a mix of engine and electrical question

Topic: a mix of engine and electrical question (Read 1454 times) previous topic - next topic

a mix of engine and electrical question

February 16, 2006, 05:03:51 AM

ok gang here's a doosy. I have a 302 from around 85-88. It has the injection on it with the throttle body that looks like a carb sitting on an intake. I believe that's the TBI setup. Im a little confused on what all the fuel injection things mean other then the fact that they inject fuel into the air. The problem is I don't have the computer for it. I know its pretty much pointless to use the engine with anything other then a computer for a 302. Now I have a couple options here,1) I can go find another computer and hope it works. 2) I can piece together a new fuel injection system. 3) I can say hell with it and go carburated and loose the computer completely. Now after reading Eric's site I saw that if you carb it you have to change the ignition too. I was hoping it would be something easy like just taking the intake off and putting one with a carb on it on top of the engine. Nope. I do have a truck from around 90 that has a 302 in it. The truck ran until the guy ran it out of oil. That shouldnt effect the electrical part of the motor. Now here's where the questions start. Is it possible to use the computer out of it and convert the harness long enough to save up to buy an actual car harness with the fuel injection setup I have since its not a mass air setup? If that's not possible because of the fuel injection system on the engine would it be possible to swap it for a car intake,seeing as how the truck intake wont fit without serious mods, being as how the fuel injection system on the car and the one on a truck motor is theoretically similar. you have an injector per cylinder and a throttle body feeding air into them all. I dont really have the money to spend on all these computer's seeing as how I plan to switch to mass air later on, or the money for the carbbed setup as well as an ignition. Swapping the intake and putting in an air box would be the cheapest in the long run and probably the most affordable at the moment considering how many intakes you can find on ebay. I'm wanting the 302 in the car so bad I can taste it but if I keep running into these things its going to almost be cheaper to rebuild the 3.8 and call it good.and while Im at it instead of starting a whole nother post for a question on putting this motor in the car, does anyone know if the kmember from an 83 and the k member from an 87 are the same size dimensionally I have a kmember out of my 83 tbird may it rest in peace its got the motor mounts that take the mustang type mounts and would make putting the engine in alot easier. I just dont want to narrow the distance between the front tires any.
thanks for any help at all
Dan

a mix of engine and electrical question

Reply #1 – February 16, 2006, 05:38:46 AM

well, as far as your engine goes, if you have anything like a Grand marquis/crown vic/town car, from 87 to I think 89, there's your SO 5.0
Not sure if the ecm from one of those cars would work in the Bird w/o re-pinning a bunch of wires, probably just as easy to find a Sport/XR-7 and rob it of it's ecm...
The truck intake will sit too high, and hit your hood.

What I've read on the k member threads, you can use the older k, but the way it seems, if you use the 86-88 a arms, your track width will increase. If you had the 83 a arms, I'd bet it'd work.
Going to the salvage yard local here in the next day or so, will see if he's got any more sports (though I doubt he does)
If he does, and they have good engine/ecm, I can probably get it for ya.
That's why I held out for a Sport, get the package deal-engine, ecm, and trans. Only thing is, this one didn't have the V8 AOD, so I just got one from a CV.
Don't feel bad about this k member confusion, I think I just did figure it out from reading all the post for the pas 45 minutes, LOL.

a mix of engine and electrical question

Reply #2 – February 16, 2006, 05:42:22 AM

yeah thats what Ive been doing because the way it sounds Im going to be extremely lucky to find mounts to mount the 302 in this car without finding a donor car then from what I read chances are they arent going to be very good if good at all unless the person just replaced them before they got rid of it. Im still curious on that intake part if I could just swap it over for a car intake instead theoretically it should work. Im just not sure.

a mix of engine and electrical question

Reply #3 – February 16, 2006, 10:20:38 AM

yep,...the 83 k member is different from the 87...you would need the arms too...

the truck you speak of the 90 with a 302 had a different FI...it runs a bank too bank system meaning it injects fuel into one whole side of the engine at a time rether than sequentially like the tbirds and mustangs. you might be able too make it work but its not ideal.

if you pull a harness out of anything for the V8 swap, do yourself a favor and get one from an 87-88 tbird or cougar. the mustang ones are different and i think more complicated. same for the mark vii.

their is both a cougar and i think a tbird in the bone yard that is still complete...depending on what you can afford i might be able to go yank the harness and computer out of it. ive got a couple SD HO computers as well if you wanted too convert an SO over to HO. im actually selling my whole drivetrain out of my car...their is also an 89 mark vii that looks complete but not stock...its got equal length shortys on it...anyway, the computer intake tb and injectors are the same as a mustangs and would work equally as well.

bottom line is, even though it may be easier and cheeper too rebuild a 3.8 your still pulling an engine and tearing it down. obviously if you just buy a used 3.8 it gets alot easier. but your still replacing what you had, with what you had instead of upgrading. i personally cant leave anything alone. id rather tinker with it, as specially if its an "extra" car and you have something wlse too drive. id drop a HO in their or at least a SO.....