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Old 09-24-2014, 02:46 AM   #6 (permalink)
Astro
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Join Date: Nov 2013
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I am converting a entirely different car but similar era, mines a 94 Holden Barina.
I found that pretty much all of the fuel injection and engine management wiring just went directly back to the computer and was very easy to remove.
Very early fuel injection setups were just slapped on on top an existing models wiring. So when you remove it you may just have some very basic wiring to deal with. That's what happened with mine.
After removing the computer and engine loom pretty much all that was left was oil pressure, temperature sensor and starter motor energise. The only connection between the computer and the other non engine systems was a single connection from the air conditioning relays which i believe was a signal for the computer to increase the rpm of the engine to compensate for when the a/c compressor clutch engaged.
Newer models went on to integrate the computer into more and more systems making it more difficult to remove.

The first car i stripped i removed everything off of the motor leaving just the block, pistons and crankshaft. Even though it was a tiny 4 cylinder motor it was enormously heavy to lift manually. Probably around 60 kilos. Very difficult to lift that sort of weight out of the engine bay and doing a dignified drop out through the bottom seemed like it would have been just as difficult.
This time i am going to use an engine crane, i am just waiting for it to become available. i am borrowing it from a friend. It will also save me time as i don't have to strip as much off of the engine this time.

When you get to removing the air conditioning from the motor i would try and keep it intact. I just unmounted it from the motor and cable tied it to the front cross member. So now i have the option of adapting it to run off of a pulley on the rear shaft of the drive motor or replacing it with an electric compressor from a scrapped hybrid.

Another suggestion is that while the ICE motor is still in place get some reference measurements for the gearboxes current position so that you can get it in the same spot with the electric drive motor. That way all the alignments of the drive shafts will be the same.
Some cars don't have much clearance and if the gearbox ends up much higher up or lower down in the engine bay then you may have clearance issues when the suspension is at full travel.

When i removed the fuel tank i just disconnected the fuel lines in the engine bay and stuck the ends into a fuel can.and then energised the electric fuel pump and allowed it to pump out 99% of the fuel. Makes the job much easier. There will still be some fuel in the fuel lines so don't be under them when you disconnect them at the tank.

Let me know if you want any more suggestions. I am only a little bit further along in the build process than yourself so all the mistakes are fresh in my mind.
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