Ok, I've posted several questions on this board about my TBI to TPI swap, and appreciate the help I've been given. But I'm afraid I really need it more than ever now. Last night, my friend who is a Lexus tech helped me turn my engine by using a remote starter. We figured out that it wasn't grounded correctly, so once we grounded the block to the frame, the remote starter worked and the engine began to crank. The fuel pump wasn't running, so we decided to shut it off before it tried to fire. So the remote starter was unhooked, the keys were out, but the engine kept trying to turn over!!! WTF??!! The three of us there panicked as wires began to glow red and the engine bay began to smoke. Finally, a few of the wires became so hot that they caught fire and burned in half!!
After using the fire extinguisher and unhooking the ground, cleaning the sulfur off of my fenders, I was about to push the car off of a cliff (and still am!). I have had so much trouble with this swap, and am anxious to get it done. Here are the specs:
The TPI is an 87 MAF system that I bought on the classifieds here. It came with a wiring harness which appears to be GM.
My car is a 91 RS. I left a lot of the old wiring on during the swap, as it had leads that I needed that didn't come on the TPI harness (alternator, etc.).
My friend thinks that this is the problem-- that the old and new wiring harnesses crossed somewhere and lead to a short. So what's the solution? Should I just gut the entire wiring system from the ECM back, and buy an aftermarket wiring harness? If so, which should I get? Any other suggestions? Please help me out. I know a lot of you guys have done this swap without so many headaches.

 

Check and see if your remote starter wire was touching both the trigger wire and the battery cable terminal on the starter.

I hooked up a remote starter once and when the engine cranked over the clips on the R/S fell down and touched both terminals. Did the same thing. I had to rip the R/S out to keep it from going up in smoke.

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ASE Mechanic/Machinist/Smog Tech

1999 NBM Trans Am
1986 Chevy 3/4 ton pick up
1981 corvette
1995 Kawi ZX6R

R.I.P. #3
My favorite quote about D.E. "He can see air"

 

C'mon guys. I know some of you have done this same swap. Please help me out. I'd like to work on it this weekend. DO I need a new harness? What else might be screwed up?

 

I'm just an ameture mechanic but I do have a background in electronics. If you've got two different wiring systems in your car they probably are crossed and conflicting somewhere. My advice is rip out all the old wiring and wire the whole thing for TPI. Get the harness and computer for the same year the TPI came from and just wire it like it was that car. Use a tester to double check all the wiring against the wiring diagram in the manual for the car the TPI came from.

 

I hate wiring so I'd rip the harness out and send it to Howell.

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'88 IROC TPI 355, '69 truck 4-bolt, fully balanced, 9.75:1 compression, fully ported '70 truck heads(for now), Harland Sharp 1.6 Roller Rockers, Comp Cams CS 252AH-12, ported '86 TPI converted to speed density, Crane AFPR, Flowmaster 3in. exhaust, Edelbrock TES headers, all emissions equipment is still intact, plan on burning my own chips, many more mods and parts on the way as time and money permits =(
Best E.T. with TBI 305: 16.11 @ 82mph
Haven't been to track with new motor
If you have any questions on converting from TBI to TPI email me at jdkchevy70@yahoo.com
In memory of Dale Earnhardt, I'll miss cheering for that black #3 on raceday!!!