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BBM Upgrade On EA Multi

7K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  INJECTED250 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, I am considering a BBM upgrade on my EA, I was just wondering if anyone could help me out with a Parts list and a little bit of a tutorial.

Do you have to change any heater hoses( I have heard u dont)

Do You need to change the termostat?,is so, for the vacum lines or for air intake?

Can I use my Current injectors? as they have been serviced recently?

Do you need to change the fuel pump? I thought the EA multi would be adequate.

Also my car already has an EL head and Rocker Cover.

And I plan to use my current computer and put in a RPM switch.

Also my car was origionally a CFI, i upgraded it to multi

Any help with these questions would be greatly appreciated
 
#4 ·
u will need the manifold, fuel rail, pressure reg on the end of the rail, the throttle cable to suit, also the fuel hoses as they use fittings not clamps, injectors can be swapped, the thermostat and housing can stay, heater im not sure i think i did swap that, the air box and ducting is swapped unless u wanna make something up.

remvoe ef/el harness from maifold. use the existing ea harness it will plug straight onto the injectors, rewire TPS and ISC and i think there was a little earth wire to lengthen aswell?

if u can put the hoses on the fuel rail first then clamp the other end later, also the return hose from the reg. can be put on theyre a bastard to tighten once fitted.

oh and grab the cluster of vaccume lines and the vaccume solenoid switch from near the washer bottle,
 
#5 ·
Yeah, Hot EA is right about the cover - an EF or EL cover enables mounting of the Accelerator cable (and Cruise control cable too if necessary) - EL cover is better to use than EF because the EL uses dizzy ignition so all the plug lead clips etc. will fit up correctly (using EF cover you need to silastic the plug lead clips into the right positions).

You will need to replace all the heater pipes and hoses with the EL parts - this is because the solid metal pipes mount up entirely differently to the BBM than to the MPEFI setup - it's not hard to do and shouldn't cost too much.

As far as vacuum hoses go - don't get bent out of shape trying to make the EF or EL vacuum setup interface into the car's original setup - instead you need to piss off all the EF/EL stuff and then simply attach the original vac hoses to spigots on the tree just the way they were on the original MPEFI setup (only the tree is in a different place and looks a bit different) - this might require lengthening of some of the vac hoses (tho from memory I'm sure I didn't need to) and of course make use of some of the parts from the EF/EL vac setup such as rubber adapters to hook the stiff plastic vac hoses to the tree spigots etc.

With the fuel hoses you use the EF/EL ones and as falcon_boy says, you need to preferably do the fittings up onto the rail and regulator before fitting because they're really hard to get to once the reg and rail are in place. The other end of those EL hoses will have quick release fittings - but on the earlier cars up to ED the hoses are just pushed onto the pipes (ie. forward/under the passeger's footwell floor) and clamped - so all you do is cut the hoses to length and attach them to their correct pipes as per the original MPEFI ones - take care to put the correct hoses on the correct pipes of course!

It's also quite easy to convert the original early model Cruise Control to work AOK on a BBM setup - ie. it simply involves shortening the cable which is actually very easy done and also modifying the bracket from near the Throttle Body - which again is easily done. The hardest part is finding a ball post to attach to the EF/EL Throttle Body arm - I may be able to supply some if people need them (for free). If anyone needs info feel free to ask - I can provide descriptions and pics.
 
#7 ·
Sorry, I can't be any help with Smartlock issues - I'm using an EL XR6 ECU which is a straight plug in replacement for the ED ECU (the connector for EF ECU is different but the EL is the same as the earlier model connectors). My car already had smartlock so it all carried on working as normal - what's involved in making smartlock operational for earlier cars I have no idea but there are others here who should be able to help.

The BBM solenoid in EF and EL is in behind the windscreen washer bottle (don't know about AU - presumably the same?) - it's a cylindrical solenoid with valve body on one end and is attached to a metal bracket. The vacuum circuit for it is meant to incorporate a check valve so it's best to try and get a solenoid plus the vacuum pipes and hoses + check valve. I have that solenoid mounted on the tail of one of the bolts that come thru the firewall into the engine compartment near the heater hose connections - ie. in various places there are these bolt tails that you can just run a nut onto to hold something like the BBM solenoid bracket. I'll see if I can get a snapshot with my camera and post it.

The BBM solenoid does control the manifold - it controls the supply of vacuum to the actuator that operates the manifold. The manifold is in short path (high rpm) position with no vacuum and then when it's actuator is supplied with vacuum it moves to long path (low rpm) position. The factory switchover point is 3800rpm.

I can't recall exactly which way the solenoid works - ie. I THINK it's powered for long path but not exactly sure (from a technical point of view that's not IMO the best way for it to be set up - ie. powered for the majority of the time, but I think that is the way it's designed to work). Doing a search on here might yield some info.
 
#10 ·
The ECU's for models incorporating the BBM are programmed for that system - apparently the ignition map does change - BUT to be perfectly blunt I suspect the proper ECU's either limit torque deliberately or the BBM on long path is just too efficient for the same kind of ignition advance that a non BBM ECU tries to run. My reason for that is that when I used ED ECU with the BBM locked on long path, there was promise of absolutely dazzling performance but it couldn't be properly realised because of terrible pinging - whic I only got rid of by fitting EL ECU with knock sensor working.
 
#11 ·
Ive got the problem with bad detonation if i wind the timing any where near where it used to b with the ed manifold.. as my car is pre smart lock im stuck with using the eb computer and running less timing
 
#12 ·
INJECTED250 said:
Ive got the problem with bad detonation if i wind the timing any where near where it used to b with the ed manifold.. as my car is pre smart lock im stuck with using the eb computer and running less timing
Yep, that's exactly what I was suffering from - with the ED ECU I had to use gentle accelerator everywhere or get terrible pinging/detonation (that's with the BBM locked on long path - short path was ok but very significantly down in bottom end grunt) - and even with the EL ECU with the BBM switching wired up I could only use about half pedal before getting terrible pinging - only fitting and wiring the Knock Sensor in with the EL ECU has made it all work ok.

As a matter of interest I plan in the next few months to try using an ED ECU again (with separate after market rpm switch for the BBM) and a custom intake which will consist of 2 pipes between the airbox and TB - one pipe being about 1.25 inch diameter and the other 2 inch in diameter. On the 2 inch pipe, near the TB I'll have a butterfly in the pipe operated by a second BBM actuator plumbed in parallel to the actual BBM actuator - that butterfly will open when the BBM actuates.

The configuration of the pipes near the TB will be like a capital letter "K" with the lower angled leg removed - the top angled leg will be the 2 inch pipe and the straight vertical down to the junction will be the 1.25 inch pipe and from the junction to the bottom will be 3 inch pipe (that connects to the TB). The 1.25 inch pipe might actually extend inside that 3 inch section and protrude inside the TB to a point just short of the butterfly. At the airbox the two pipes will have separate openings into the box with trumpets on both.

The idea of this is that I have a theory (which may be totally wrong - all this might be a waste of time - but I'm going to try it out anyway) that for low end response and overall power the small pipe to the TB is the go - it will make for higher velocity of intake - may enable impulse effect to operate and will not "bog" the engine down with excessive cylinder pressures (typified by the terrible pinging we get with BBM long path and non BBM ECU's) - ie. the engine should be able to get the amount of air it needs as it accelerates without becoming overloaded with excessive compression.

I'll try 1.25 for the small pipe initially and then also try 1.5, 1.75 and 2 inch (actually I'm tossing up just starting at 1.5 inch and going up - 1.25 might be just too small when I think about it).
 
#13 ·
mine only pings when u snap the throttle open or on very light accelaration. If i wind the timing back any more its slow as.. if i advance it it pings under load... THis is on Short path. locked. Long runner it would detonate like hell i reckon...
IM running au motor in the faclon with serpintine belt, im sersoulsy considering putting the eb manifold back on, as this pinging is shitting me... (if only i had smart lock)
 
#14 ·
INJECTED250 said:
mine only pings when u snap the throttle open or on very light accelaration. If i wind the timing back any more its slow as.. if i advance it it pings under load... THis is on Short path. locked. Long runner it would detonate like hell i reckon...
IM running au motor in the faclon with serpintine belt, im sersoulsy considering putting the eb manifold back on, as this pinging is shitting me... (if only i had smart lock)
You're seeing bigger problems than I did (ie. I never had dramas on short path) because of the AU engine I reckon - ie. that donk's running something like 9.3:1 compression straight up compared to 8.8:1 of the ED.

One thing to try is get hold of lower temp spark plugs than the ones you're using now - ie. get the number off one of your current ones and specifically ask for next lower temp range.

Other thing is to try and somehow richen the engine up a bit (you're seeing the benefit of acceleration enrichment now when you give it heavy foot on short path - vs lean running with light foot) - ie. resistor on coolant temp wire or similar - and another option is fit two head gaskets or something like that (I have no idea how practical that is - ie. whether two sandwitched head gaskets will hold up).

OR - you could explore along the lines I've described above as in attenuating the intake air supply to reduce compression that way - problem is making it variable so the engine actually gets enough air at higher rpm.
 
#16 ·
I get a lot of pinging on long runners too, but the car goes really well on the short runners.
I want to run an EL ECU but I'll miss my trip computer :(

At the moment I'm running a fair bit of advance, I might wind it back closer to stock if I get an rpm switch, only problem being I'll obviously develop a bit less power up top.

I wish there was a 'no-compromise' solution to all this.
 
#17 ·
i'm about to attempt the BBM installation on my XG (ED engine with smartlock) and this thread has been a great help but i have a couple of questions.
I will be getting the EL ECU (is an EL XR6 ECU worth the extra cash?)
Firstly how do you wire up the solenoid that controlls the vacuum for the manifold? Does it just plug into the existing loom or does it have to be wired directly to the ECU?

Secondly is the knock sensor a good idea and if so how do you wire that up?

Any other pointers would be appreciated, thanks.
 
#18 ·
well ive finally cracked it with the bbm.... im pulling it off. fitting A short runner EB manifold, cutting the runners down 3inches to clear the ac pump on the au engine.. Should help with top end grunt 2
 
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