Shout Out To Art Cuesta and Ron Everitt

[Shep]

I started my 3rd roadster build a bit over a year ago. Since I live in MA, I need to comply with the state regs on what driveline you can use. My choice was relatively easy as I had access to a 4.6 2V that I knew was in great shape. I sent the harness off to Art Cuesta at www.wirediet.com, asked him to retain all of the emissions, another requirement in MA, and disable PATS (Passive Anti Theft System).


Fast forward to a couple months ago. Driveline is in, harness was all labeled and the install was as close to plug and play as you can get. First start was a no go though. Red PATS light is flashing furiously. Art's telling me he's never had a PATS failure. Diablosport checks out the tune and confirms that PATS is disabled. This is my first time playing with a modular setup, so I'm a babe in the woods. Replaced the PCM and a couple other items. No joy.


Placed a call to Ron Everitt, who's in the midst of the 3 day Coupe build at SEMA. Ron came over a couple of days after he got back. Confirmed we had power where it was needed, grounds were good, but no fuel getting to the rail. Twenty minutes later and Ron's figured out that the brand new fuel pump I'd installed was running backwards! The connector was wired correctly, but whoever built it had reversed the power and ground leads at the pump itself. Ron pulled the connector apart and reversed the leads.


Turned the key and the engine started immediately.


So, kudos to Art, who stood solidly behind his work, kept me from getting discouraged and endured countless numbers of calls and e-mails from me. And Ron, well he's built more than a few roadsters, helped countless numbers of builders and is one of the reasons that the Factory Five community continues to be a great place to be.


My thanks to both of them.


BTW - the red PATS light was still flashing after the engine started. Took care of that issue with a BFH!

[Jeff Kleiner]

Congrats! This doesn't surprise me a bit---in addition to just being an all around good guy (example: he's going to send me a new pair of sneakers) nobody is more knowledgeable about mod motors or Coyotes in our cars than Cactus Ron

Jeff

[Joecobr]

Boy, this sure sounds familiar. I have a 98 Cobra 4.6 DOHC dieted by Art. Mine would not start the first time precisely for the same reason. The fuel pump was reversed. It turned out the black lead on the pump was the power wire and the red lead was ground, opposite of what I thought it was. Once I sorted this out the engine fired up instantly. Art's diet was flawless in my case as well and he was very helpful diagnosing my problem.

[Shep]

Exactly the same. The red and black wires were reversed. Ron mentioned he'd run into this issue before.

[Joecobr]

My OEM pump was wired this way and I replaced it thinking it was faulty. I ordered an identical pump and it was wired the same way. I discovered the issue by hooking the pump directly to a battery and pumping fuel into a bottle. Good luck with the rest of the build.