I have a 1980 right hand drive automatic rx7. I am in the process of swapping it with a 82 12a motor. I am also changing it over to a 5 speed. Do i have to change the wiring harness and the gold box under the dash. Thanks in advance.

 

Nice triple post.....

 

my computer was froze up and i kept pressing return. You have any useful info?

 

Not on this, sorry. But I know that there are people here who know these kinds of details. The ignition changed from external ignitors to intergrated with the distributor, but I've never looked at the main wiring harness. And I've never seen a gold box under my dash. Hope you get your answer soon. Where did you get a RHD ?

 

i bought it off a guy who imported it over here to the states years ago. It just sat in his yard and I bought a few months ago. I got it for $400.00. I towed it home, cleaned the carb, installed a battery, etc. fired right up. Its my new baby. I cant wait to finish it up.

 

That's farking sweet. I drove some RHD's while I was in Australia, but they were all automatics. I think the 2-3 and the 4-5 shift would feel awkward, oh that and being on the wrong side of the road for here. Haha, thinking about it, I'd get my passengers to hang out the window and try to communicate with the drivers behind while a corner was approaching. I'd like to see theor faces, lol.

 

all that you should have to do for wiring is put your 80 engine harness on the 82 motor.
if you are refering to the smog controller (as the gold box under the dash), then you donot need to change that

 

You do if you want to keep it smog compliant. '80 emissions system is completely different from '82. You "can" put the '80 wiring harness on the '82 engine (I've done this) but you can not retain the '80 emissions system because the air injection ports in the engine are in different places.

If you want to be smog compliant, you need to spend long hours with wiring diagrams and put in everything from the '82.

 

so all you are saying i have to do is plug in the wiring harness from the 82 motor right into the firewall harness and its done? i hope it is that easy

 

NO! Not that easy.

 

no.. i tried that, mixing a 79 and 80 harness, and came up with a **** load of problems.. you need to make sure that they match.

 

i am not too familar with wiring on the rx7 1st gens. What harnesses do i change? I am putting a motor out of an 82 with a holley carb and rb header. So there isnt much wiring involved in that dept. Can i just plug the harness into the harness that leads to the inside of the car?

 

take the harness that is on the current motor in the 80 and put that on the motor that you are swaping in.. then plug that back into the harness that is in currently in the engine bay.

(all you need to do is make sure they match. either 80 to 80 or 82 to 82. swaping the main wiring harness is a bitch, so it would be easist to swap the engine bay one)

 

that won't work if it has to pass emissions though. i'd imagine emissions is a concern in san diego

there are two solutions. swap the entire wiring harness from the '82 into the '80, or find an '80 engine to swap into the car instead.

 

I already smogged the car. I am good for 2 years now. I got my bp 12a in there. I am using a holley carb from racing beat. I wired up my msd 6a's and blaster coils. I dont care about emissions for now. I just want to make sure i dont fry anything. My motor came with a wire harness and it has like 5 wires on it and thats it. Thats what my friend had to make it run. What wires should i get rid of that i dont need?