North American Turbocoupe Organization



Remote Mount TFI
andrewjs18 Offline
Administrator
#1
Remote Mount TFI
By John Klett

The home for the Thick Film Ignition (TFI) on the distributor is way too hot. Moving it to a cooler location on a heat sink is a much safer place for it. I acquired a heat sink from another Ford automobile. It has fins to help dissipate the heat away from the expensive TFI module. This seems to be a more intimidating job than difficult, if you can handle running a few wires and soldiering them, you can handle this job.

Things you will need:
  • Female connectors
  • About 15 feet of wire
  • Wire loom to keep the wires safe
  • Wire insulation
  • Simple test light, if you gut an old TFI
  • Ford ignition module tool for the bolts holding the TFI to the distributor, KD tool# w1217
  • Old TFI module if you wish to gut it

Disconnect the battery! Now get to work.

If you have to first remove the TFI to fit it to the heat sink the easiest way to do so is to first remove the serpentine belt. Then remove the top bolt on the alternator so it can be flipped out of the way. The bolt holding the distributor is 17mm. Once the distributor is loosened, using the TFI tool remove the bolts securing it in place. Rotating the distributor will give you plenty of room to work with out having to actually remove it. After the bolts on the TFI are removed gently remove the TFI from the distributor by pulling it down out of the Profile Ignition Pick-up (PIP). Getting under the car can make this task a bit easier.

I began the install by modifying the TFI heat sink that I had to fit the 3 PIP connectors that are on our TFI but not on the remote mounted TFI’s that Ford later produced. This was a very easy task. Place the TFI in the heat sink and mark the fins that need to be removed for the TFI to properly fit (I used an old TIF for this). Place a large flat head screwdriver between the fins, push the screwdriver towards the fin you want to remove. The fin will break right off and near the bottom of the heat sink. After the Fins have been broken off you can use a metal file to remove any excess material and to make the job look clean and professional. Now that he heat sink is prepared find a good spot to mount it. Mine is on the passenger side inner fender near where the stock air box was.

   

Next remove the TFI harness wires from the loom. You will trace them to the large black looms hat run across the top of the firewall. Carefully remove them from this loom.

   

Three wires come from the passenger side of the car. Two  of them are yellow and insulated, and the third is I think red. Two run in the large wire loom going to the driver side, They are red/blue and red/green  if memory serves me correctly. Cut the two red wires running to the passenger side. Now remove as much of the three wires from the wire loom on the passenger side as you need so that the TFI connector will reach the TFI in its new location.

   

With The TFI connector reaching the TFI in its new location, you need to extend the two red wires running to the drivers side that have been cut. Make sure you soldier these wires to ensure you have a good connection and that they will not rattle loose. At this point the TFI connector should be all set, make sure the wires have been routed around any heat sources like the turbo or any other dangers, then place them in a wire loom.

Now the fun part, you need to fabricate a wire harness for the PIP to the TFI. The PIP is in the distributor and has three connections to the TFI module. You will want to label the three connections to be sure you have the correct wire in the correct spot. This wire also has to be insulated from any interference. I used aluminum foil. It was a very tedious annoying task. A trip to Radio Shack would have been the easier route. They sell wire looms that will protect from any radio frequency interference and magnetic interference. Interference is obviously a bad thing, it can cause misfires if the TFI thinks it is getting the signal from the PIP to fire a plug. On the end of each of the three wires you will need a female connector to plug into the TFI, make sure you soldier these connections too. Now run the Three wires to the distributor. Along the firewall near the loom that you placed the wires for the TFI is a good spot. There are a couple of options on how to make the connection to the PIP.

I had large and small male connectors. Neither fit in the PIP correctly. I decided to gut my old TFI. First remove the goop that is inside, carb cleaner or brake cleaner should help break down he goop on the inside. Once the TFI is cleared you need to remove the electronics, do this carefully. There are three wires coming out of the top that you will need to soldier wires too. They are on the right side of the TFI and not directly under the male connectors. You can use a test light to determine what metal prong goes to the metal pieces on the inside. I cut the end of the TFI off so that the wire could be ran out of the hacked TFI. Filling it with a substance such as hot glue or some kind of epoxy is recommend to keep the wire in place and safe.

   

   

Now that you have all the connections made to relocate the TFI module, and around four hours have passed, double, triple check all the connections and location of wires that you have ran. Make sure that the wires are not shorted inside the gutted TFI, make sure they are routed away from heat, and tight on the TFI. IE: you have a good connection. Turn the distributor back to where it was, if you have marked it, align the marks. Connect the battery and start the car, check the timing with a timing light to be certain that the timing is correct, even if you have marked the distributor the to engine or other object. The car should idle smooth and not have any weird sporadic misses. If it does quadruple check everything, there might be interference in the system.
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)



Theme © iAndrew 2018 - Software MyBB