upur86maro

Hi there,
I'm new to the whole third gen community, just bought my 4th chevy, but first camaro last month, and I have only had one other TBI truck before, and luckily I got rid of it before I had to dig into wiring issues.

I'm in need of some serious help... I just tore apart my DONOR 88 Camaro (pulled the 305 TBI & 700R4). I have hopes to swap the 88 305 into my 86 5 Speed car. I just got a WC T5 out of a 4th gen. I know I still need; T5 V8 bellhousing, clutch, flywheel, & pressure-plate. But my main question relates to the wiring aspect of the engine, as I have found many of the connections to be similar, however there are a few that have given me, plenty of doubts (alternator, and a few others). I do not need to pass emissions in my state anymore, so I planned on removing the smog pump and I do not need A/C so I was planning on removing that crap too...

So here are my main questions:

Do I HAVE to use the 88 wiring harness?

If not, how do I get around using my wiring harness?

If I do need the 88 harness, how do I perform an "A/C Delete"

and

How do I go about swapping the entire 88 harness (if needed)?

Also, if it is impactical to swap to a TBI, is it more worth it to swap to a Carbed setup? if so, how will my wiring change?

any advice, or shared experience is greatly appreciated. Thank you

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

No, but I sure would.

Be prepared for a lot of repinning and rewiring.

Don't put it in the '86. If you like, remove the wires that go to the AC from the harness. Or, leave them loose.

Unplug it from the '88, plug it into the '86.

A matter of taste and/or opinion. TBI will get better fuel economy. You would still need to do rewiring since you're going from V6 to V8, and that's pretty simple if you swap over all of the '88 stuff. Otherwise, it would be a an EFI to carb conversion, which is detailed in a tech article linked from the thirdgen.org homepage (also a Carburetor forum sticky).

I hope you realize all of the exhaust needs to be changed over. Or, better yet, completely replaced with aftermarket stuff (headers, cat-back, etc.).

In my opinion, it is easier to swap over the entire front K-member from the V8 car than to mess with the engine mount move. You don't even have to take the engine off of the K-member if you so choose.

upur86maro

five7kid. Thank you for your helpful advice. I got almost all of the parts for the swap and eventually had to end the build, due to lack of a bellhousing. I had no idea how hard it was to find a non-metric chevy bellhousing that would work for the t5! (15degree roll on the transmission). If I could give advice to anyone who wants to do this, its not worth it. I ended up buying a third camaro (V8 5spd), scrapping the first parts car, and selling the rolling shell of my 86. 3 camaros in 6 months!!!

Again, thank you for your helpful advice.