noob needs clarification.

hschwartz3 · Post by **hschwartz3** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:14 pm

Hi guys, been lurking around the site on and off for @ 6 months. I've been trying to put together a recipe for a 4G63/4 drag car project using my 87 conquest parts car. I'm alittle confused on the whole 1G factory ecu + dsmlink versus standalone topic. One question I have is, if I go with a standalone (most likely), do i still need a 1G turbo wiring harness? FWIW, My parts car still has its original un-molested wiring harness intact.

The next question is striclty opinion, but I wonder what you guys would suggest for standalone ecu's. I read some older threads pertaining to similar topics, but they were dated. Didn't know if the answers would still be the same.

In your opinion, what would be the easiest route? Factory ECU or standalone (remember, drag race project). I understand I need to get the car running before I can race it, but i also don't want to have to keep re-doing the same things.

I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions, but i'll just start with these first.

thanks for the help.

hschwartz3 · Post by **hschwartz3** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:25 pm

Wow that was fast, do you think i'll still have to use a 1G harness. The ones I've come across in yards are hacked up.

thanks again

Dave99gst · Post by **Dave99gst** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 4:30 pm

I could think you at least need the proper conntectors for your Injestors,CAS,what ever air meter you use,what ever throttle body you use,Spark solution. If all that adds up to all stock 1g parts then it would seem like the easyest would be to start with a stock engine harness.

hschwartz3 · Post by **hschwartz3** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:40 pm

That's pretty much what I was thinking but wasn't certain. I was also unsure how the standalone units came wired, whether or not they came with those connectors supplied.. I'll go ahead and keep it on the shopping list of things to get.

thanks again.

Professor Quest · Post by **Professor Quest** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:48 pm

Most of those aftermarket "standalones" are suppiled with a harness.

I removed the 87 Conquest ECU & the ENTIRE harness....unhacked & boxed it. This didn't take but about 30 minutes to do.

That factory harness is only about 3/4" in diameter. The OEM connectors
are pretty large....and so are the OPENINGS in the sheetmetal = HUGE GROMMETS.

If *I* was doing what you are doing...I'd hunt down a NON-HACKED Eclipse, or what ever car I wanted parts from, *IF* I wanted that system.

But...you have a DIAGRAM...a MAP that explains what each wire COLOR does. Soooo, you can cut off the ECU connectors and replace with the aftermaket connectors....and add-in a couple more wires cause your running more injectors.....WHILE YOU HAVE THE OEM HARNESS OUT OF THE CAR.

Now re-install it.

Btw...a Starquest ECU harness comes out from the engine-side pretty easily.
Passanger side.
No...you DO NOT need to remove the fenders on a Starquest.

89coltgt · Post by **89coltgt** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 7:41 pm

You will need to run a 1g harness if you want to run factory ecu/dsmlink, you can also run aem ems with the factory harness.

hschwartz3 · Post by **hschwartz3** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:16 pm

I wound up getting a complete harness with a 4g63T motor I picked up a couple weeks ago. I just signed up for a photobucket account earlier this morning and was gonna try to get some pictures posted later this evening

The bad news is the harness and motor is a 1990 model. Someone had already snagged the coil pack so i'm just gonna go ahead and rewire the harness for the 1991 and up using instructions from this site http://www.ecanfix.com/users/mdhamilton ... rsion.html

I hope i'm not making more trouble for myself. I guess i'll have to wait and see.

Matt, I was considering using a megasquirt system, so i may need your help before long.

jeffball610 · Post by **jeffball610** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:06 pm

Wiring seems like a lot of trouble to most people. I'm going through a similar situation as you, except I'm using a 91+ wiring harness w/ components and 90 ECU. On top of that my ECU is an 89 1.6L Turbo. Good thing it's an EPROM so I can socket it and run DSMLink or custom tuned maps.

You might think you're doing the work twice by running the factory ECU then swapping to a stand alone, but it's a natural progression if you haven't played with the DSM ECU before. My suggestion would be to run the factory wiring harness and ECU until you get everything sorted. You can eliminate some possible issues later by starting with the factory setup. You'll be eliminating enough wires as it is to simplify installation, that trying to further simplify it for a stand alone or adding components for the stand alone will actually complicate things. (did that make sense?)

You gotta start somewhere. You can likely pick up or borrow a non EPROM ECU really cheap. Try that before you go with Megasquirt or any stand alone. Don't complicate things until you understand what everything does and how to modify it later.

hschwartz3 · Post by **hschwartz3** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:27 pm

You gotta start somewhere. You can likely pick up or borrow a non EPROM ECU really cheap. Try that before you go with Megasquirt or any stand alone. Don't complicate things until you understand what everything does and how to modify it later.

You got it Jeff. I had come to that conclusion as well since my original post.
I couldn't agree more.