Swapping from Lean Burn to the Mopar Electronic Ignition....

Mikes5thAve

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2020
Messages
1,375
Reaction score
539
Location
Canada
Ahh, but that depends which '80's car you've got and which one you can start off with.

Case in point: my '80 LeBaron coupe parts car was a non-LB vehicle, pure and simple ECU. That made for a perfect 'donor' because the remainder of the engine bay harness was literally a plug-in (not quite PnP, but close enough) to my '80 Diplomat coupe harness.

The '81 Diplomat coupe I have in my garage is a /6 car and that's an ECU car as well, albeit the wiring is a little different, so not quite as simple as a V8 to V8 swap.

I do agree though that the later '80's cars, perhaps as early as '82 and onwards, are probably much more of a challenge!

Yeah but those 80/81s that for some reason didn't have the computer aren't that common to find to get parts from.

I don't know when the engine plug changed but when I did my 360 swap I wired in the computer because I had all those parts and nothing for the ignition conversion and the engine harness plug was different between the two cars and I had to splice in the ballast resistor that computer used. The plus is half the wiring was already done because of that when I finally did do the ignition conversion.
 

M_Body_Coupe

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2013
Messages
621
Reaction score
293
Location
Windsor, ON, Canada
Here are a few more FSM (1980) page scans I had previously saved up, given that one never knows when the Ignition system will require some troubleshooting! lol

ECU_Ignition_Troubleshooting_P1.jpg


ECU_Ignition_Troubleshooting_P2.jpg


ECU_Ignition_Troubleshooting_P3.jpg
 

Lightning II

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2020
Messages
183
Reaction score
80
Location
Augusta, GA
Well, the rewiring part is done. The battery is on a charger now, so after I swap the distributor and put the battery back in, we'll see if it fires up tomorrow.

Also, since I didn't have a lighter at the time, I got creative with the Starter Relay Bypass Wire's heat shrink. XD

dip engine bay rewire done.jpg

heat shrink solution.jpg
 

Lightning II

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2020
Messages
183
Reaction score
80
Location
Augusta, GA
new Distributor is officially in!

now I'm just making some bypass wires for the sensors now that the Lean Burn is out.

Oil pressure light, water temp. etc.

41BFCABB-13BB-4F7F-A49F-87F364578FDA.jpeg
4EDFD44B-11CE-4EB5-B7DA-1A33E52711F5.jpeg
 
Back
Top