AquaMutt build thread...

[Safety Guy]

Okay, I went back and looked. I didn't show any IAC splicing. So here goes:



Here I am holding the stock Festiva IAC wire and blue connector. This plugs into the blue IAC valve (also called a "idle speed control--bypass air" in the shop manual) on the Festiva engine. However, we need to plug this into the B6 IAC valve which is located on the lower part of the TB and takes a different plug. Thus, we cut off the blue Festiva plug and splice in the black B6 IAC plug from the B6 harness. Here I am with my completed splice:



Again, it's real simple: just match the thick wire with thick, and the thin with thin. Wrap it well and plug it in at the bottom of the B6 TB:



My finger is pointing to the IAC receptacle just under the TPS plug above.



As for the other prep work I listed on the previous page, refer to your Haynes manual or Ford shop manual for the directions. It may help to have manuals for the 323/Protege to see what might be specific for your larger engine.

I wonder what I'll cover next?

[Safety Guy]

What I'm covering next is what I did the past few days and today. I prepped my new radiator and installed a smaller fan from an Aspire A/C condensor. I figure this will work fine since neither the B3 nor the B6 need a lot of cooling when everything is in good shape. Go to this thread to read more about radiators:

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33115

I just added my question onto the second page of that thread, since it already was on topic. I have a picture there.

What I did was to find two little rubber caps (that little beige thingie in the pic below) at a hardware store and push them into the holes left by the ATX cooler fittings:



Then I pushed on rubber hose sections and filled them with grey RTV to seal them up. The little rubber caps kept the RTV from getting into the radiator itself in case I want to use it for an ATX one day. The rubber hose sections will keep the fitting threads clean. Here's a pic of my sealed radiator bottom:



Someone else would just use duct tape.

Finally, for this post, here is my handiwork putting the Aspire A/C fan on my radiator:



Notice the "third world" (also known as "primitive") metal fabrication. I used snips and a drill. Those four bolts were gotten at a hardware store. The metal strips were leftovers from a home heater installation. I have no idea if this setup will withstand the rigors of a vibrating, hot, hostile engine bay. I shall see! All in good time...

I'll cover hooking up the new smaller fan later on. Another "easy peasy" two wire job. I hope.

I may do one more post tonight.

[Safety Guy]

Besides the IAC splice, and all the substitutions of B3 stuff onto your B6, there is the matter of hooking up your VAF to your engine harness. The later B6s run their air intake to the left of the engine compartment, while stock Festivas have theirs routed over the VC and to the right front corner. In my first engine swap, I unravelled the VAF wiring from the front engine harness (running right under the top front crosspiece) and freed it up to connect to my VAF and air filter which I put where the battery was. In this case, I also moved the coolant overflow tank to the right side (using an older '88 or '89 overflow tank) making more room. I then moved my battery to the trunk area.

For Aqua, I want to keep my battery up front in the usual spot. I plan to move my VAF and air filter over the engine to the immediate right, near the firewall. (We'll see how I do on that later.)

So here's what you need to do if you want more VAF wire to connect to anywhere but the stock B3 location:



In the pic above, I have undone the front engine harness from the left side and under the top crosspiece so I can cut it open and remove the VAF wires. You'll need to unhook such wires as the horn, RF lighting, one relay, etc. Here you also see me beginning to cut the harness open to free up the VAF wires. I used an Exacto knockoff blade from Harbor Freight and also sometimes a small, sharp pair of scissors. You may also be able to mostly unravel the tape covering the wire bundle. Be careful not to cut open individual wires and risk them shorting out later on! Take it slow and observe how everything goes together. Once you do an engine swap, you will become much more familiar with all the wires, parts, hoses and everything else that before seemed like an impossible mess to figure out! I would advise having a note pad and digital camera to document all you are taking apart and doing in case you forget and need help later!



It the pic above, I've unravelled the front harness almost to the hood latch, which I think will be enough for my purposes. Notice the VAF plug at the top of the pic, with the VAF wiring wrapped around the brake master cylinder reservoir. That is about where I'd put the VAF if I were to move the battery to the rear (which I might end up doing, so I wanted this much loosened up).

Also note I had to take off the top radiator mounts and lean the rad back to get to all the harness I wanted to work on. Best not to reinstall your rad till after you finish this chore.

Tomorrow I'll need to get some thinner electrical tape (I only have real thick tape) and begin rewrapping all my wiring harnesses for the new engine bay. After I do that I'll finish the radiator and upper and lower hose install, fill her up with coolant, and think about how I'll finish my VAF/air filter installation. Earlier in the day I filled up the MTX with auto transmission fluid, so that's ready. I'm pretty much done today.

One more post, methinks.

[Safety Guy]

I still plan to do a "how to" on the intermittant wiper switch install, along with older ('88 to '89) and newer ('90 to '93) Festiva steering wheel and stalk changes. One other thing that changed between older and newer models was the instrument panel surround. Refer to the pic below:



Older is on the left, newer on right. Notice the difference in lower clearance! I found that out the hard way when Muttstiva's (my cut up '89L) panel wouldn't fit onto Aqua's dash! I then figured it out and swapped the rear defrost switch onto Aqua's newer surround so it would all go together. The steering column parts were also different! The older models have only two pieces to put on, while the newer models use three pieces (two under the column).

Two pics to wrap today up. First, the view from behind the installed radiator (before I undid the top to get to the VAF wiring):



And my "work area" from today:



Remember, ask questions if you don't understand something I wrote.

Well, I'm getting closer!

Later,

Karl

[JPT]

[Safety Guy]

He he he.

Yeah, I put on a LOOOOOONG movie, don't I?

Slowly, glacierly, lazily,

Karl

[JPT]

But it's good! :thumbup:

[Safety Guy]

Well thank you!

I'm taking a little break from the cold right now. Got all the wiring hooked up for first start except the plug wires. I'm warming up the rad hoses over the heater vent in my house. Warmer hoses should go on easier.

After my break I'll scare up a set of plug wires, coolant and whatever else I may need for start up.

Right now, "it's a wrap"--the front harness, that is:



I need my transaxle spring. Misplaced it! Not critical for startup though. Also need to buy a new radiator cap. One more pic for now, showing electrical hookups:



First startup scheduled for tomorrow morning!

More pictures later tonight.

Karl

[mattman]

whoa i see snow on the ground tooooo cold to work outside ...time to build a garage

[Safety Guy]

And as lazy, hairbrained and pathetic as I am, how long do you think it would take me to build a garage?

Plug wires on. Coolant filled as far as it would go. I think it will be about an hour or so in the morning to take off the VC to pour oil over the valvetrain and into the engine, put the VC back on, and hook up the VAF and air intake stuff from Luxstiva, and I don't know what else. (Alt belt, that's what else.) Then IT'S TEST START TIME!

I'll be keeping my fingers and toes crossed all night. Hope the weather holds, too.

Here's one more pic for tonight:



Karl

[sasquatch]

good luck on the start up

[Maxtiva]

Nice progress so far Karl !!! Keep us update.

Maxim

[Damkid]

Good luck Karl!!

[Safety Guy]

Thanks all.

Beddie bye time for me...

Karl

[Safety Guy]

My Dad's here and we've been trying to start her for about a half-hour. Didn't have any fuel to engine compartment, then found the inertia switch unhooked. I'm silly that way (BTDT).

Hooked it up and still no start. Undid fuel line and sprayed engine area. Got fuel!

Now we're taking a break to let all the gas evaporate so we can go out and check for spark.

Karl