KROz Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 As my turbo swap is nearing its completion, certain problems have also revealed themselves. I would search for their answers on the site myself, but now I am facing a serious time crunch. I need the car running by saturday to get it out of my neighbor's garage, and work as well as school are stealing most of my time. This being my first engine swap ever, and that I'm doing it mostly myself, it's proving to be a bit difficult. I have a few questions on wiring and a few other things. First off, I bought the turbo engine already removed from the donor car on somewhat of an impulse, so I hadn't done any research on the swap prior to having the engine available. For 275 dollars though, with a full FI harness and AFM as well as some other bits I knew I needed, I couldn't pass it up. That being said, I am missing something rather vital, which would be most of the ignition harness. With that being gone however, I do have part of the wires. The guy who had it before seemed to have cut the ignition harness at the coil mount with all of the plug ins still there. I also have the 8 wire plug on the FI harness that goes to the ignition harness, so I'm thinking there is still a lot to work with here. Unfortunately, I'm without any idea of what to do. I've read multiple write ups, but my inexperience is setting in, and I really just don't understand a lot of the material without someone there to explain it to me. I'm sure I can connect the wires with new wires and all that, but which ones go where? My harness is from an 82' or 83', but I also have an 81' that came with the engine. Neither have the ignition though. (I also have this odd grey box with a plug in on it that came with it. I've never seen it in anyone's write ups but forgot to take a picture of it.) Moving on, my next question is about where to mount the AFM. If anyone has a picture of their setup with stock J-pip and AFM that would be greatly appreciated. Finally, for now, I have also never seen this black box of fusible links on any posts. Does it replace the old and nasty fusible link boxes? Alright, that's it for now. I hate to be a bum and just ask all these questions which im sure have been covered many times before on this site, but I need to get this done real quick and am quite desperate. Thanks, Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) You didn't say what you're swapping this L28ET into - or did I miss that... (doesn't make a lot of difference but it helps a bit if it's a 280 that was already set up for EFI) Do you have the FSM (Factory Service Manual) for your car? Do you have the FSM for a 280ZX? (including the turbo supplement if necessary) If you don't, get them from Xenon's site (search) or from carfiche.com... The coil wiring is fairly simple and the ignitor (transistor ignition) is completely controlled by the ECU. For the coil, there's only a few wires that connect to the ignition circuit and the ECU, plus one wire that drives the Tach. They're pretty clear in the FSM and should also be shown on the famous "turbo swap diagram" that's in the FAQ's section of HybridZ. You're using a stock ECU? What year is your ECU? '81 or '82/'83? I'll post some pics and we can get to "what wire connects to what" in a bit... Edited June 22, 2011 by cgsheen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) These are pics of how the coil sits in an '81 280ZXT. The harness runs through the fender back to the left side cabin on the 280ZX. The Stock ECU mounts under the dash beside your left foot. That 3-wire connector in your ign harness picture above is a connector for the Boost Sensor. Here's how I ran the wiring in my 260: You can also kind of see how I mounted the AFM... Yup, it's upside down in my car. We mounted the AFM in my son's '76 280 mostly rightside up - it's harder to fit. We did his 4 years ago, mine 2 years ago. Doesn't seem to make enough difference to care... Here's an early shot of how the coil and AFM went in my 260 swap: Don't let this deter you, I changed a LOT of the wiring in my car while I was doing the swap. My 260 was never set up for EFI, and I knew I'd be using the 280ZXT Alternator. I eliminated my external voltage regulator and the shunt that drives the ammeter guage during the re-wire and installed a volt meter. Plus I eliminated the original coil wiring since I used the harness from the donor... I used a LOT of the wiring from my '81 280ZXT donor car - including the Fusable Link box: Edited June 22, 2011 by cgsheen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTV8 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Maybe it's from an 81 turbo Trans am. He never said it came out of a Z. Maybe it's an 83 944 turbo motor. You should call a tow truck. This is not something you can do a rush job on. You have a wiring problem not a turbo problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KROz Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 CG, that was exactly what I was looking for. Sorry for missing a few things in the OP. Its a 82' or 83' engine that I'm putting in my 78'. Pretty sure it's a later one because I never saw a CAS anywhere on the engine. The pictures really help and I appreciate it very much. I have both the 78' FSM, as well as the turbo supplement, haven't really looked at them for this part because I really just don't know what i'd be looking for. I'll be using the stock turbo ECU as well as the later turbo FI harness. I think that i splice some of the wires from the FI harness to what I have of the Ignition harness I could get it to work. I just need someone to help me who has experience. I'll have to look over all of the diagrams tonight. Does anything have to be done to swap the zx alternator into my 280? I didnt notice the difference at first and already mounted the internally regulated one into my car. Wouldn't be hard to switch back but the newer one is much cleaner and I would like to use it. Also, do I need to mess with the fuel pump wiring with the new harness in? That's been unclear to me while reading through other people's threads. And I'm sure there is more questions that I just haven't thought of yet. Thanks again cgsheen!! As for TTv8's post, what do you mean "call a tow truck?" It's very clear in my first post that my problem is wiring related and not turbo related. But since it applies to a turbo engine, I saw it fit to go into the turbo forum. If I was wrong in doing this, then I'm sure an admin will take care of it. No need to be rude about anything. Also why can't I do a rush job on it? It's very close to being done, and I think 3 days is a reasonably adequate amount of time to complete a wiring job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTV8 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 The title of your thread said turbo questions not wiring questions. Sorry if I seemed rude to you, I was actually trying to help by telling you to take your time. A rush job is usually not a good job, but it's your car. And it seems you don't have all the parts. Also I read your post carefully 3 times and you never said what motor you were putting in, only the year and that it has a turbo. This being a hybrid forum it could be any make or model with 4,6 or 8 cylinders. Again I wasn't trying to be rude, you could get the harness from a junkyard and finish it up in a parking lot or wherever you plan on keeping it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTV8 Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 And it's not just a wiring job. You haven't even got it running yet. Good luck, really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 (edited) Does anything have to be done to swap the zx alternator into my 280? I didnt notice the difference at first and already mounted the internally regulated one into my car. Wouldn't be hard to switch back but the newer one is much cleaner and I would like to use it. There's an "FAQ" on "turbo alternator upgrade" or just "alternator upgrade". Take a look at that. (swapping an L28ET and using it's alternator in your otherwise stock 280Z, is the same as doing an alternator upgrade on your L28E...) Also, do I need to mess with the fuel pump wiring with the new harness in? Yup. In the 280ZXT, the ECU controls the fuel pump through the fuel pump relay. You need to understand how your stock fuel pump relay is "switched on" so you can change it to be controlled by your new ECU. As for the coil/ignitor: The Blue wire goes to the Tach through the resistor under the dash. Mine was behind the glove box. The resistor is big and square-ish and sticks out of the harness with 2 wires attached. The Yellow/White goes to the ECU through one of those white connectors near the end of the ECU (ECCS) harness. Important, because that's what tells the ignitor to fire. The Black/White ties to a Black/White on the ignition switch. Also important. In the 280ZXT, Power for the injectors and ECU is supplied from the battery, through that black box with the fusable links, to both a brown and a green wire ("connector #1" in the wiring diagrams). that run accross the firewall and into the ECU harness. I'll try to find the wiring diagrams you need most and post them... It's true this type of post is not meant for this particular Forum - should be just about turbochargers themselves or related to turbochargers... People make mistakes - the Admins will move it or kill it if it needs to be done. We'll start again in a more appropriate place if we have to. If an Admin (or established member) scolds you, simply apologize and be more careful in the future. (Don't know how much experience you have with Forums, sometimes it's best "not to feed the trolls"...) Edited June 23, 2011 by cgsheen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KROz Posted June 23, 2011 Author Share Posted June 23, 2011 Thanks again CG. Your assistance is greatly appreciated and will definitely have a huge impact on my car getting back on the road. Well I fortunately have an extension on my time limit, so I have some more research time as well as time to digest the info. I'll probably continue to post on here with my questions since the thread is already here and I feel it has some good info on it. I know I'll have more questions, and if you don't mind answering them, I'm sure someone else could benefit later on. (my experience with forums is little. I don't post often, but I'm on here reading almost everyday.) In regards to TTV8, my apologies sir! I completely misunderstood your post. Sorry about that. And that is definitely true, it certainly is not running yet and will likely have more problems down the road before it is. I'm just being as optimistic as I can because I wanna drive the damn thing already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 (edited) You did see this thread correct? http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/34469-a-quick-fi-and-ignition-280zxt-to-s30-turbo-swap-guide/page__st__20 And this diagram is great. Edited June 23, 2011 by JSM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 ^^^ ^^^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 Yup, like I said above... Then you just need to couple that diagram with this one: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KROz Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 I've seen both the thread and the schematic. I read the FI and ignition guide over a few times. I know what all of the things are on the new harness, the only confusing part for me when it comes to the diagrams, is figuring out what goes to where in the existing wiring for my 78'. I'm getting it out though. Much easier to comprehend when not being rushed. Apologies for further mutilating the dead horse with this thread, I just thought I had a very limited amount of time to get it done when I posted originally, and wanted to get answers as quickly as possible. Which now as I think about it, finding them on the site probably would've been just as quick as posting a thread with them... But again, thanks for the assistance. And hopefully this should get done by the end of the week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgsheen Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Good luck! Let us know how it turns out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KROz Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 Almost have it all figured out, after nothing but reading and looking over diagrams for the past week. Just not sure what to do about the inconsistencies between the previously posted diagram and this one. Both are pretty similar, but there are some differences. Unless of course I'm just misunderstanding them. As I understand, plug 2 on the colorful diagram is what the attached diagram is referring to. But some wires are labeled differently and show to go to different places on each diagram. Such as the wire from the yellow ignitor. Should I just follow one diagram and ignore the other, or combine the info? Ah I'm getting confused. I'm ready to start wiring, just want to be sure that I do it right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KROz Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) I have most of the wiring done, just missing a few things, but since I didnt have the ZX fuel pump or fuel pump relay and related wiring, I just ignored that part of the wiring diagrams. I ran a new wire from the b/w ignitor wire to the fuel pump relay and used the stock b/w wire from the ignition as the diagram I posted said to do. I have power to the coil, and I can hear the FI relay click on. I also ran a new wire to the black/yellow wire in the plug under the dash as the diagram also said. I have tried to start it and I have no spark going to any cylinders. I have looked over everything, and noticed that I'm missing the condenser (condensers?) at the coil. Would this keep it from firing, or am I screwing something up worse than I thought by not using doing anything to the fuel pump? I also haven't wired my tach in, if that makes a difference. I hate to ask even more, probably really obvious questions, but I'm so close to being done, I just want to drive the damn car! Edited July 15, 2011 by KROz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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