Caboobaroo Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 Welp, I've begun the swap from my 4EAT to my newly aquired RX tranny (FT 4wd d/r 5-speed) in my RX. Why they put an automatic in the RX's in '89 is beyond me. Anyways, the 4EAT has been out of the car for a few weeks and so its been sitting empty with no motor and tranny for about a month now. So since I'm not tired today (I work nights) and its not cold outside, I decided to put my nice tranny in my RX. Well I got the tranny in and bolted up the crossmember, driveshaft, and the shift linkage in about 2 1/2 hours. Yes for some that seems like awhile for a tranny swap but hey, its my first time doing this swap for one and I'm working by myself as well. I even got my B&M shift handle on the shifter too! When I'm completly done with the whole swap, I'll do a detailed write-up for the USRM. Oh buddy, I'm getting excited!! I think this might deserve the I'm hoping to have the parts I need to put my motor back together here real soon so then I can get it back in and running, then the 5-lug conversion, and then some more aftermarket mods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 With the warm up here in Michigan i got the engine out of the 88, it looks like it was the rear main that is letting the oil go, not the O-ring, it all looks good but it could be the blowby past the rings forcing the oil out of what looks like a good seal. BTW congrats on the swap, its always nice to just wrench for a few hours some times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky_pete Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Cool, I'm planning this swap for my turbo wagon. I'll be looking forward to your writeup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 Write up: get manual tranny.. everything from the flywheel to the rear diff Get center console, shift linkage, pedal box and appropriate cables. Bolt in Bypass neutral safety switch Drive Yes, that really is about it.. unless you need stuff like reverse lights or 4wd indicator *shrug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 13, 2005 Author Share Posted February 13, 2005 well I was thinking a little more in dept like pulling the automatic and the TCU/harness/shifter. Also what parts would be needed for the swap as well so then some of the newbies planning on doing a swap into an automatic car that has a bad auto tranny... just make it easier on them and us so then they're not asking the same repetitive questions... I still have to swap in the cluster from the manual car as well but I'll probably do that here in a couple days. Oh and just a couple questions for those who have done it *cough* Caleb *cough* 1. Where is the TCU located? How hard is it to access it and pull it with all of the harness? What's involved with pulling the harness? 2. You mention the neutral switch. Is this connected to the ECM somehow? is there a nicer way then to jumper it shut or is that how its done on the manual cars? 3. How hard is it to pull the pedal cluster? I haven't looked yet on either my manual parts car or my RX but I heard from someone it was a pain in the butt. 4. Diff lock wiring... I'm getting the console and the switch with the wiring I hope but is it an easy plug-n-play action or is it a pain in the butt as well? What about reverse lights like you mentioned and the "4WD" and "LOW" lights? The cluster is from a manual RX.... Thanks for the help guys, I hope to have the swap done soon and hopefully the motor back together in this decade:rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted February 13, 2005 Share Posted February 13, 2005 I still have to swap in the cluster from the manual car as well but I'll probably do that here in a couple days. Oh and just a couple questions for those who have done it *cough* Caleb *cough* 1. Where is the TCU located? How hard is it to access it and pull it with all of the harness? What's involved with pulling the harness? 2. You mention the neutral switch. Is this connected to the ECM somehow? is there a nicer way then to jumper it shut or is that how its done on the manual cars? 3. How hard is it to pull the pedal cluster? I haven't looked yet on either my manual parts car or my RX but I heard from someone it was a pain in the butt. 4. Diff lock wiring... I'm getting the console and the switch with the wiring I hope but is it an easy plug-n-play action or is it a pain in the butt as well? What about reverse lights like you mentioned and the "4WD" and "LOW" lights? The cluster is from a manual RX.... Thanks for the help guys, I hope to have the swap done soon and hopefully the motor back together in this decade:rolleyes: 0 - Cluster swap - Thats easy.. takes about 45 minutes if you're lazy and have never done it before (Like me). 20-25 if you're in a hurry and know where everything is (like the rest of the world) 1 - TCU - No idea. Never seen one 2 - Neutral safety switch. Not connected to the ECU. Its a simple on/off starter kill switch wired into the shifter. As far as a 'nicer way' to deal with it. I suppose you could bring it chocolates and tell it what a wonderful thing it is, but I'm betting a jumper will be more effective. 3 - Pedal cluster. Be prepared for this to be the hardest part of the swap. The easiest way to do this is to completely remove the steering column. Also, beware of the little bracket that sticks off to the side with TWO 10mm nuts on it. 4 - Dunno about your car, but my car didn't have any of the right wiring to make any of this stuff 'plug n play'. I never bothered with the 4wd/difflock indicator lights *shrug*.. I know when the difflock is engaged and thats all that matters.. there are 5 wires on the difflock switch. You only need 3 of them to make it work . One is power in, two are power out to the switching solenoids. As fas as the solenoids themselves, each has two wires. One wire is power from the switch, the other is a ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 0 - Cluster swap - Thats easy.. takes about 45 minutes if you're lazy and have never done it before (Like me). 20-25 if you're in a hurry and know where everything is (like the rest of the world) 1 - TCU - No idea. Never seen one 2 - Neutral safety switch. Not connected to the ECU. Its a simple on/off starter kill switch wired into the shifter. As far as a 'nicer way' to deal with it. I suppose you could bring it chocolates and tell it what a wonderful thing it is, but I'm betting a jumper will be more effective. 3 - Pedal cluster. Be prepared for this to be the hardest part of the swap. The easiest way to do this is to completely remove the steering column. Also, beware of the little bracket that sticks off to the side with TWO 10mm nuts on it. 4 - Dunno about your car, but my car didn't have any of the right wiring to make any of this stuff 'plug n play'. I never bothered with the 4wd/difflock indicator lights *shrug*.. I know when the difflock is engaged and thats all that matters.. there are 5 wires on the difflock switch. You only need 3 of them to make it work . One is power in, two are power out to the switching solenoids. As fas as the solenoids themselves, each has two wires. One wire is power from the switch, the other is a ground. Well I've pulled the cluster before but I was too tired to do it yesterday so I'll probably do it today before I go to bed I need to find the TCU... Hmm.... I got some flowers I guess I could give to my neutral saftey switch instead of give them to my g/f, THAT would go over real well:rolleyes: I'm planning on speding some time putting the pedal cluster in but I wasn't sure how hard it was to do so since the gen 1's seem pretty easy. Does anyone have a wiring diagram of the difflock/reverse lights/4wd indicators? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 I might be able to help, I have some of the FSM wiring diagrams scanned. 4EAT FTAWD and 5 speed FTAWD tranny connections. I just did them for Scrapdaddytatum. He may be able to help as he just did this conversion but it was to an 89 GL-10 4EAT Email me if you want copies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky_pete Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 It's the pedal swap that concerns me the most about my swap. I've done lots of auto swaps before but I've never swapped an auto for a stick before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 14, 2005 Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 Ok SO, I just installed my instument cluster into my car BUT I ran into a problem. Here's the deal, the cluster is from a 87.5 RX I think and my RX is an '89. On the top of the cluster on the front, there's two connections. On my '89 cluster, there's two 13 pin connectors whereas the '87.5 cluster has a 13 pic connector and a 7 pin connector. Why is this like this? Its the only thing holding me up on my cluster swap. If someone can direct me into the eyes of knowledge, I need it. I'm at a loss...... HELP!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted February 14, 2005 Share Posted February 14, 2005 Why is this like this? The 4EAT has connections to the speedo for the VSS The shift quardant pattern and possibly other lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted February 15, 2005 Author Share Posted February 15, 2005 so how do I hook it up now? Since I'm doing the complete swap, what will plug into that space. My guess is its for the "4wd" lights and the "LOW" light.... anything else it could be for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted February 16, 2005 Share Posted February 16, 2005 basic wiring... just look at both. power to lights, and sending unit wires is all it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Write up: get manual tranny.. everything from the flywheel to the rear diff Get center console, shift linkage, pedal box and appropriate cables. Bolt in Bypass neutral safety switch Drive Yes, that really is about it.. unless you need stuff like reverse lights or 4wd indicator *shrug* Thats what I did. It drives just fine down the road with out all those fancy wires plugged in. I plugged in what connectors directly plugged in; the rest are zip tied out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 well I was thinking a little more in dept like pulling the automatic and the TCU/harness/shifter. Also what parts would be needed for the swap as well so then some of the newbies planning on doing a swap into an automatic car that has a bad auto tranny... just make it easier on them and us so then they're not asking the same repetitive questions... I still have to swap in the cluster from the manual car as well but I'll probably do that here in a couple days. Oh and just a couple questions for those who have done it *cough* Caleb *cough* 1. Where is the TCU located? How hard is it to access it and pull it with all of the harness? What's involved with pulling the harness? 2. You mention the neutral switch. Is this connected to the ECM somehow? is there a nicer way then to jumper it shut or is that how its done on the manual cars? On the big connector, clip the white wire and black wire. These will be thicker wires than the rest on the plug. Connect them together. 3. How hard is it to pull the pedal cluster? I haven't looked yet on either my manual parts car or my RX but I heard from someone it was a pain in the butt. Like its been said, pull the steering column. 4. Diff lock wiring... I'm getting the console and the switch with the wiring I hope but is it an easy plug-n-play action or is it a pain in the butt as well? What about reverse lights like you mentioned and the "4WD" and "LOW" lights? The cluster is from a manual RX.... Reverse lights are for pansies. How often do you back up around cops? Good luck on wiring in the cluster from the manual RX. Thanks for the help guys, I hope to have the swap done soon and hopefully the motor back together in this decade:rolleyes: Bam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flowmastered87GL Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 If you cant get the reverse lights to work anyway... hook em up to an extra factory fog light switch or something... then you can mess with people... flick on the lights and take off in 1st gear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 If you cant get the reverse lights to work anyway... hook em up to an extra factory fog light switch or something... then you can mess with people... flick on the lights and take off in 1st gear Oooooo!!! Your mean! I'd never thought of doing something like that! I like mucho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky_pete Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Does anyone know if the pedals from an ea81 car are interchangeable with an ea82? It would save me some junkyard scrounging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted February 17, 2005 Share Posted February 17, 2005 Does anyone know if the pedals from an ea81 car are interchangeable with an ea82? It would save me some junkyard scrounging. Don't think so, but I have been wrong before.. I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathHatch Posted February 18, 2005 Share Posted February 18, 2005 ok my buddy wants my 5spd d/r cuz hes buying a hatch and its an auto. now i have never done something liek this what is the major things i should look at?? about how hard is it and how many days would it take...? and is their a write up some where i cant find it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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