45 replies to this topic

[Jibs]

P.S. We're making an offer on our house tomorrow or the next day.....so we're spending a LOT of time cleaning up and working on the weekends......so having visitors would be.... shall we say.....rushed? HOWEVER!!!! If we get it.....we're planning on having a big @$$ BBQ party when it warms up! By then we should have it done and everyone that wants to come will be invited! It has 2 acres of fenced parking! hehehe Stay tuned for details!

Yeah count me in too! I can;t wait to see this thing in person either. Good luck with the house.

[brat1709]

Nice write up NVBlue. Will continue following your article. I've not had time to finish my project , but will be following your closely. I'm interested in the wiring and the fuel tubing set up. I'll be working on a 1984 brat which already has a E82T, (I picked it up this way)but now I have to finish the project. Please add lots of pics. Again, good luck on you project.

[Jibs]

Any new news?

[NVBigBlue]

Not much new stuff going on the last week or so. We are now working inside the cab though. Punched a couple of holes through the firewall (right below the wiper motor....barely missing the hard lines I didn't see....!!!) to run the "new" harnesses through and have started wiring things up. I removed the wiper motor to get clearance for the drill.....ended up breaking the stupid little plastic thing that connects the motor arm to the wiper arm.... . Other than that, just trying to stay out of the wind.

As a side note..... I'd like to remind everyone about using safety goggles when working on cars. I was using my grinder on an old junker I have, and even with googles, I ended up getting some crap in one of my eyes. I had to go to the urgent care center to have it removed. It was not fun. Even though my eye had been numbed up, having to WATCH the DR. scrape my cornea with a very sharp object was not easy. I'm now putting drops in my eye every 30 minutes, and it feels like someone punched me on that side of my face. (ahhhh.......vicodin ) ..... So..... be careful out there!

Oh yeah, they accepted the offer on our house....so now we're just waiting for paperpushers to do their job......we should close on or before May 6th!
If you're interested, here is what it looks like: http://www.bristlene...use/default.htm

NV

[NV Zeno]

Not much new stuff going on the last week or so. We are now working inside the cab though. Punched a couple of holes through the firewall (right below the wiper motor....barely missing the hard lines I didn't see....!!!) to run the "new" harnesses through and have started wiring things up. I removed the wiper motor to get clearance for the drill.....ended up breaking the stupid little plastic thing that connects the motor arm to the wiper arm.... . Other than that, just trying to stay out of the wind.

As a side note..... I'd like to remind everyone about using safety goggles when working on cars. I was using my grinder on an old junker I have, and even with googles, I ended up getting some crap in one of my eyes. I had to go to the urgent care center to have it removed. It was not fun. Even though my eye had been numbed up, having to WATCH the DR. scrape my cornea with a very sharp object was not easy. I'm now putting drops in my eye every 30 minutes, and it feels like someone punched me on that side of my face. (ahhhh.......vicodin ) ..... So..... be careful out there!

Oh yeah, they accepted the offer on our house....so now we're just waiting for paperpushers to do their job......we should close on or before May 6th!
If you're interested, here is what it looks like: http://www.bristlene...use/default.htm

NV

Wow..lots-o-elbow room. Looks like Stagecoach, or maybe Silver Springs.

I guess you're getting a little taste of the breeze that's blowing there about now:rolleyes: .

[subieman]

The wind has been killing me. I cant seem to get anything done. I have a transmission to get installed.. stupid weather.

Nice house. The best thing about it is your garage!!!!!

[Jibs]

Yeah nice lookin place. That sucks about the eye, hope you're getting better, don't let it get in the way of anything.

[NVBigBlue]

Wow..lots-o-elbow room. Looks like Stagecoach, or maybe Silver Springs.

I guess you're getting a little taste of the breeze that's blowing there about now:rolleyes: .

Well, technically it's in Stagecoach......but since it's so close to Dayton....I prefer to say it's in Dayton.

[HardcoreSoob]

Hey im doing this swap right now, do you know of any hood clearance problems?

also as for modifiing the disty did you cut on of the tabs, if so which one? b/c

i was able to keep both tabs and open up the holes to allow tunablilty,

then as for cooling what did you do with the line from the bottom of the thermostat housing and the one off the water pump line atop the engine and also the cooling line atop the block as well,

an last an not least for now do you have any kind of a vaccum line chart for how you ran your setup ? it looks very clean and nice

[NVBigBlue]

Hey im doing this swap right now, do you know of any hood clearance problems?

also as for modifiing the disty did you cut on of the tabs, if so which one? b/c

i was able to keep both tabs and open up the holes to allow tunablilty,

then as for cooling what did you do with the line from the bottom of the thermostat housing and the one off the water pump line atop the engine and also the cooling line atop the block as well,

an last an not least for now do you have any kind of a vaccum line chart for how you ran your setup ? it looks very clean and nice

I haven' run into any clearance problems yet, but to tell the truth I haven't actually checked......the hood does close, but it may or may nto be a tight fit, I'll look tonight.

I did cut off one of the tabs, but I'll have to look and see which one it was. I had to make a custom hold down for it to be able to smoothly turn without catching the wires on the block.

Ah....the stupid line from the water pump......well, we basically removed the original pipe and replaced it with a short "coupler" from my other Suby. It was part of the heater hoses on the other cars. Really just a short pipe with flares at each end.....and I mean short, about 3 inches maybe.

I'm assuming you mean this cooling line from the block ( http://www.bristlenet.com/carb2spfi/images/100_1653%20(Small).jpg )
we actually ran that line to the little line on the water outlet, it's a tight fit, but it works...... look here: http://www.bristlenet.com/carb2spfi/images/100_1698%20(Small).jpg

you can just see the clamp between the outlet housing and the disty.

Thank you, no I haven't made up a vacuum diagram yet, but one is in the works.....also a wiring diagram will be included in my write up.

We're getting very, VERY close. We've started wiring in the ECU, but had to stop due to weather again. Going to try and finish up tonight.....we only have about 20 wires left to connect .

NV

[Jibs]

We're getting very, VERY close. We've started wiring in the ECU, but had to stop due to weather again. Going to try and finish up tonight.....we only have about 20 wires left to connect .

NV

YAY! Good deal! Let us know about this BBQ thing, I want to see the Car!
Git-R-Done!!

[NVBigBlue]

Well, I thought you guys might want to see a few more pics. So I placed a few more up on my web site. Here is the address again:

http://www.bristlene...pfi/default.htm

Make sure you refresh the page. The new photos are near the bottom of the page. Basically, they show how we penetrated the firewall.

We've gotten most of the wires reconnected to the right plugs, and now we're down to the ignition and fuel pump relays, a few ground and power connections, and mounting the ECU. We also have to do a little splicing into the existing harness to provide fuel pump power and tach signal, water temp, and oil pressure connection to the instrument panel. We're also going to wire in the existing CEL. Of course the really scarry part is coming up.......hooking up the battery and giving the whole thing some juice!

Hopefully, if this thing actually runs, I was planning to:
1. Photograph the modified parts.
2. Trace out and make templates for any brackets needed.
3. Make a list of required items, including those from Lowe's.
4. Create vacuum, fuel and wiring diagrams.
5. List out what has to be made and/or modified.
6. Compile everything in one document, with pictures.
7. Set up e-commerce web site and charge $5000 per copy.

OK, that last one is way out line.....it'd probably be more like $5.

Oh, all right......you guys can have it for free.

hehehe
NV

[HardcoreSoob]

Alrighty

i got all the vaccum hoses connected and other stuff fitting
one of my last questions is did you have to run a fuel return line
or is there already one?

thanx,
john

[Blue84Hatch]

is the project complete??? I am interested in the turn out. I am scrounging together all the parts for a SPFI swap now also. I am convinced its a great mod for a carbed EA81.

[NVBigBlue]

Well,
I know you guys want to know what's going on with this swap.....so here it is.....

at this point ...... nothing.

I wish I could say it was done, but life has a way of getting in the way of the fun stuff.

Actually I shouldn't say nothing, it is moving forward....slowly. We went to hook up the exhaust and found that the Y-pipe is like an inch to short to reach the heads.... ahhhh....it's missing the little spacer things (one spacer, one spacer/pipe connector)...not biggee, we'll just use the Y-pipe from the donor car......except it's got a different connector to the exhaust pipe....no biggee, we'll just use the whole exhaust system......except after gettting everythig cut off and cleaned up, we find that one of the pipes (right where it turns up to connect to the head) is shattered almost all the way around! Sooooooo.....we go to the local pink-n-pull to get a new one....except THEY CUT THE CONVERTERS FROM THE FRIGGIN' Y-PIPES! aaaarrrrgghhhhh!!! Plus with the problems we've been having getting our house to close, I haven't really been in a 'work on the car' mood. So not having to work today (because we were SUPPOSED to close on the house:banghead: and I already had the damn day off....) I went to p-n-p (1/2 price day!) and pulled some non engine related parts. But I feel better now, and will try to get something done this weekend.
NV

[NVBigBlue]

.....we go to the local pink-n-pull....
.....But I feel better now....

hehehehe......while we DO have those out here in Nevada.....I actually went to the local PICK-N-PULL!

.....pink-n-pull......I kill me!


That'll teach me to type after a few run and cokes....

[subieman]

Car repairs alwas seem to go that way. If its not one thing its another. I was working on my cooling fan yesterday and I crossed a wire and things went POP! Now my wagon wont run.

PnP does cut there converts. I found that out the hard way last year when I went to pull a cat. I ended up at the sparks pnp yesterday. Its sad to say the ea81's are getting harder and harder to find. Seems to be mostly ea82's and Legacys now.

Good luck on finishing your hatch.(and the closing of your house) And I look forward to your write up.

[TahoeFerrari]

Wow - way to go. I've got an beat up (body wize) '82 hatch with only 120k miles on it that I was about to scrap because of all the carb problems I'd been having. I've also got an '87 3-door and an '89 wagon - both EA82 spfi - that are my daily drivers that I've had absolutely no problems with (278K and 150K miles) unless you count a few unexpected timing belt failures.

Lately I'd been thinking about maybe giving new life to the '82 by maybe puting an EA82 in it, but after seeing this, I just might have a go at following in your footsteps and spfi-izing the EA81 that I already have at what sounds like a fairly reasonable cost (man-hours don't count) and not have to worry about timing belts. Gotta love Carson City & Sparks PnPs.

I can't wait to hear (maybe literally - since Dayton is right next door) how it runs.

Just looked at the pictures you posted - really nice work (the car and the pictures and the descriptions of the pictures)!

[NVBigBlue]

Well guys (and gals) I'm finally back online and it's time for an update! Of course, I have gone from a blazing 3.25MB broadband connection to a blistering 31.2kbps dial-up connection

So here's the update.......first off, even though we were 18 days late on closing.......finally....

http://www.bristlene...ast/default.htm

And secondly, the conversion has been put on hold for a bit. So here's the deal.....

We got the whole conversion pretty much fully installed, including mounting the ecu, routing wires, and making everything look "pretty", but when it came time to fire it up, it popped over a couple of times and then nothing, I mean, nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch, no thing. We checked and rechecked the coil, plugs, disty, wires, ecu, harness, everything...... We worked on this for about 5 or 6 nights after work, and never did get it to fire again. And no, we didn't replace the ecu, mainly due to a lack of time because of moving on the weekends, and getting home after dark from work. So where do we stand now?...
Well, due to the fact that my son REALLY needs a car that can get him back and forth to football practice / weightlifting now that school is out, I made the decision to pull all of the SPFI stuff and throw a carb back on it. The good news is that after putting everything back on, the engine fired after a couple of turns.....something it hadn't done for about 8 years. We did have a small problem with the exhaust, and we're still fighting some rust in the fuel tank (when you drain the tank, is gas supposed to be red?!? ), but the engine is running really well, and I've had it up to about 85 so far...yes, it took a bit to get there.....and I was going down hill......which is a good thing since the car is for my son.....and he doesn't really need to be going that fast anyways right? But it will pull a steady 70 - 75 on the flats.......until the filter plugs anyways.....(I'll post a tech question about this problem.....)
At any rate, the car is running and should be registered and legal by the end of the week. (my son likes that news.....)
So what does this mean for the SPFI conversion? I'm fairly certain that it had to be the ECU causing the problems, and that'll be the first thing I pick up at the PNP when I start on the next project car, if I go that route.......you see, I made a deal with a guy up the road from us for another little hatch for $100. The body is pretty decent, but the front window is smashed. According to him, it was running fine when his son put a tree branch across the window, and since I've already got the parts............
Things I might do differently next time?.....I was thinking about going with a megasquirt unit. Everything else is a pretty much bolt up, but not having to mod the disty would be nice.
At any rate, sorry it took so long to post an update on this, but to say I've been busy the last few weeks would be an major understatement! Feel free to shoot me questions about what we did, or how we did it. Don't expect too many pic posts though.......dial up sucks. And again.....I'd like to say this is an easy to do swap, but if you do decide to take this on.....you really should be able to do without the vehicle for a while.....if we'd had anything else for my son to drive, we would have made this thing work.....
Thanks for all the support and following.....made me feel kinda funny being on the "cutting edge" of converting 20 year old cars!
NV

[subieman]

Damn! You were so close! Well, next time the conversion will go twice as fast. I hope u give it another try. I'm starting to collect parts for my conversion. Ick! Maybe I'll just go buy myself a ea82.

Have your son check the board here for Reno meetings. We are due for a off-roading trip pretty soon and he is welcome to come along.

[Blue84Hatch]

Yea bum deal man. You would have had it. Just need more time to troubleshoot. I have already started this conversion. I am re-sealing my engine right now. And then the SPFI will go on. I am going to do the wiring first though. That seems to be the toughest part of the job. I got a full harness out of an 88 SPFI vehicle. Thanks for the great tips. They will come in handy. I will let you know if I have the same problem when I try to start my hatch.

Peace