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Compatible harness, ECU, engine - swap
Topic Started: May 6 2015, 09:58 AM (1,286 Views)
hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

Ok, I've got a bunch of stuff going on and I'm going to try to make this... simple? hah.

There are a total of 4 cars I will mention, so for summary: (all are 3cyl)
Blue car - 93 (?) metro, standard, ran and had good compression!
Dead Red car - 91 chevy sprint, standard, crap engine, clutch blew up, had some other good parts, rusty
Good Red car - 90 (?) chevy sprint, auto, didn't idle in gear, engine compression was crap, body in great shape
White car - 90 (?) chevy sprint, standard, transmission shifts well, electrical issues from time of purchase, rusty

The blue car and the dead red car are gone, all I have are the parts I've pulled from them. The white car isn't "here" yet, it's a few hours away at my mom's place. The Good Red car is the project car.

The goal is to get the blue car's engine, the white car's transmission and the good red car's body all together in a running daily driver.

The ECU from the blue car is NOT the same as the ecu's from the dead/good red cars or the white car. The connectors are different, the wiring harness is different.

The wiring harness from the blue car hooks onto the throttle body and exhaust manifold (I think these are the correct terms) with only one wire going to the actual engine block for oil pressure.

Given this, would it be possible and compatible to swap the exhaust manifold and throttle body (the bolt on area, I think its more than JUST the throttle body.. intake manifold maybe?) onto the good block/head, so the wiring harness from the White car can be used along with it's ECU?

We have the full engine and "other" wiring harness from the blue car but do NOT have the dash harness for it. The Dead Red car, we only kept some "bits" of. The White car hasn't been parted yet, so should have everything, though I haven't ripped it apart so I'm not 100% sure what it's like inside.

Any thoughts or input are very welcome!!
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idmetro
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hdsheena
May 6 2015, 09:58 AM

Given this, would it be possible and compatible to swap the exhaust manifold and throttle body (the bolt on area, I think its more than JUST the throttle body.. intake manifold maybe?) onto the good block/head, so the wiring harness from the White car can be used along with it's ECU?
In short - Yes it can happen.

Keep the intake manifold/throttle body and distributor with the car body you want to use (these should be from the red car). This will keep the ECU and wiring harness compatible. Take the block of the best engine (blue cars engine) and bolt the manifolds/distributor of the car (red car), you want to keep to it then your engine is done.

Any of the transmissions will bolt to the engine BUT the mounting location, motor mounts, drive axles and control pedals are different between an auto car an a standard car so switching from an auto to a manual is a bit more involved but can be done and that appears to be what you are asking about. Correct?




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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

I think I follow you. :hmm Your building a 90 Chevy Sprint, that used to have an automatic, but now going to be converted to a manual. :gamerz

The 91 Chevy Sprint with the Manual transmission has the parts that you need.
-Intake & Throttle Body
-Distributor
-Thermostat Housing
-Harness & ECU

This will be the closest match to what you're trying to accomplish. Everything will be plug and play.

In reality, if the 93 engine is complete, the harness and ECU could be swapped into the 90 Sprint. But I don't know if the under dash connections would be compatible. :hmm One thing I Do know is the larger the year span, between any component, the larger the possibility of incompatibility. :'( Plus the 90 & 91's don't have EGR. One less thing to fiddle with. :cheers
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hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

"Keep the intake manifold/throttle body and distributor with the car body you want to use (these should be from the red car). This will keep the ECU and wiring harness compatible. Take the block of the best engine (blue cars engine) and bolt the manifolds/distributor of the car (red car), you want to keep to it then your engine is done."


"The 91 Chevy Sprint with the Manual transmission has the parts that you need.
-Intake & Throttle Body
-Distributor
-Thermostat Housing
-Harness & ECU"


These seem to be "not the same" answer. Can either of you explain how to choose which way to do this?
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snowfish
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Basic GearHead

Quote:
 
These seem to be "not the same" answer

Because you're going from an automatic transmission to a manual transmission.
I don't think the manual & automatic harness is compatible with the manual ECU. I could be wrong. I do not have much experience with the automatic transmission configurations.
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hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

Thanks snow fish. The harnesses certainly have the same ECUs connector but I was told (haven't yet seen for myself) that the harness wasn't compatible.
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Stubby79
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Out of curiosity, is the blue '93 the one that had the inspection ticket on it?

I do believe you could use the wiring harness & even the ECU from the '90 auto, though you might have some drivability issues. And you would certainly have some leftover plugs hanging around the transmission. A similar year ('91) manual ECU should fix it. You might need to run a wire for the Vehicle Speed Sensor, since the automatic uses a different VSS signal.

Swapping wiring harness and ECU would ensure full compatibility, but the wiring harness will be a huge pain in the ass to swap out.
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Good bye


89-91 will work together, 92-94 work together. Take all the 93 stuff off the engine you want to use. Use the engine harness from the white car, use the ecu from the bad red car if you have it. Use the intake, tbi, distributor, oxygen sensor from the dead red or the white car. The dash and the body harness on your good red car should be fine with the different engine harness. You want to use all stick shift "stuff" on your car. The automatic engine mount on the passenger side needs to move to match the stick shift car. The rear mount is in the correct spot, you have addressed the drivers side mount. You need to cut the rear lower support location off the tunnel to clear the shift linkage.
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hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

The lower support in the tunnel has been removed, and the drivers side has a plan. The passenger side one, I don't think we've addressed yet. Any input or pics? :) thank you!!
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idmetro
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Passenger side mount I believe is the same, so no change required.
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Good bye


Compare your automatic mount to one of your stick shift cars. Both the part welded to the body and the part bolted to the engine are different. The engine sits differently in an automatic car so the axles line up better.
If I were to convert an automatic car to a stick I would move the passenger side mount on the body and use the correct mount on the engine. Everything will fit as designed.
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hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

Stick shift car won't be here for a few more days. Anyone have a photo?
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hdsheena
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Still new, but learning...

Any way to find out (before I take my wires over to actually CHECK the physical car) whether an E3 ECU is compatible with my car? It's ecu 33920 60E30
Mine is A3, 33920-61B61. Any ideas on how to find out?
I will go over and check, but would rather have a "no don't bother" before going!
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myredvert
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myredvert

About your -61B61:

Latest ECM version in that series: 33920-61B63
(supercedes) -60B70, -60B71, -60B72, -60B73, -61B60, -61B61, -61B62, -61B70
(applicability) 1991 2dr/4dr, manual transaxle, except California Tier 1

Can you verify the model number on the other ECM? GMPartsGiant doesn't have a -60E30 listed for any model/year, but it wouldn't be the first one I ran across that wasn't listed anywhere in their database.

The reason I ask is that there is a -61E30 "series" (e.g. 30, 31, 32) listed for 1994 that has an A3 designation.

Either way, it's still safe to say for several reasons that these are not interchangeable ECMs.

Are you "making" a 1991, non-EGR, manual, Federal (non California) Emissions engine? If so, any ECM in the first list would work. There is no way to tell which "sub-series" (e.g., -60 or -61) is newer since those first two numbers after the "-" are non-sequential through the progressive model years. However, within each sub-series the last two numbers do indicate progressively newer revisions, i.e., -60B73 is newer than a -60B72.

Fwiw, all manuals vs. automatics use a different ECM/PCM, and all manual ECMs are final drive specific.
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