87 ECM in an 85 GN?

[Daniel Jost]

Some pics would still be nice just to see how you are set up, but don't go out of your way to send pics to me.

Did your car run bad before switching to this setup?

 

[Squid4life]

No, my car running like crap was NOT from the conversion. It was like that to begin with. I have had issues with it from day one. Since I have owned it in its 90 glorious miles it has not run right. I am slowly upgrading/swapping to the right parts in an attempt to get it to run right. I am getting rid of the unknowns that I had when I got the car:
unknown chip
unknown computer
unknown injectors
unknown cam
etc
etc

Slowly getting there.

 

[V6VegaTex]

87 ECM in an 84?

I'm not new to the board, having been a Before Black guy for the past couple years. I am new to the Hot Air SFI world, though. I’m doing an engine swap; putting an ’84 Hot Air set-up into a Vega, so I’m at square zero on the wiring, and still need some of the sensors and the ECM. In Dan's article, he talks about using a wiring harness out of an ’86 or ‘87 FWD GM car with an '86-87 3.0-3.8 V-6 in it. Then later, he mentions using the ECM out of an 86 Buick Century. Do I understand this correctly? If I were to go the local junkyard and find an ’86 Century with part #1227148 ECM, and pull the entire wiring harness, the ECM with all the sensors, the ESC and the ALDL, I would have a fairly complete wiring set-up for my project with minimum cutting and splicing? My EFI background is with an LT1 conversion where everything was on a common harness, so I may be missing something; the earlier Buick SFI is a bit more complicated to me, but still fairly similar. Do I have this right?

Thanks,
Dave English
denglish@ipapilot.org

 

[Daniel Jost]

You might want to end up going with a GN harness but use the Centry computer with the needed parts # matching Cal-Pac and an 87 chip.
Dan

 

[Squid4life]

Daniel, did you get this done? Do you still need pics? Let me know. I just got back in town, and I am at work right now but I can send pics tonight. Just let me know what you need pics of, etc. Hope all is well.

Take care,

Squid

 

[Squid4life]

Sent three pics. Let me know if they help. And let me know if you need nay more!!!

Hope they help.

Squid

 

[V6VegaTex]

You might want to end up going with a GN harness but use the Century computer with the needed parts # matching Cal-Pac and an 87 chip.

I don't know; have you looked at all the P/N interchages? Here's what parts are common to the '86 Century and '86 Turbo Regal:

Coil, Ignition Module, ECM, EGR Solenoid, TPS, Crank Sensor, Air Temp Sensor, Coolant Temp Sensor, Speed Sensor, O2 Sensor, ALDL.

Here's what is different, but shares a common connection:

Canister Purge Solenoid, IAC motor, ESC.

The Cam Position Sensor may need a new connector spliced in, but shares common wiring to the ECM.

If I already had a TR with a wiring harness in place I would agree. But basically, if you are doing an engine swap using the TR engine, all you need to do is wire the Wastegate Solenoid into the 3.8L Century harness, just like you are wiring the Inlet Air Temp sensor into the '84/'85 TR wiring harness. There might still be some connectors that need to be spliced (like maybe the CPS), but the Century harness appears to be 90% common (as it should be if you compare the ECM pin-outs) and is a lot cheaper from the local junkyard than either a used TR harness or a custom Casper's harness!

I'll be hunting one next week and report on my progress.

Just food for thought;
Dave

 

[Daniel Jost]

hey, Squid4life thanks for all the pictures your being a big help.

 

[Squid4life]

Let me know if you need any more, or anything else.

Squid