My 3.2 Swap is running!

[DonDavis]

OH YEAH!! My 3.2 is in and running! Man, does it sound a great!

Some of you may remember I was having issues with getting ignition. The engine would turn over, fuel pump would run but no spark. I swapped reference with speed sensor, adjusted their clearance, swapped DME relays, tried my ECU and relays in CUL8R’s car. Checked and double-checked all wires and splices. I had gone through everything a number of times.

The problem was in the wiring harness. See the attached pics.

For 88, the Tach wire leaves pin 4 ECU as Yellow and then CHANGES to the normal Black/Violet. On the 87, you will see the Tach wire leaves pin 21 ECU as Black/Violet and NOT change color on its way to the Tach.


The wire for the Switched and Cranking 12v for the 87 leaves pin 4 as Yellow and goes to a “50”(switched and cranking 12v) source. It does NOT change color. However, on 88 it leaves ECU pin 21 as Black/Violet and then changes to Yellow.






So, on the harness there are 8 loose wires...
Yellow - switched and cranking 12v
Green /Yellow - A/C
Black/Violet - Tach pin 2
small Black - Tach pin 1 (shift light)
medium Black - Coil
Red/Green - for fuel pump to a fuse
small Black - from DME relay anti-theft, spliced w/Yellow
Red - battery

My harness had the Yellow and Black/Violet swapped.

I bought this engine from Patrick Motorsports and it came with everything. Engine, harness, fuel pump and filter and tach. It came out of a 77 and was about as plug-n-play as it gets. All I had to do was modify my throttle linkage, make a hole for the harness and fire it up! After getting it all together and having no spark, I visited Jim Patrick several times. Another benefit of buying the engine from him was the tech support he provided. He was very helpful and I always felt welcome.

With VERY MUCH help from LeeH and Jeff (CUL8R), I finally found the hitch last Sunday. I was at Jeff’s testing my DME ECU and relays when I noticed the changing wire colors on the schematics. When I got home and made the correction, my fuel pump was silent but I had spark. After about and hour of thinking my fuel pump was not working, I realized it was sounding the way it should. At this point, I was finished for the day. More on this in a minute.

I went to see Jim Patrick the next day with what I had found. At first, he did not want to believe me. Let me say this about Jim, he is very thorough and knows his stuff. He asked me “How could that car the engine came from drive into my shop?” I told him I think whoever removed the harness decided to cut the wires plumbed forward and leave them in the car as they were putting in another engine. Why re-plumb more wires when its easier to replace the one on the harness for storage? The wires got replaced and they got the Yellow and switched with Black/Violet. An honest mistake.

I asked Jim for his factory schematics and then showed him the “changing wire colors” trick and he said ‘Oh S***!”

I think he never knew the wires had been re-terminated. That’s why he INSISTED the car ran before with that harness. Also, the wires that run forward looked to me as they had never been in a car. All the same length, ends were not stripped and they were long enough to run 2 feet past my headlights.

Now I have a few loose ends to deal with and the engine transplant will be complete.

When it first started, it was huffin and chuffin and smokin’ and buckin’ like mule. That lasted about 30 seconds and began running a little more smoothly. After about an hour of starting it and letting it run a few minutes, shutting it down and checking for leaks and oil level, I took it about half a mile to my corner gas station. I gingerly pulled out and when I shifted to 2nd, I bumped the throttle more than I intended. WOW, the torque was great and pulled hard!

That was Wednesday night. I took it out Saturday for a little more and it runs better and better. Just need to get the interior back together and start driving it more.

I want to be on the record by saying Jim Patrick was very good to work with. It was a mistake that he was not aware of. I bet he was never informed the new wires were put on the harness. He was very helpful and I highly recommend his shop!

[DonDavis]

For some reason, my fuel pump is almost silent now. Before I found the wiring problem, it ran loudly and now I can barely hear it. I s'pose that's because the wires were hosed.

[Elombard]

either that or it was not fully primed? My SC pump is hella loud all the time but a little quieter when it is fully primed.

[LeeH]

Don,

Congratulations on getting it going. I'm sure all the work and frustration now seem worth it. I can't wait to go for a ride.

Now it's time to turn the 2.4 into a coffe table!

[LakeCleElum]

Congrats on a job well done.....You'll be very happy with that engine in a light '72....

[Shuie]

Congrats!

[Hugh R]

Sweeeeeeet!!! Sounds like a lot of hard and fustrating work.

[randywebb]

Congrats! This post is bound to help some others in the future.

[DonDavis]

Thanks! I hope the explanation makes sense. One of the symptoms was the fuel pump running as soon as the key was turned to "on".

Took it out for a short run yesterday and my temps were just under 180. I am not running a front cooler yet but I'll add that later.

Oh, I got my "new" engine badge. Check it out!

[Doug&Julie]

He he!

[DonDavis]

Doug,
One drive in my car and you'll have your mind made up!

Do the swap!!

[Doug&Julie]

When are you coming to Cincinnati?

..oh, wait...I'd rather come to AZ!

[75Carrera]

Way to go Don!
Jeff has kept me informed on your progress too. The 3.2 swap is very cool eh? Can't wait for a few of you Valley Pelicans to make a run up this way.
Here's mine before we pulled it again to redo the valves/heads and grind the cams to 964 profiles... I'm doing some powdercoating too. I ran into a serious problem with my fan housing (one of Porsche's follies) and ended up having to buy an alum replacement from Vertex.

[Joeaksa]

Don,

Glad to hear that it worked out well. Sorry I was not able to help with stuffing it in the car but it sounds like you did a good job!

Will give you a ride in my 3.6 and open your eyes!

Joe A

[ianc]

Congrats on sorting it out. Nothing sweeter than sorting out a sticky problem.

Next up should be the Steve Wong chip!

ianc

[Jeff]

Good job Don. Great accomplishment.

Come by saturday and we can fix the ride height and change the tranny fluid. I was going to help Mad Mike with his brake rebuild but we need more parts; so at the present time saturday is open.

Are you still planning on Firebird on April 22nd? I will be running.

Love the "New" badge! Do you plan on making more and selling them thru Pelican?

LeeH, Karen said she would watch Andi while you are on the track, if you want to run.

Doug, will be in Fairfield & Eaton the first part of June thru the end of July.

ianc, Do you have a SW chip? If so, and had to do it all over again would you?

[Doug&Julie]

Originally posted by C U L8R
Doug, will be in Fairfield & Eaton the first part of June thru the end of July.

Will you be driving a 3.2 powered early car?

Keep me posted as time draws closer...we'll have to get together. At the very least hope to see you at one of the PCA events or something.

http://ovr.pca.org/

(ok, looking at the "schedule" it doesn't appear there's much going on if you're going to just miss the Taj Kruezers and the P2O.. )

...sorry for the hijack!

[Jeff]

"Will you be driving a 3.2 powered early car? "

Unfortunately not. I will be driving a 5.3 liter Chevy truck. Thought about towing the Carrera out to do some track events, but I don't think that will happen this time.

I really wanted to catch the P2O as I am an alumni and tend to like
Porsches a bit, but I may be fishing in FL that weekend.

When is Taj?

[Doug&Julie]

Originally posted by C U L8R
When is Taj?

First weekend in June: http://www.tajmagaraj.com/speedfest.php

I probably won't make anything other than the car show. But maybe the AutoX. A lot of cool stuff, though.

...maybe we could get Don to drive his car out?

[Jeff]

Yeah, How about it Don? That would be a good shake down cruise.