NA engine swap ? Will my 88 slide right into a 86 or 87 no prob?
 

I heard something about switching injectors, but for the most part will all the harnesses and everything match right up? I was also wondering if the ECU's would run the 88 ok. Im gonna get a 86 or 87 with a blown motor as soon as I can find a decent one.

Just use the 86 or 87 injectors that were in the car to begin with. But do send them out to be flowed and cleaned.

Im pretty sure that it will drop right in, and the ECUs are the same. The cooling systems will be slightly different, but that doesnt really have anything to do with it I guess.

What about putting an 87 base into an 88 GXL, do you have to use the 88 injectors or could I just use the 87 ones, since they have already been professionally cleaned, yes I took them out and had my uncle clean them he works on Diesles for a living and he owns his own shop so he cleaned and checked them for me.

It will work. You would have to swap out the Boost sensor, computer, idle air/fuel adjuster, and the fuel injector resistor box (i think thats what its called) behind the pass. headlight.

Use all these things from your 87 and you will be set.

So if I would just use the injectors from the 88, would I still have to change all that stuff, or would I need to because a lot of the stuff you mentioned look in a lot better condition in the 88, plus the 87 has twice as much miles, with that said maybe it would just be better to switch the injectors, as long as I do not have to switch these things.

You'd have to swap engine side wiring harness if you went with the 88 injectors. Not worth it, just swap to the 87 injectors. Good idea to send them out for cleaning while you're at it.

PaulC

Wait, your putting an engine from an 88 na into an 86-87 na?

Simple. When you pull the 88 NA motor, pull the wiring harness with it(as all engine swaps should be done). 5 plugs inside the pass. kick panel and it pulls out of the car with the engine...no need to take off a single bolt from that engine. This means it will start right up when it is reinstalled, no messing around with gaskets and wires...plug and play.

SO drop it in to your 86-87 car and plug it all up, You will now have no resistor and shit for the injectors..the car thinks it is an 88 now. The ecu are interchangeable form 86-88; you can run either n326 or n327.

Trust me; the easy way to do this is pull both engines with wiring...drop in the 88, plug it up, and drive away. You dont need to swap anything else, unless you just want extra headaches.

Well thanks for your reply, hypntyz7, but you kind of have it back wards, the engine in my 88GXL has a blown apex seal, bought it that way, and my 87 Base, runs nicely so I was just going to switch the engines, which I'm in the process of doing, but I was just making sure that this would be possible to do. I also don't mind switching the wire harness, becuase I have to take the Dynamic Chamber off anyways, becuase I'm gonna use the one from the 88, because it looks lot's better, and the linkage for the gas pedal, and cruise control is different, on my 87 it is a loop, where as the 88 isn't. I was wondering about the injectors becuase someone said that when you were switching engines from a different year, you would have to use the original injectors, which I might be better off doing since the 88 injectors only have 70k miles on them. So then the injectors for the 88 are different from the 87? I was just going to switch one of the injectors because one of the pintle caps on the injector was cracked by my uncle, while he was cleaning them.

SO why did you title the thread "will my 88 slide into an 86 or 87"?

This should be the same for all 86-88 NA's. Either somebody has tampered with it, or something odd. Not worth switching it out, but its your car...

This is right, but you dont have to...you can leave the engine and wiring as is and plug it into the computer and it will work fine. The itme when you need to worry about injectors is if you want to swap wiring harnesses out or keep the original one or something...the wiring harness determines which set of injectors you need to use.
IN your application, it is perfectly fine to use the injectors on the 87 engine, along with that harness, in your 88 car. Be sure you plug int eh injector resistor pack, to the wirng harness you remove from the 87, or it will not run.

Either way it works, just keep the wiring and injectors on the engine they came from. OR, if you want, you can swap wiring and injectors around..either way doesnt matter, but one way is a lot less work, so guess which way I do it...