Decided to start on my Torque Limiter bypass fitment this afternoon.
I know it's a mod that some love and others feel passionately against. If you feel religiously against the mod, (as some seem to be) I'd politely suggest you stop reading now, and move onto a different thread. For those with an open mind, and a respect that we all make choices for our own cars, take any associated risks, and accept any consequences; ....read on!
It's a fudge to bypass the torque limiter on 1st & 2nd gear. If you own a pre-2000 car you'll see limited improvement on acceleration. But if like me you own a later car, where the torque limiter threshold was increased from 1500 to 2800rpm, you will find a quite dramatic improvement in acceleration in 1st gear, and to a lesser extent 2nd gear. The torque limiter retards ignition to reduce torque and the result is that feeling that later Pumas have in 1st gear that something is just holding them back... well, it is! ..... The increase in the torque limiter RPM threshold from 1500rpm to 2800rpm is the reason the earlier cars have a 0-60 time of 8.8 secs, where the newer cars (with greater torque limitation) take 9.2 seconds for the 0-60 dash. So if you can imagine no torque limitation at all, you should be looking at a sub 8.8 seconds 0-60 time, from an otherwise standard car ... and let me tell you it feels it! Why is this TL there is the first place? ... Ford state that it is to protect the gearbox and drive shafts from premature failure.
Removing the TL is done by interrupting the signal from the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor) to the ECU and digital dash. So there are two things to consider; (i) if you have a digital dash, the speedo won't work while the TL is bypassed, and (ii) without a speed reading the ECU can do some strange things. So..... hence we need to bypass the TL just momentarily, while in 1st & 2nd gear, we then need to restore the VSS signal, so that the ECU can reaquaint itself with the car's speed. Hence a switch, that can be activated to bypass the TL momentarily in 1st & 2nd gear, then de-activated to restore VSS signal. With this mod, you will not have a working speedo while the bypass is activated (ie.. while in 1st & 2nd gear). ** unless you have an older, cable driven speedo **
To do the bypass, the brown wire from the VSS (which is located on top of the gearbox) needs to be cuts and two wires run from it, into the cabin, to a switch. Easy Peasy. Some people claim to have done a similar bypass by cutting a wire on the ECU Main Plug (PIN 58) but I decided against attempting this method, as the majority of people who've executed this bypass have used the VSS method rather than the ECU method; decided to go with the majority on this one!
Before I cut the VSS wire (I've already tested the mod by unplugging the VSS), I am going to do the rest of the wiring and switch fitment first. So that's what I'm doing in this post. The connection of the newly fitted switch and wiring to the
spliced VSS brown wire will be completed tomorrow.
Here we go, ready to start:-
The new wires are temporarily taped to engine cover, to avoid them dashing off darn sarf!... We'll come back to these in the next installment, and attach them to the spliced VSS brown wire:
Wires running from bay (as yet unattached to anything), into main wiring grommet. After this I then tucked them nicely into the rubber edging at the top of the bulkhead panel:
Yeeha!, wires arrive at the other end, in the cabin. As you can see, I taped the 2 wires to the thicker audio cable, with a jack plug, to help in pushing it through the grommet area, which is a tight fit!:
Wires temporarily secured in cabin... oh and there's the switch:
Gear console off:
This is where I'm fitting the switch, in the small coin recepticle at the front:
So, I need to drill a hole right here:-
...and fitted (rear view):
...fitted (front view):
.....so all that's left to do is to cut the VSS brown wire and join each end of my bypass wiring, to the two cut ends of the VSS brown wire. I need to pick up some 'crimpy together wirey things' (forgot their real name lol!) tomorrow, hence why that parts being left until last.
Cheers.
