Which one of these is not like the others? Which one of these does not belong?
Things are happening. Things. If things go one way that opens one path, the other way opens a different path. Both go to roughly the same place the difference is in how I get there. And color.
I got this awesome dizzy from bam-ta claws.
Went for a drive with bam-bam & Dad the other day and saw this Solar Array near Maiden, North Carolina. This is just the tiniest corner; the place is HUGE. The interwebs tell me it belongs to some fruit company.
did that dizzy work?
unlike the one that did not in the parking lot swap kind of thing.
I'll let you know come March. My mechanic has other projects stacked up between now and then. I have swapped dizzys before but this one won't work with my DPFI engine / wiring.
bam-bam: Yeah, when that distributor goes in, it'll be on a new(er) engine, MPFI swapped, auto to manual swapped, maybe more. All in good time...
Time is a good thing. I'm starting to realize the virtues of giving some projects time to be completed. Like this one, lol.
I've been looking up how-to posts for DPFI-to-MPFI swaps for the past month or so in preparation for this Spring's project. In my ever-so-humble-and-probably-uninformed opinion most if not all are missing something. At some point each them states in one way or another '... then do this last step and you're done' but reading through them it seems to me that they are at least a couple pages from completion. I don't know. It could be that when it comes to actually doing the swap it really does go together that way. But that's getting way ahead of myself.
What I'm currently doing to make the swap work is getting the harness in the right shape. I've done a couple small projects like this in computer cases but mostly that was just dressing up the cabling already present or doing "cable management" to get it out of the way and/or out of sight. Kind of like an engine bay with a good wire tuck. In this case my goal is to recreate an MPFI harness that will go across the engine bay just like Honda intended.
To start with bam gave me access to a basket of cables that could only be collected over time. Whatever is needed for this project is in this basket whether it's a connector, wire, loom, etc. it is in that basket and probably in triplicate. Above we see my starting point; one complete MPFI harness and one almost complete DPFI harness. Why not use the complete harness and be done with it? Well, actually, there are a couple reasons. First, it's not mine; it's bam's. Second, I actually do like a project. And most importantly, I need to have some skin in this game. There's a good bit of this swap business I can't do or just don't know how to do but this part I can do. Recreate a complete harness given a pristine example, all the knowledge I can glean form the interwebs, and plenty of raw materials? Any sufficiently motivated monkey with opposable thumbs could do that. And I, sir, am just the monkey for the job!
We've got this old kindergarten table for the kids to do homework but since it's weekend they weren't using it. So I spread out my model and my project side-by-side. Then I kept getting confused so I set about to label all of the bits and pieces of the DPFI harness with the help of one of the more helpful how-to articles I found from http://www.nobodysuspectsthewagon.com/ . (I didn't find a name attached to the write up, he may be a member here or not. If so, thanks!) He has an excellent picture with every little bit labeled clearly. I just copied his work IRL. His article is pretty darn thorough but it's also pretty specific to what he did which is not quite the same as what I'm doing; I think he was putting in a B20 with an automatic transmission. So there's only so far I can follow his write up.
Here's the carcass. There are a couple connectors missing because until now it was just parts. Either someone cannibalized it before bam got it or bam did it himself. And really that's what I'm doing, too. It won't matter that it's not complete because I don't need it to be a complete DPFI harness. I just need it to be the 'skeleton' around which I'll construct a MPFI harness.
Here's the only real "progress" I made today. I replaced this green connector by de-pinning and re-pinning it. I also replaced one of the injector plugs by de-pinning the wire that had been cut off and re-pinning the proper length cable already connected to an injector plug from root to tip. I'll end up removing this whole run of the harness from where it connects on the driver's side shock tower all the way to the alternator and I think one or two of those wires goes all the way to the opposite side of the engine bay.
This sort of highlights where I will be departing from most of the write ups i found. Most of them follow a 'cut and splice' method for getting the harness to be what they want it to be. I'm not going to argue with their results but that's not the way I will be doing this one. Instead, I'll be "dissecting" the harnesses and surgically transplanting whole cables that are already the right length because that's the way Honda made them. I can't claim any credit for this idea; it's all bam's. But I like it a lot. Toward that end, when I needed to put my toys away for the evening I did what any biology student would do; I got a few boards and stretched out my specimens on them!
Nice start! I have always agreed with the idea of running full wires instead of splicing when possible. With bam as a reference and a tall glass of sweet tea, how can you go wrong!? Staying tuned in for updates....
Looking good. Just remember the other reason you can't use the complete MPFI model harness: it just won't work! You only want to use it for a fit reference. It's just plain wired different.
Bear in mind that it is really as simple as some of those slapdash writeups. You're just doing it with a bit more finesse.
Add two wires for distributor sensors
Add two wires for injectors
Add resistor box and injector power wiring
Lengthen or reroute EACV wiring
Lengthen or reroute TPS and swap wiring.
Don't "monkey" with the existing wiring at the big round plugs.
Looking good. Just remember the other reason you can't use the complete MPFI model harness: it just won't work! You only want to use it for a fit reference. It's just plain wired different.
Good point. Luckily I had not gotten far enough to screw that up!
Bear in mind that it is really as simple as some of those slapdash writeups. You're just doing it with a bit more finesse.
Add two wires for distributor sensors
Add two wires for injectors
Add resistor box and injector power wiring
Lengthen or reroute EACV wiring
Lengthen or reroute TPS and swap wiring.
Don't "monkey" with the existing wiring at the big round plugs.
All I've done with the big round plugs was re-pin a brown wire that had been cut off with another the same length and going the same place.
This is good redirection though. It's been a couple weeks since you talked me through it. I think that the write ups I've seen could do with a simple and direct introductory paragraph stating the above objectives as well as a summary paragraph wrapping it up. (Dang, all those English teachers were right!)
I don't do "fk'd and swapd" harnesses.
Stock looking.
Basically everything was plug and play.
connected to two main sides (driver (with resistor box) and passenger side) then the extra wires ran though the grommet to connect to the ecu.
Talking with Bam last night you left this thread so open for me to close the door. I had to stop and breath for a while before I did my post #285.
I wasn't trying to pull your chain, just didn't know. After all, I've seen the interior of your wagon stripped down to carpet but I don't think I've ever seen under the hood, lol. I just asked because you said something like " wires into the cabin" and it made me wonder.
Yeah, I've got that first one printed out and the initial post of the second one. (Until just now I didn't recognize the value of the following posts.)
Whether it's because I'm 'mechanically declined' or because you know how to explain it better your simple statement of objectives above makes more sense to me.
In somewhat unrelated news I think I've decided I want 195/70R14s when I buy tires. I know they'll fit on the back because these RT steelies are wearing a set. Maybe I'll swap these up front just for a static test to see if they bump or scrub.
Todd,
Didn't those raise the arse end of the wagon if I can remember rightly?
Looking at your wagon last time so you will be on constant theory of going up hill.
Rich
They might've raised it a cat hair. But if I buy a matching set of four that should even things out all around. I wasn't planning on installing them up front with 13s on the rear for driving around, just to see if they bump or scrub turning the steering from lock to lock and maybe rolling through the gutter at the bottom of my driveway to see if they rub with the springs compressed.
I feel pretty confident as others are running similar wheel and tire combinations. In an earlier post on bam's cnote thread I believe he states he was running 205/50R15 tires on his fat fives with no rubs or scrubs. The195/70R14 is narrower by 10mm but taller overall by 1.6" and only half of that, .8" or .9", is above the axle / inside the fender.
205/60/15 is what I have on both 2wd cars and the camper.
Even better. That means the overall diameter is actually the same, 24.7". My earlier figures were wrong because I hadn't noticed the online tire size calculator had reset.
Also, I'm seeing a price of $51 for a 195/70R14. Which I like.
sweet build it looks sick... i just bought an 89 wagon 3 days ago n i was wondering where you got replacement lights cuz i need to replace a few please let me know i would greatly appreciate it
sweet build it looks sick... i just bought an 89 wagon 3 days ago n i was wondering where you got replacement lights cuz i need to replace a few please let me know i would greatly appreciate it
I had the benefit of access to the parts that my brother has collected over years. I ought to have a sticker on the side saying "this build brought to you by bam-bam". If I didn't have that I'd be watching PaP online, Craigslist, and this forum's marketplace.
Comments
Things are happening. Things. If things go one way that opens one path, the other way opens a different path. Both go to roughly the same place the difference is in how I get there. And color.
I got this awesome dizzy from bam-ta claws.
Went for a drive with bam-bam & Dad the other day and saw this Solar Array near Maiden, North Carolina. This is just the tiniest corner; the place is HUGE. The interwebs tell me it belongs to some fruit company.
Family Truckster FTW!
Oh, and hey, look, my headliner is falling. :chargrined:
You know, ever since I started using painters tape in projects I've found that it has infiltrated other parts of my life. Just so darn useful.;)
unlike the one that did not in the parking lot swap kind of thing.
All in good time...
I guess I'll check his google calendar for an appointment time
Aaahhhh, Family Priorities at its finest! HA
I've been looking up how-to posts for DPFI-to-MPFI swaps for the past month or so in preparation for this Spring's project. In my ever-so-humble-and-probably-uninformed opinion most if not all are missing something. At some point each them states in one way or another '... then do this last step and you're done' but reading through them it seems to me that they are at least a couple pages from completion. I don't know. It could be that when it comes to actually doing the swap it really does go together that way. But that's getting way ahead of myself.
What I'm currently doing to make the swap work is getting the harness in the right shape. I've done a couple small projects like this in computer cases but mostly that was just dressing up the cabling already present or doing "cable management" to get it out of the way and/or out of sight. Kind of like an engine bay with a good wire tuck. In this case my goal is to recreate an MPFI harness that will go across the engine bay just like Honda intended.
To start with bam gave me access to a basket of cables that could only be collected over time. Whatever is needed for this project is in this basket whether it's a connector, wire, loom, etc. it is in that basket and probably in triplicate. Above we see my starting point; one complete MPFI harness and one almost complete DPFI harness. Why not use the complete harness and be done with it? Well, actually, there are a couple reasons. First, it's not mine; it's bam's. Second, I actually do like a project. And most importantly, I need to have some skin in this game. There's a good bit of this swap business I can't do or just don't know how to do but this part I can do. Recreate a complete harness given a pristine example, all the knowledge I can glean form the interwebs, and plenty of raw materials? Any sufficiently motivated monkey with opposable thumbs could do that. And I, sir, am just the monkey for the job!
We've got this old kindergarten table for the kids to do homework but since it's weekend they weren't using it. So I spread out my model and my project side-by-side. Then I kept getting confused so I set about to label all of the bits and pieces of the DPFI harness with the help of one of the more helpful how-to articles I found from http://www.nobodysuspectsthewagon.com/ . (I didn't find a name attached to the write up, he may be a member here or not. If so, thanks!) He has an excellent picture with every little bit labeled clearly. I just copied his work IRL. His article is pretty darn thorough but it's also pretty specific to what he did which is not quite the same as what I'm doing; I think he was putting in a B20 with an automatic transmission. So there's only so far I can follow his write up.
Here's the carcass. There are a couple connectors missing because until now it was just parts. Either someone cannibalized it before bam got it or bam did it himself. And really that's what I'm doing, too. It won't matter that it's not complete because I don't need it to be a complete DPFI harness. I just need it to be the 'skeleton' around which I'll construct a MPFI harness.
Here's the only real "progress" I made today. I replaced this green connector by de-pinning and re-pinning it. I also replaced one of the injector plugs by de-pinning the wire that had been cut off and re-pinning the proper length cable already connected to an injector plug from root to tip. I'll end up removing this whole run of the harness from where it connects on the driver's side shock tower all the way to the alternator and I think one or two of those wires goes all the way to the opposite side of the engine bay.
This sort of highlights where I will be departing from most of the write ups i found. Most of them follow a 'cut and splice' method for getting the harness to be what they want it to be. I'm not going to argue with their results but that's not the way I will be doing this one. Instead, I'll be "dissecting" the harnesses and surgically transplanting whole cables that are already the right length because that's the way Honda made them. I can't claim any credit for this idea; it's all bam's. But I like it a lot. Toward that end, when I needed to put my toys away for the evening I did what any biology student would do; I got a few boards and stretched out my specimens on them!
My model.
My project.
My main donor.
Bear in mind that it is really as simple as some of those slapdash writeups. You're just doing it with a bit more finesse.
Add two wires for distributor sensors
Add two wires for injectors
Add resistor box and injector power wiring
Lengthen or reroute EACV wiring
Lengthen or reroute TPS and swap wiring.
Don't "monkey" with the existing wiring at the big round plugs.
This is good redirection though. It's been a couple weeks since you talked me through it. I think that the write ups I've seen could do with a simple and direct introductory paragraph stating the above objectives as well as a summary paragraph wrapping it up. (Dang, all those English teachers were right!)
None say if that car has gone up in smoke due to a messed up harness.
I've heard of a few.
Todd look at my build thread. You will see pictures of the naked harness. Basically dpfi to mpfi with extra wires to route to the cabin.
I don't do "fk'd and swapd" harnesses.
Stock looking.
Basically everything was plug and play.
connected to two main sides (driver (with resistor box) and passenger side) then the extra wires ran though the grommet to connect to the ecu.
Talking with Bam last night you left this thread so open for me to close the door. I had to stop and breath for a while before I did my post #285.
http://hondacrx881.tripod.com/mpfiswap.html.
And
http://hondaswap.com/swap-articles/dpfi-mpfi-writeup-49557/
Whether it's because I'm 'mechanically declined' or because you know how to explain it better your simple statement of objectives above makes more sense to me.
Bingo was his name.
Didn't those raise the arse end of the wagon if I can remember rightly?
Looking at your wagon last time so you will be on constant theory of going up hill.
Rich
I feel pretty confident as others are running similar wheel and tire combinations. In an earlier post on bam's cnote thread I believe he states he was running 205/50R15 tires on his fat fives with no rubs or scrubs. The195/70R14 is narrower by 10mm but taller overall by 1.6" and only half of that, .8" or .9", is above the axle / inside the fender.
Also, I'm seeing a price of $51 for a 195/70R14. Which I like.
Apparently you've got to have pins on both ends to fit into the connectors.
Thumbnail diagram
Connector
Slow and steady. I only got one and a half things done yesterday. Need to research EACV plugs.