1988 LX Carb to EFI Build

[joebreck117]

As some of you know, I bought deceiver's silver '88 LX with the weber carb a couple months back. After a head swap I finally got it on the road. I cleaned it up, put on my American Racing rims, and put some wiper arms off of a Saturn on it (modern "j" arm,maybe an inch longer). I thought I was doing good until I blew a 22y/o heater hose the second week and realized I was burning oil like mad. I could just do rings and change all of my hoses, but I want a more reliable engine. The carb is a lot of fun, but I want something that won't be as temperamental. So, starting tomorrow morning, I'm going to be swapping in the engine from my '91 L. It's got roughly 80,000 less miles on it and doesn't leak a drop.
Also, I'm going to be putting on KYB GR2's, Festy front springs in the rear, and I'll be working on the A/C as time goes since Andy gave me a new condensor and compressor. Might even put a piece of all-thread in the rear end to stiffen it up.

Any words of advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'll be going about this all on my own. Kinda feel like I'm proving myself ha. Wish me luck.

here's after I cleaned her up a few weeks ago...

[sedat]

Swap the entire harness from the 91. Everything. Change the fuel tank as they are different too. I believe you can get away with leaving the old Dome light loom in place and cut/paste from the old to the new chassis loom.

[m715]

^^^^^ I agree. By now, with the strip out you did after the roll over in the Red Car, you have some experience with that. Why not just change over the engine, and keep the carb setup though? Seems that would be a lot less down time.
If you do decide to do it though, how about a shot at the carb setup? I would like to buy it if you are going FI.

Keep me in mind

Michael

[Festiva_Fred]

Swap the entire harness from the 91. Everything. Change the fuel tank as they are different too. I believe you can get away with leaving the old Dome light loom in place and cut/paste from the old to the new chassis loom.

I agree. It's not too bad of a job to swap harnesses, It's broken down into sections, one for the engine/under dash wiring, one for the interior, and I'm pretty sure that the roof wiring is on a seperate harness also.

[joebreck117]

So i started to day around noon, the temperature had finally gotten to around 45...i'm almost done tearing apart the '91. i got all of the wiring out, the fuel tank, and a bunch of stuff under the hood. tomorrow i'll get the rear suspension out, the engine/tranny, and maybe the steering/ brakes. might even get a start on the '88.

i've got 2 questions for all of you guru's.
1. Are the fuel lines/brake lines the same from the carb and efi models. (3 fuel lines, 2 brake)
2. What is this column switchgear that i've been ready has to be swapped over. where is it, what does it do?

thanks all

[Festiva_Fred]

I can check the fuel/brake lines for you tomorrow, I'll let you know.

[joebreck117]

that would be great. I'm just trying to see if they come out at the same spots so that i don't have to swap them. also, i wasn't sure if the one for the charcoal canister is on the carb car already, i don't know if they incorporated that into the carb system.

[joebreck117]

Anyone have any ideas on what the "column switchgear" is?

[Festiva_Fred]

Anyone have any ideas on what the "column switchgear" is?

I don't get what exactly you're talking about there..

[nonamekid]

The fuel lines are different from what I have heard from other people who have done the swap. Brake lines should be the same.

[m715]

The column, and everything attached will be changed also. There is an extra reinforcement for the column,ignition switch, and different headlight/wiper wiring and swich assembly.for example. Figure on swapping a gutted car to a gutted car. The left fender will even have to come off to route the wiring through to the engine compartment. To do the fuel lines, they go under the transaxle crossmember also.
The bright side is that these are "simple" cars in comparison to most. What you are basically doing, however, is swapping a shell for a shell.

Michael

[joebreck117]

Alright guys another day has come and gone. The '91 is completely empty. I found out that the fuel lines ARE different, the efi ones are a larger diameter and come out at the front with different bends. Easy swap. Though I'm not sure what you ment about the lines going under the crossmember, m715. Unles you are talking about the carb. On the efi they are routed next to the crossmember.
I just found out from FB71 that the comboswitch is different from carb>efi is different, so that may be fun to figure out...
m715, I'm also not sure what you meant in the column needing to be swaped & there being extra reinforcements...everything is looking the same from what I remember when I played with my '91, but it has been a couple years. The only part I haven't compared would be right at the firewall; are you talking about the bracket with the pedals, brake light switch and clutch switch? I already have the newer ignition switch on the '88 column, because the older one kept sticking in start and no amount of graphite would help it.
I'd post some pictures but I don't have the cord for my camera with me.

[joebreck117]

Oh and I wanted to share that it is fun as all anything to support and unbolt the engine/crossmember and then lift the rest of the car with one hand, support the car with a 2x4 and then pull the engine out of the way. Made my day.

[Damkid]

This thread is useless without pics :lol:

[joebreck117]

sorry dude someone stole my canon rebel and now all i've got is my phone. i forgot the usb cord for it though, soooo....no pics! unles you all would like to post some.