Applications Ford 4.6 Modular
Draft. Trigger offset has not been confirmed on a running Race Core install. Pins marked TBD are unknown — do not guess them. A wrong decoder or firing order can destroy the engine.
Ford 4.6 Modular
4.6 L modular V8 (Mustang, Explorer, Crown Vic and the Romeo / Windsor 4.6 blocks). Firing order 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. That is not the Coyote order on the Coyote note (1-5-4-8-6-3-7-2) and not the early small-block Windsor order. Many of these engines use a 36-1 crank — count the wheel before you select it. 2-valve is often a wasted-spark coil pack. 4-valve is often coil-on-plug.
Recommended: Race Core F7 only. Eight injectors. Eight logic coils on a 4-valve COP car, or igniters for a 2-valve wasted-spark pack. “Windsor” here is the 4.6 plant, not the 302 Windsor note.
Status: draft. Trigger offset has not been confirmed on a running Race Core install.
- Cylinders: 8
- Displacement: 4601 cc
- Firing order: 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8
- Orientation: Cylinder 1 is the front cylinder on the right-hand bank (US passenger side). Right-hand drive does not renumber the block. Firing order 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8.
Variants
| Variant | Years | Trigger | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.6 2V | 1991–2010 class | Count the crank. Often 36-1 | Wasted-spark pack, high-Z injectors, cable or DBW by year. Romeo and Windsor blocks, same firing order. |
| 4.6 4V | 1996–2004 class | 36-1 class + cam | DOHC, often COP. Still 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. Not a Coyote. |
Recommended pin assignment (Race Core F7)
Pins below are the library default Race Core F7 map — the same AMPSEAL landings as the verified 1UZ-FE, 2JZ-GTE and LS1 notes. Core EFI V4 and Micro Core cavity numbers are TBD. If a pin is not in this table, it is TBD. Do not guess a spare.
| Pin | TunerStudio | Function |
|---|---|---|
| B5 / B13 | VR 1+ / VR 1− | Crank, if the sensor is 2-wire VR |
| B10 | Digital 1 | Crank, if the sensor is 3-wire Hall |
| B4 / B12 | VR 2+ / VR 2− | Cam VR |
| B1 | Digital 2 | Cam Hall |
| A3 | Lowside 1 | Injector cylinder 1 |
| A15 | Lowside 2 | Injector cylinder 2 |
| A4 | Lowside 3 | Injector cylinder 3 |
| A16 | Lowside 4 | Injector cylinder 4 |
| A5 | Lowside 5 | Injector cylinder 5 |
| A6 | Lowside 6 | Injector cylinder 6 |
| A7 | Lowside 7 | Injector cylinder 7 |
| A19 | Lowside 8 | Injector cylinder 8 |
| A35 | Ign 1 | Cyl 1 logic coil |
| A34 | Ign 2 | Cyl 2 logic coil |
| A22 | Ign 3 | Cyl 3 logic coil |
| A33 | Ign 4 | Cyl 4 logic coil |
| A32 | Ign 5 | Cyl 5 logic coil |
| A31 | Ign 6 | Cyl 6 logic coil |
| A30 | Ign 7 | Cyl 7 logic coil |
| A29 | Ign 8 | Cyl 8 logic coil |
| B7/B6 + B15/B8 | ETB 1 ± / ETB 2 ± | DBW motor. Not a stepper as well. Pedal and TPS tracks: follow the APP and ETB notes |
| C20 | Analog Temp 3 | CLT |
| C30 | Analog Temp 2 | IAT |
| C13 | Analog Volt 1 | MAP 0–5 V |
| C24 | Analog Volt 2 | TPS 1 |
| C34 / C35 | Knock 1 / Knock 2 | Knock, one per bank |
| A20 | Lowside 10 | Fuel-pump relay coil |
| A21 | Lowside 12 | Main-relay coil |
| A12 | Lowside 15 | Radiator-fan relay coil |
| B17 / B16 | CAN 1 H / L | Dash / wideband |
| B18 | Battery Sense | Ignition-switched 12 V (5 A fuse) |
| B23 | +12 V MR | Main-relay 12 V into ECU |
| A17 A18 A24 B14 B19 B20 | Power GND | Engine block → battery − |
| C9 / C21 / C32 | 5 V Sens 1 | MAP, TPS, pedal 1 |
| C1–C8, C29, C31 | Sensor GND | 0–5 V and thermistor returns |
Trigger
Count the crank reluctor. Select 36-1 (TOOTHED_WHEEL_36_1) only when there are 35 teeth and one gap. Cam is required for sequential.
Crank
| Common | 36-1. Hall on Digital 1 or VR on VR 1. |
| If the count differs | Do not force 36-1. Log it. |
Cam
| Sequential | Digital 2 or VR 2. One pulse per cam revolution minimum. |
TunerStudio
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Trigger / wheel type | 36-1 + cam, after the count |
| Use only rising edge | VR: typically yes on MAX992x. Hall: as logged |
| Invert primary | No — swap VR wires first |
| Firing order | 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8 |
Offset: Light on cylinder 1. The rusEFI 36-1 page notes that an EDIS-4 wheel wants about 90° of trigger angle because EDIS wants the gap at 90° BTDC. A modular PCM wheel is not an EDIS-4 wheel. Do not enter 90° because the tooth count is 36-1.
Injection
Eight high-Z port injectors, sequential once the cam exists. Meter them. 2-valve and 4-valve flow rates are different; required fuel follows the injector, not the word “modular”.
| Impedance | High-Z on the common SEFI injectors. Confirm. |
Ignition
4-valve COP: logic coils on Ign 1–8 if the coil has a driver, cylinder-number order. 2-valve pack: dumb coils, so an igniter, wasted spark in the Ford pairs. Do not hang a 2-pin pack on eight logic outputs.
| Order | 1-3-7-2-6-5-4-8. Coyote order will wreck this engine. |
| Dwell | Logic COP 2.0–2.5 ms. Igniter dwell from the module. |
Idle
Cable IAC pin TBD, unless it is a stepper you have put on the F7 H-bridges. DBW cars use those H-bridges and the ETB / APP notes instead. Not both.
First start
- Load the matching variant configuration in TunerStudio before the harness is live — injectors and coils stay disconnected until the decoder is confirmed.
- Fuel pump fuse out. Coils unplugged or spark outputs disabled. Crank. Open Diagnostics → composite / high-speed logger.
- Confirm crank teeth are even, the missing-tooth (or named pattern) is a single clean gap, and cam is one pulse per two crank revolutions for sequential four-stroke.
- RPM during cranking should sit in the 150–350 rpm band. 0 rpm or 12,000 rpm means the decoder is lost — polarity or wheel type, not offset.
- Lock timing to a fixed 10° (idle control off). Timing light on cylinder 1. Change trigger offset until the damper agrees with 10°.
- Recheck at ~3,000 rpm. If timing walks with RPM, it is VR polarity, a delayed Hall, or the wrong decoder — not offset.
- Enable spark. Confirm a healthy burn (timing light or plug colour) with fuel still disabled.
- Enable fuel. Prime, then crank. Catch the first idle on a rich-safe VE, then lean toward stoich at idle.
- Only then enable closed-loop idle, VVT, boost and traction. A base map is a starting point, not a dyno tune.
A base map is a starting point, not a dyno tune.