Looking for advice, I have an 88 2.8 camaro manual with vats that has alot of sentimental value and a very solid body but needs a block and wiring due to a fire. I also have an 88 2.8l non vats firebird automatic. It runs but has a crappy body. I want to bring the camaro back but I'm unsure what modifications will need to be done to the wiring and I don't know which ecm to use since i want to keep the 5speed. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Remove engine with wiring from the Camaro

Remove the engine & wiring from the Firebird

Install the Firebird Engine & Wiring in the Camaro

Cut the BLUE and the GREEN wires at the auto Shifter 'PARK NEUTRAL' switch. Add wire and splice to the BLUE and GREEN wires leading to the T5 reverse switch. ( I usually run the 2 wires through the shifter hole in the floor under the floor boot,..... could run them thru the firewall too. )

** The Firebird ENGINE harness will have 2 wires for the electric VSS are that are no longer needed. You'll need to retain the original speedo cable. There MIGHT be some slight changes to a plug or 2 on the engine wiring harnesses from Camaro-to-Firebird,.. but your working with 2 1988 cars with the same engine and changes should be very minimal.

You really shouldn't need to deal with the ECM. You can simply swap the ECMs or swap the T5 chip to the auto ECM.

Don't think VATs will be an issue because it's all located in the cockpit and all that original 88 Camaro wiring will remain,... just the ENGINE wiring should be swapped if that's where the damage its. If there is a VATS discrepancy it would be easy to overcome.

 

great info, I appreciate you taking the time to reply Outside of the engine harness I do need to swap the hvac wiring and the outer ac box (correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure those harnesses are identical, just alot of effort taking the dashes apart) one thing I did notice was the cruise control systems are a little different, ik she will run without cruise but would like it to work. The Firebird has an extra plug that the camaro doesn't on the Lil ufo diaphragm thing and they're mounted differently any ideas on that?

 

You should not need to remove the dash housings, interior fire-wall HVAC box, or anything really - from your interior. UNLESS the interior wiring harness was your problem. I was ASSUMING the wire-fire problem in the Camaro was an under-hood ENGINE harness problem.

The difference in Cruise systems is most likely just mounting. IIRC it's almost a 90 degree mount on the Camaro,.. but kinda' on the inner fender well on the firebird ?

Where was your Wire-Fire ??

 

Well to be clear the wiring caught on fire due to reasons other than an actual electrical fire, all my problems are in the engine bay but im pretty sure the dash has to come out to get the hvac harness which is burnned at the fire wall in the engine bay and to release the ac box because they have bolt the go in em from both sides. Any way here goes story time, flash back bout 10 years. I was just getting into working on my cars outside of brakes n front end stuff, had just swapped the 2.8 block for the 3.4l, had everything running and was at the stage of adjusting valve lash when tragedy struck. After making some adjustments I bumped my ratchet off the block n I heard it hit the ground. I dropped tools a million times n never hurt anything. So I get in the car and crank it over only to be surprised by an extreme miss and an instant fire. Apparently when I dropped the ratchet it broke the spark plug cable on cly 6, the exhaust wasn't attached yet because I still had to install the transmission. Anyway, cly 6 Apparently belched gas which instantly ignited, burning up the center portion of my engine harness, distributor, the engine compartment side of the hvac harness and damaging the lower half of the ac box in the engine compartment.

 

You should be able to leave the dash in and still get the HVAC harness removed/replaced. Your going to swapping engines,.... I recommend removing & installing the engine/tranny while mated together & I fully advise you to remove the engine firewall side HVAC box before removing the engine. This will allow you a LOT more access to everything and will also expose the 10mm "anchor" that holds the internal firewall HVAC box in place. You should be able to snake the HVAC harness thru the firewall at this point,....... if you need a little more room just loosen the "anchor" 10mm and move the Interior HVAC box enough to allow the clearance you need. The HVAC harness is a tight fit, but you shouldn't need to remove the whole dash to get it out.

Good luck !

 

got that harness out, u were right the dash ddnt need to come out. Was worried about getting the pigtails tangled In the vacuum lines n stero wires. But I got alot more confident once I got the blower box out of the engine bay. N I can tell it's gonna help alot pulling this engine. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to do the engine and transmission separately because I just don't have space or means, I'm doing this all in a gravel driveway so just using the hoist with just an engine is risky enough lol. Thanks for all ur help. If anything else comes up wiring wise ill probably drop it here.