Help with engine swap.
 

Hi, I'm starting an engine swap and wanted to post here to see if there's anything I need to be aware of. The motor is out of a 86.5 n/a, auto tranny car. It's going into a 88 5-speed car that originally had a turbo, which I won't use with the n/a motor. The wiring harness in the 88 was damaged & obviously has provisions for the turbo and related components, so I plan to swap the 86.5 harness and ECU along with the motor. One question I have is regarding Park/Neutral switch for the auto tranny, is there an easy way to convert this to a clutch pedal switch? Are there any other issues I should be aware of going from auto to manual, or differences in the cars from different years?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm curious as to why u would want to put in an auto n/a motor and tranny... why not get a 7mgte and 5spd tranny??? since the car was turbo 5spd to start, why change?

Same here. I'm still looking for a Turbo Supra in my price range. There all over the country, just not in eastern North Carolina. It sux being here.

The swap is a relatively easy deal but there are wiring problems with that. The transmission mounts are different too. The park/neutral switch can be jumped to make it think it is always in neutral and the reverse light needs to be rewired at the connector. Other than needing the clutch slave and master cylinders you will need to put in a pilot shaft bearing.


I did this swap just about a month ago. The transmission shifter mount also sits about an inch further back so you might as well elongate the rear part of the hole in the tunnel. The cruise control plugs are the same, but I haven't gotten mine to work yet. It worked on the doner car so I am still working on it.

So other than the wiring and the clutch parts it is pretty straight forward. I also had to use a different console for the manual. The O/D light keeps blinking while driving but I think I will just unplug the light.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. You get the five speed either way, but the turbo tranny is stronger, but more expensive to find.

Russ

Maybe I wasn't clear enough, sorry. I'm not putting the auto tranny in the car, I'm using the 5-speed tranny that came in it so the tranny mounting, clutch, console, etc, are all intact. I'm just putting the motor, harness & ECU in it. This car is nothing special, I'm just taking two cars I got cheap to build one good car with the combined parts. I'm not going to look for and buy a turbo motor when I have a great running n/a motor in a banged up body that I can drop right in. I was asking what to expect when I use the ECU from an auto tranny car with a 5-speed, I knew there would be some differences. Also, I wondered if there are any differences in the motor from 86.5 to 88 that I should be aware of when I put it in this newer body. To take it further, I believe the 88 car has the ride-control mechanisms, does anyone know if there are provisions in the ECU for using this if the donor car did not have this feature?


Thanks for your input.

Look at the ECU, one will say A/T and the other M/T. I changed them out when I swapped, but I never noticed any difference. The auto may have needed the ECU to get the shift points. I had the TEMS in the donor car but not in the other and there were no extra plugs for them either that I saw. Those shocks are way too expensive to replace anyway so I just used the KYB's.Not sure when they changed engine mounts, but I think it was 89, but check just in case. Everything bolted right up from my 86.5 to my 87 engine.

Russ