make it better than before. I took the time to move the offending wires so that they do not cross the exhaust this time, then I double wrapped them this time in fiberglass heat shield as well as aluminized fire shield for any wire anywhere near the exhaust

to ensure that they to not move I have been hard mounting them every 10-12 inches

I have a few more things outside the car to connect before I move inside which I really dread honestly. I am going to move the holley ecu as I was never really happy with where I put it and move it up to the pass airbag location. Then I just need to remember what wires were connected where inside, moved, ect.

If you ever get into wiring your own ecu, use the factory manuals and be sure to make very good notes on what wires you moved, where you connected, wire colors and where they went to. These notes were great to help me remember what I had changed...