Does anyone know if the intake from an 88 will fit the block of an 89? Also is an automatic transmission in an 88 tied into the ECU for anything more than a neutral switch or something else that can't be easily jumped?

I have an excellent 89 body and short block with a manual transmission but gremlins, and a wrecked 88 with a strong motor but an automatic. I am trying to make one running car.

 

Lots of auto to manual swaps. If you'll search the "2nd gen archive" and "section gen" for "auto swap" or similar you should see it.

 

Well I found that the ECU's were swappable, so the wiring harness must also be.

Will the intake from an 88 fit an 89 block?

 

The intake will "fit". but Im not sure if the 89ECU will be ok with the 88 intake. The 89+ cars had a VDI intake, which worked better with the higher-revving 89 engine, with higher compression rotors. If it did work, youll probably have less HP then with the 89 intake. But the TPS and all that junk is different on the 89+ cars, and I doublt if it will run fine with the 88 intake and TPS and stuff on it. I've never done it though, or heard of it done, im just kinda speculating what I think. Anyone else wanna back me up?

 

you must use an 89 intake its ok to use an 88 but you will feel a terrible difference for the worse you defenitely cannot use the 88 tps or the 88 throttlebody just get another 89 intake

 

Thanks for the responses. What I am looking at doing is stripping the 89 intake, wiring harness, and ECU from the car and replacing it with the parts from the 88.

Does this sound like a feasible plan?

 

Except that it is illegal to swap backwards in years because of emission reasons (even though the 88 engine and ECU and cats are cleaner burning than the 89).

So if your gonna break the law anyway, IMO, you are better off using all the 89 stuff, including the front cover, so you can use the electric OMP and 89 intake on the 88 block. That way other than compression you are almost the same as to HP and efficency.

 

You will also need find a 88 manual flywheel to use, if you use the 88 block as the counter weights are different.