remote TFI

[Dav]

i am about to start putting a remote mount TFI on the 88 ranger. i do not have a ford heat sink to mount it on but did scrounge a bmw brain that was in an aluminum casting that i think i can make fit.
but where to put it? there is no room on the passenger side. however, there does seem to be enough room on the driver side, both in the engine compartment and in front of the radiator support. out front will be easier to mount.
but this will mean much longer wires. i have the harness from an 89 but it is only 12 inches or so which will not let me get away from the engine. (looked at a 88 b2 at u-pick; wires dont go into a clip, just part of main harness but dist is turned so connector will not clear valve cover which is where wires are bare. drat) since i have to make the harness anyway, that doesn't matter. but will longer wires affect operation of the TFI? i think electricity travels at speed of light but don't know for sure. and what about weather? wil the TFI getting wet in the rain have an effect?

 

[IIBRONCOS]

I relocated my TFI to the passenger side on top of the evaporator case. It faces away from the engine, and I have it suspended on an aluminum heat sink so air travels all around the heat sink.
I also used thermal paste on the bottom of the TFI. I made up a sheet metal cover plate to cover where the TFI was on the distributor. It works great and is real easy to replace the TFI when needed.

 

[Elutheros]

I relocated my TFI to the driver side about 15 inches from the firewall. I used the heat sink from a T-bird, and extended the wires and made a sheet metal cover for the hole in the distributor. With the Explorer FEAD on my 5.0 I needed to move the TFI to get enough room to turn the distributor for timing adjustments. Works fine--never had a problem since.

 

[RonD]

Use the next largest gauge wire for the longer extension, solder splices, try to use matching color wires for future reference.
Make the wires long enough so you can disconnect and test, an extra 6" won't matter in the long run if it makes it easier to work on.
Put it where you can get at it in the future, heat shortens their life so remote mount is much better, but they can still fail

 

[Dav]

i have j-b weld'd the tfi donner around the wires and soldered connections. this will allow me to just slide it in place of the known-to-be-working one on the 88.
it had a sticky film on the backside of it where it touches the distributer. was this film to seal out moisture or was it an insulating grease or a make-a better-connection grease?
and wherever i put the tfi, should i use a di-electric grease under it?

 

[lvwill]

It's actually a transferring heat paste. It's a very important part of keeping it cool.

 

[dirtymike]

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/remote_tfi.shtml

 

[Dav]

dirtymike, thanks, i've read that which has lead me to this point.
i have an old tfi gutted and modified to allow the 3 wires to connect to the dist. the tfi came from a parts truck that i kept the heads from, in case. not being on the motor made removing the 2 screws for the tfi easy. they are phillips screws.
tried to remove the tfi from no 7 to mount it on a heat sink i just bought on ebay. right angle phillips did not work.
rereading the how-to, it seems like i need a socket to get it off. maybe the p o of the parts truck changed the screws. it was getting dark and the 'skitos were hungry so i didn't try very hard tonight.
the idea is to build the remote without disabling the 88 until i can do the whole change-over in an hour. (i have a bad habit of starting to fix something and getting sidetracked before it's back to operational condition)
i plan to mount the tfi and heatsink to the inboard end of the battery shelf. there should be enough airflow around the side of the radiator to keep it cool.