ok so im pretty sure my timing is retatered as all hell..... so i know you have to disconnect a brown wire (the timing advance i think) but my question is..... since the 2.8 is in my rx7... and things arnt always where there supposed to be. where is this little connector? where does it plug into the distributor at? im sure all of you know.... i was searching threads and everyone said it was on yalls pass. side fender. well its obviously not like that on mine. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

can you get pictures of how your wire harness is in your car?

Or would it help if we provided pics of what the plug looks like?

 

i could try but, it would be really hard to tell where things are, the rx7 wiring+ the 2.8's wiring= very confusing and alot of wiring.

 

Understand.

As for the little connector your looking for, it wont be NEAR the dizzy. And I'm guessing they didnt hack that harness so far that its completely in a different spot. Look over in the right rear of the engine bay, its a brown wire with IIRC a black or white stripe. The actual plug looks very similar to that of the o2 sensor. Mine is black, and all that I have seen are black.

 

Wow, interesting question! I'd like to see a picture of this swap, too.

But- on the f-bodies, there was a pass-thru that allowed the wires to go from the engine compartment, thru the passenger-side's lower inner wheelwell, into the passenger compartment.

That passthru looks like a thick, square piece of plastic. It's not a connector, just a square of plastic with some sealant, with the thick bundle of wires going thru the middle of it.

SO- if you can find the passthru piece, go "backwards" about 2 feet along the harness towards the engine. Poke in the wire loom in that area; you should be able to find that one-wire connector with the tan/black wire.

If not, the wire plugs into the distributor- so you could always trace it backwards to find the connector. The wire will be in the 4-wire connector from the distributor's ignition module.

It's very possible that during the swap, the connector was removed! I worked on an '88 Camaro that had a hacked up wiring harness- and the EST timing connector was missing. I figured the previous owner had removed it for some reason and just spliced the wires together (maybe the connector shattered so they just soldered the wires together?). It wasn't my car so I didn't bother too much with it... but you could always make your own connector; places like Advance Auto and Pep Boys and etc will usually sell the GM weatherpack connectors. Or you could try getting one from a junkyard and splicing it in.

 

Well TomP, if you want to see the only pic i have of it.... search my name and look up the thread 3.1 V6, there is an attachment on it. as far as the car....... im selling it, to much to hassle with, i adjusted the timing it was way retarded, but i couldnt get it to advance past 12 degrees, isnt the timing stock supposed to be at 13? i dont know. if anyone wants an 87 rx7 with a 2.8 in it near houston tx, let me know.

 

Wow, that's cool! I like how they put an idler pulley in there to keep the mazda a/c going. But the water pump pulley is missing? Did they hook up a remote pump?

And yeah the computer will really mess with the timing when the EST connector's hooked up, it retards it when it idles and advances it based on RPM- so you might've thrown the timing way off for the car's "high speed" power.

Like I said if you can't find the stock connector, you might just want to cut that wire and make your own with a GM weatherpack setup... or an insulated male/female quick-disconnect pair... or chewing gum and wire strippers... Just make sure the connection's TIGHT and water can't get in it.

 

Stock timing is 10 with the EST disconnected