Engine management

[rdnoel86]

I have narrowed down my choice of engine management to Megasquirt and an Srt-4 stock or staged electronics.(unless I find a SDS system very, very cheap) My question is : Can the engine wiring harness and computer from an srt-4 be spliced into an l-body? I have heard the staged upgrades for the srt-4 bypass the interlock system. I am using all srt-4 parts....basically a stock engine hooked to a 31th trans. I am thinking of using the stage 1 computer and upgrades to start out with. Anyone have any thoughts on this set up? or even if it would work? What would I need to run the stock l body stuff...dash gauges..lights ect..???? Thanx for the help....

[BadAssPerformance]

It would probably be easier to run the SDS or other aftermarket if you can afford it, and will be much better tuning wise in the long run. The aftermarket would use a seperate harness from your l-body harness that you could strip the non-used OEM engine management stuff out of.

If you are really, really good at wiring, I am sure you could splice the SRT-4 and l-body wiring together but it would be waaaaaaay easier to just run the parts of both harnesses that are needed.

Another option would be to run the 16v off the 8v electronics but would need a custom cal for sure.

[cordes]

Another option would be to run the 16v off the 8v electronics but would need a custom cal for sure.

The biggest issue there would be running the dist off of the cams, but I believe FWD has, or used to have something that would adapt the dist to run off of the cam. The cal would really not be too hard.

[BadAssPerformance]

Yeah, I beleive Pachner has his run off the front cam and a SMEC cal from FWDP.

[rdnoel86]

I'm not sure if I can even splice in the srt-4 staged computers as apparently they need to be flashed for a particular vin number. I would prefer to stay away from the distributor system as at this point I don't even have a dist. laying around to start off with. (unless Rob wants to sell me his set up...lol) I think at this point its going to be MS2 3.0 unless a SDS comes up cheap on ebay...I'm just leary of the MS as it looks fairly labor intensive from assembly to setting up to run...

[TurbododgePirate]

I have no idea why you would do that unless you like pain.

You want it simple? DO what I am. Buy a Megasquirt and the additional hardware necessary for MSnS E. Additionally I would buy a relay board. I purchased everything from www.diyautotune.com and I have a project log. If you search for turbododgepirate and PLOG you should be able to see everything to this point.

Oh, also I purchased a CARBED L body engine harness to simplify things even more.

~~Heath

[TurbododgePirate]

I think at this point its going to be MS2 3.0 unless a SDS comes up cheap on ebay...I'm just leary of the MS as it looks fairly labor intensive from assembly to setting up to run...

MS1 V3.0. No not really labor intensive at all.

[rdnoel86]

I have no idea why you would do that unless you like pain.

You want it simple? DO what I am. Buy a Megasquirt and the additional hardware necessary for MSnS E. Additionally I would buy a relay board. I purchased everything from www.diyautotune.com and I have a project log. If you search for turbododgepirate and PLOG you should be able to see everything to this point.

Oh, also I purchased a CARBED L body engine harness to simplify things even more.

~~Heath

Ok, a dumb question.....how does a carbed wire harness make it easier??

[TurbododgePirate]

Ok, a dumb question.....how does a carbed wire harness make it easier??

Well, you don't have to remove a lot of wiring. Non of the wiring is in place for the injectors, etc. Only the distributor, and that's easy enough to take care of.
PLUS you get a external voltage regulator already in place!

Basically you get lights and ignition from the stock harness and wire everything else from the MS and Relay board.

[Russ Jerome]

Overlays, splices and staged inputs are gonna keep you guessing.
After running several 3-bar cals on my last driver I knew what I
was gonna do next time around............

SDS is sitting next to me right now. Your building a motor topped
by a cylinder head bone stock that has an incredibly high volumetric
efficency. Your limiting factor will be the reciprocating mass/block.
A stand alone, SDS or otherwise (sds is the cheapest) will let "you"
sneak up on less timing retard under boost.

[rdnoel86]

SDS would be my prefered choice but I can't justify the cost if theres cheaper alternatives....especially seeing that I have multiple projects going with about the same set up.


Heath,
Your tip on the wiring harness makes a lot of sense, I've located a couple. Is that all I need is just the harness for this swap?? It will plug right in to the firewall?? Should I be looking for anything else from the donor car like the alternator ect..? Thanx....Don

[TurbododgePirate]

SDS would be my prefered choice but I can't justify the cost if theres cheaper alternatives....especially seeing that I have multiple projects going with about the same set up.


Heath,
Your tip on the wiring harness makes a lot of sense, I've located a couple. Is that all I need is just the harness for this swap?? It will plug right in to the firewall?? Should I be looking for anything else from the donor car like the alternator ect..? Thanx....Don

I am looking into wether it plugs right in or not.

Additionally since you will need to use the SRT4 alternator, you will need the correct electrical attachments, and splice those into the carbed harness. And the starter wiring.

For the megasquirt you will need some additional stuff, but we'll get to that later. Did you check out the PLOG?

[rdnoel86]

Yes, I checked out the plog....good stuff. I'll get the harness and find a copy of the factory service manual for those years....the harness I found is supposedly out of a 84 SC.....Thanx...Don