swapping XT engine into GL10 wagon

[baccaruda]

This Saturday, I'm driving up and buying Tyrel's rebuilt engine from his wrecked XT. I'll be putting it in my wagon in a few weeks.

 

any problems getting my stock wiring harness to fit with the spider intake?

 

which distributor should I plan to use? 1987 XT or my stock dist?

 

The XT engine does not have A/C and my car does. Will the A/C and alternator brackets from my engine fit on the XT engine or do I need to go bracket hunting at pull n save?

 

Thanks...

[TomRhere]

Where's Noah when you need him? Think he changed his handle for the new board, was going by Oh Noah on the old board, not sure but thinking it's CIS Subaru now. Anyway, he used a spider intake when doing the CIS conversion on his '86 Wagon. Talked to him in person and don't recall him saying anything about wiring issues for the spider intake. Just looked at his article in the repair manual, under Subaru Mods, and no mention there either. Thinking that you would want to keep your disty, as it is working with the computer in the car, the XT one may not. You will probally have to go bracket hunting to do your AC, as I'm sure that the brackets will be different where they mount to the manifold, if it even does......

[MilesFox]

if the receiving car is an 86, use the 86 diustributor. the 85 and 86 distributors will work in any car with any coil setup, but the 87 wont. that is what Noah told me when we couldnt get the 8a82 in the 82 glf to run.

i always make it a rule to use the distributor that is original to the car itself, that is, if you are using the same induction method that is original to the car.

 

an example of the 86 dist uses:

i got an ea82 in my 83 wagon with an 86 disty, just 2 wires to the coil.

 

i got an 87 gl-10 that had turbo, but i got an spfi block with a carb, and of course, the 86 disty. the coil has all the atatchmets for the turbo's disty, but i left that all there and connected the 86 disty's 2 wores to the coil, and it works like its supposed to!

[svxpert]

When I did this conversion (XT engine w/spider intake into a 88RX) the wiring harness was the same. It had a round black connector and a round white coonnector. I took the p/s and a/c off the engine and kept the xt dist on the engine. Everything works fine, i just swapped ECU's from the XT to the RX. hope this helps.

[baccaruda]

thanks a lot!

SVXpert, are you suggesting that I pick up the ECU from the 87 XT? my car has a different MAF and everything...

[syphon]

You also might want to talk with Tex. He's in the process of (should be done next week) of putting a spider intake onto his EA82T.

[svxpert]

now that i looked at the year of your car (86) i'm not sure it will fit now. I think it (the wiring harness) will only fit 87 1/2 and up models. thats when they changed it. Before you do anything, check the 2 round connectors i told you about. that will let you know if they will fit or not.

[baccaruda]

thanks. I figure the worst case anyway will be swapping connector ends onto my car's wiring harness.

[reoff]

Not exactly... there was a complete rework of the cars wiring in 87 from what i understand, and the way the computer works would likely be completely different. You may need to consider the entire wiring harness/ECM.

[bushbasher]

use the 86 sensors with the spider intake

[baccaruda]

aaahh, there we go. thanks BB

[bushbasher]

it just makes the most sense to try, so I would keep asking first.

[XSNRG]

I'm with BB, most of your existing sensors should be similar and work on the spider intake. And your computer can't see the intake manifold, sooo as long as your existing sensors are there it should work. Simple, as BB said is good:burnout:

[nomica]

Mine works...except for the TPS. The only part of the whole thing I had to figure out, and I was wrong the first try. Mostly because my spider is from an NA xt, not a turbo xt. This also meant i had to reroute the turbo cooling plumbing, as the NA manifold doesn't have the tube passing over the manifold to the turbo.

 

BTW, This is Tex.

[baccaruda]

thanks all.

hey tex. like the name change

i have a few extra TPSes.. I've started to hoard old sensors in good shape after realizing that they're unreasonably expensive new from the dealer

[nomica]

Andy, its Tex again. I'm just too lazy to log out, then log back in under my name.

 

As far TPSes goes, i took the spider one off, and opened it up. I also opened up my stock RX one. Upon doing this, i noticed several things. Obviously, the connectors to them are different. The NA XT one from the spider had a 4 prong. The stock one had a 2 sets of 3 prongs, one in a cylindrical connector, one in the normal connector.

 

I found that the turbo one has 2 "sensor arms" coming from the connector, to the wheel (that locks onto the throttle sharft). My NA one only had one "sensor arm".

 

After finding this, i tried to see if the stock TPS would go onto the spider intake. It fit just fine. It just is designed to rotate the opposite way.

 

I've have deemed it necassary to find a TPS off of a turbo xt w/ the spider manifold. You wouldn't happen to have one would you?

 

Second issue, throttle cable. I didn't grab it from the XT, so its too long. I ended up fabbing a cheesy bracket (still in testing!) that mounts on my intercooler that takes up for the fact the throttle cable is too long.

 

Third issue was the AC mounting bracket. I just cut the part of mine off that attached to the old manifold. It mounted up fine, seems really sturdy. But as a precaution i have disconnected the in car relay control thing for the AC, until I can find the proper bracket. I'm not sure if without that mount it will standup to the torque that the AC compressor puts out.

 

Fourth issue: I didn't grab the engine stabilizer, nor its mount. I ended up taking the bracket for the stock one off (so the throttle body can clear) and will run without till I find the proper setup. That is of course assuming I get my car running before I find it. (see TPS issue)

 

In conclusion: Manifold swap done, it ran once. I need a TPS off of a turbo xt spider manifold equipped, an ac bracket from same type of car, and a generic xt engine stabilizer and bracket.

 

whew! long post. Thanks.

[baccaruda]

Hi Chris. OK, so you need a TPS such as the one on my new engine (thanks Tyrel!) from an 87 XT turbo? I'll be using the TPS from my 86 turbo when I put the engine IN my 86 turbo so it's all yours. I'll make a note to snag it for you. $10 including shipping OK?