Words of wisdom? I know it'll fit - bolt in wise, but what about HVAC, steering column and lastly wiring?

 

Nobody has done this? Guess I'll be the first then LOL

 

I have, but i used everything from the donor 85. It really is a labor of love expect to sink hours into it. The hvac is actuated differently iirc, so it was simpler to just swap the newer bits in. The support bar was different as well.

Isaac

 

I figured the blower box was different. What about the steering column? I know the combo switch and column covers are different. How's the harnesses? Whats the major difference with the wiring? I know it's not a plug and play deal. Did you swap the floor wires to the rear too?

 

steering columns all bolt up the same iirc, i used the 85 combo switch to go with most of the 85 front harness. I can remember de-pinning several of the big connectors to move wires. If you used the entire donor harness (engine/front/mid) it would be almost plug and play. I think the connection to the rear harness was the same, or at least close enough to mod.

Isaac

 

Not sure but I have a nice 85 grey dash you can have for free if you want it!

 

Thanks cam. I got a grey dash a while back for cheap. I do need a lot of other plastic bits. Got anything like that?

I'm getting ready to swap the dash. Pulled the 83 dash and I found out where the water had came in its got a hole in the cowl pan. If I'd know how bad rusted this car was id found something better to start with but now I'm in it, it's too late. It'll be like old times. Lol welcome to the chop shop. But I got a plasma cutter, welder, steel etc. picked up weld sealer and some rust spray stuff.

Getting back to dash, be REAL nice if the 83 diagrams had the what that wire does thing like the 85 diagram does. But looks like the wires are all the same colors. I'll take some pictures when I get going with it.

 

you will need an ENTIRE wiring harness form an 84-85 to do the swap correctly. do not short change yourself by attempting the swap without the proper harness. the center hvac box is needed from the S3 as well as the later N231 emissions control unit. other than that you should be alright

 

The combination meter is wired and fully functional. Complete harness was not an option. It was cut up. Someone pulled the steering column and cut through everything... The dash harness is intact and not cut. That would be required but no need for everything else. The 85 diagram is really nice with the pin outs for X-05 and X-06 connector, but the 83 harness doesn't have the description for the wires. I do have my notes where I labeled the wires on the diagram. 99% of the wires are the same color. Only real difference between the 83 cluster and the 85 is the pinout, some wires are on the opposite connectors. The 83 also has a trigger for the chime which the 85 doesn't have, it also has a 12V batt wire that the 85 doesn't need (cause of the chime I assume). The 83 harness also has 2 tach wires for some reason? Not quite sure why. The 83 also has the speed sensor wire, and the low wiper fluid wire too (for our Canadian buddies I assume). So for this is a real easy swap. The center blower box with the heater core is the same. The cables even work. The evaporator housing is also the same, with one easy exception It has two frost sensors. Easy add there, just swap the harness and add the sensor. The only different HVAC part is the one with the blower motor, It has a servo for the AC recirculate when the 83 uses the 3rd cable.. The 2 front harness connectors to the IP wire connectors are different. I have the hacked off ends from the 85 which will make it a lot easier...

This is a real easy swap. Everything bolts up the same.. Just make sure to get the trans tunnel bracket, its different. The 85 dash uses two 10mm bolts on each side rather than 1. I have a few pictures if I can figure how to get them off my Iphone... About 2 hours in the swap so far. Would have finished it but Im waiting for the primer to dry, I got a pretty bad rust hole in the left side of the cowl pan.

No need for the POS ECU. This car has no emission parts... Its got a POS Weber 45 DCOE. Carb runs like ****, way rich but thats another battle. I added one wire tho, I added a wire for the low fuel light. Everything else is there.

 

I attempted this once before also with an 83. I had set the dash in but realized there were either no holes or the holes were not the same for the large dash vents on the end of the dash. It would have required cutting the cowl to get the fresh air holes that came stock on the 84-5.

I also remember that there was not large round access hole through the firewall (passenger side) for the computer harness - that was going to be cut out also. thats about as far as I looked into it. Hope it helps.

 

I knew the engine wire harness goes through the passenger side on 84/85. Not important, not using the stock ecu or any engine wire harness. I'll have to check into these air vents you speak of. I have cowl cut anyway for rust issues and the stove pipe looking thing going into the blower box on the pass side was also rotten! I had to fabricate a new one from scratch. I ended there last night I'm waiting for the sealer to dry.

 

Ok the 84/85 does have a different cowl panel under the windshield. Screw the fresh air vent. I ain't cutting the cowl. The 3 top dash bolts are in different locations. The 2 brackets that the air vent from the 83 have to be cut off or bent down the dash hits them but it's installed. Now got to wire it up. Anybody got a spare 81-83 dash harness. I just need the 2 connectors that connect the front harness to the IP?

 

If no one wants it, I could use it. I've got the pimp red interior I hate but I've bought all of the gray pieces except for the dash.

Where are you located, I'm in the Sacramento area.
Thank you,

 

This swap is done. Pretty easy and straight forward. I stop posting cause no one seemed to give a ****. Anyways it's done. I got to pull the dash to clean and paint it.

 

Bet it looks good. I like the 84-85 dash way better. Kinda off topic, but while doing it did u notice any real difference between the clusters as gar as wiring. I've been thinking about finding an older model cluster with the centrally mounted tach but if it won't plug right in I can live with the one I have.

 

Bummer. I really dislike the Series 3 dash and have a '79 dash that I want to put into the car. (Yes, I know about the shifter issues, I have a fix for that) Be interesting to see exactly what the differences are.

 

The wiring is completely different on the cluster. Plugs the same but different.

 

Digging this up for ray green

 

Thanks Mike, I don't know how I missed this one but it is straight to the point and very helpful.

After a weekend seeing how to build a 12A, my plans are quickly changing, turns out I'm going to fix up both the 83 and 84 cars since I have everything I need for both projects as long as I keep the original dashes. So the 83 will stay as is for now, but I thank you and others for the details and helping me think it through.