All you turbo swap guys, I need your input. I am almost done with my swap. All that is left is the wiring. I have the harness out of a T-bird but it contains all the extra stuff. I found a harness online and called them. It is a harness setup for the swap with just the necassary wiring. It is a little pricy, but it sure would make the swap cleaner. What do you think?
The website is; www.thedetailzone.com
It is under turbo2.3 ford
Thanks for your help!!
My first question is what year t-bird?
Pre-87?
I used an 86 harness for both my swaps, easy and not too many 'extra' wires. The 87/88 is a nightmare!!
IMHO: The 86 harness can be cleaned up by anyone that can do the swap themselves..
Bill
As luck would have it. I have the 88 harness and you are right it is a nightmare. It is full of all kind of extra wires I don't need. That is why this looked so appealing.
Any early EFI mustang/Capri will work there basic, just need to add ACT wire if your using the LA3 computer...
I recently had an 'accident " wiring my pinto.i went down to the library and they had a thing called alldatapro on the computer.got awesome diagrams of my wiring harness there..(it took 6 81/2 by 11 sheets to get the whole harness..but my pinto now runs!!! took about 5hours off and on to redo my whole harness (the shop at work is minus a couple dozen feet of wire)......... hope this might help
Watch for Ford EVTM manuals on eBay 84/88 T-Bird & Mustang they have all the turbo cars and trouble shooting sections...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-1984-Thunderbird-Cougar-EVTM-ORIG_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6759QQihZ012QQitemZ8052183977
http://motors.search.ebay.com/Ford-EVTM_eBay-Motors_W0QQfromZR8QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ6000QQsamcmZ6000QQsaspiZ2
Here is another source for a custom fabricated harness. It is as pricey as The Detail Zone at $500. I have no experience with this vendor.
http://www.turbojoe.com/wireharness.html
I plan to make my own from the 87 TC harness remains. I just wanted to custom fit it to my car's layout and fix some of the factory design short comings.
Thanks I am going to look at this vendor also. I just really like the ide of having a clean harness and a good looking engine bay. :) Just don't like the idea of $500 :-\,but maybe the time saved would be worth it.
Has anyone out there used one of these aftermarket harnesses? :read:
You still might have to cut the harness you buy depending on how you install the harness, ECU, and sensors.
Bill
Okay, I am seriously curious about this 'idea':
What is different between a standard NA EFI harness and a Turbo EFI harness? Are there any extra wires/sensors in the turbo variant? Are the pins on the ECU different? As a guy with extensive electrical experience, I know wires are wires (resistor excluded) and the big thing are the sensor connectors, the ECU and what signal goes where. I am wondering more for those people that are trying to set one up from scratch or replacing a damaged or unusable harness from a turbo donor. If this is a viable alternative, It would be oh so much cheaper to get this out of a NA donor car than shelling out more than a few Franklins for these custom jobs.
Reason I ask, is I have a turbo harness from the 86 t coupe my motor came out of, and an extra harness out of an 87 EFI NA car. (I got it when I got the entire drivetrain out of a donor when I was going to do the 5spd conv. in my 87 stang)
The later turbo Fords have a BCS (at least 86 and newer, MAYBE 85s too), the early ones don't. The 87/88 cars had the ACT as Mike mentioned (I am running a LA2 without the ACT). Other than that I don't know, I never had a N/A one.
Bill
Just wanted to let you guys know I appreciate the input.I contacted one of the Vendors (Turbo Joe) who makes these wiring harnesses. Couldn't have ask for better customer service. He explained every detail to me. How to hook it up what wire goes to where in my Pinto vrs his wiring harness. I spent a hour with him on the phone and he gave me the best explanantion of what do do with the wiring I have had. I had not even committed to buying his harness at that point. He even explained how to use my stock harness if that is what I wanted to do.
He also makes a plug in harness that is self contained with his own ECU that you can tune through your laptop and eliminates the VAM. Souned like some great alternitives. Really thinking about this although it is pricey.
Just wanted to give credit for great customer service
Thanks for the lead. ;D