I would appreciate your, and anyone elses for that matter, thoughts here because you seem like a very knowledgable person concerning fbodys and the like. I am in the process of planning an engine swap this spring for my '87 Iroc(stock 350 tpi) and I was hopeing to throw you a few questions. I am considering the ramjet 350 as a swap canidate, but it wouldn't require the use of my stock ecm to control the engines functions, just like a carbed f-body would. If I am not mistaken, you took the ecm out of your thirdgen and are now running a carb.
I was just wondering what electrical obsticles you had to over come when doing this. I figure I will need a TC lock-up switch, and a method for turning on my electric fans; which shoulldn't be too tuff to pull off. The ramjet ecm comes with a relay for a hp fuel pump so that won't be a problem, and my cruise dosen't work, so I am not worried about that. What else am I forgeting? Would I just be able to pull the ecm and harness out completely or are there some parts attached that would be required to stay even without an ecm? Any info you think I might need to pull this off would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again and keep up the informative posts at thirdgen.org!
Dan Remondino

 

Yes I removed the ECM and entire harness. It can all come out.
It sounds like you already know everything you need to take care of with the electrical accessories.
I had the shop that built my tranny put a pressure switch in it so that the lockup solenoid only gets 12v when a certain fluid pressure is reached. Then I just supply 12v (ignition switched) to the purple/black wire going into the tranny and it will take care of itsself.
You will need to use an ignition-switched 12v source and a relay to power whatever fuel pump you want to use.
You can get a thermostatic switch for controlling electric fans from AutoZone, and just use a relay for each fan.
I'm not really familiar with the EFI system that the ramjet uses or a requirement for a certain distributor, but I would probably run a non-CC distributor like the billet MSD that I run now.

Other than that I would move all fusable links that went to the starter up to the positive post of the battery. This is a very good move for improved reliability and accessability of your power sources. I only have one wire (the large positive cable) going to my starter because I use a F*rd starter relay.
You would probably also want to bypass the starter-kill feature that is built into automatic shifters and some manuals. As long as you have the center console out for access to the wires going to the tranny you may want to eliminate the extra wires except for maybe the reverse light switch in the shifter.
I always use externally regulated alternators. Controlling the alternator (via cutout switch) is very simple this way since you only need to supply a switched-ignition 12v source to the regulator.
The rest of the wiring like guages & lights generally doesn't get affected by a swap like you're doing. Don't worry about that stuff, just jump into it and things will get worked out.

[This message has been edited by The ODB (edited March 29, 2001).]

 

thanks ODB, your the man!