i blew the computer in my 83 turbo,i already had an ecu out of a 82 turbo but the part #'s didn't match. i put it in anyway and it made the car run but it is runing really bad. i was told you could get it reprogramed or get a new chip put in it and it would work. is this true or do i need a new ecu. can someone help me out, im clueless.

 

Hey J, here is your chance to try your piggy back ... I dont think you can get them reprogrammed, I never heard of that..

 

Good point .

Problem might be in timing or something like that. I don't know how similiar 83 was to 82. 83 is beyond me man, never even seen a wiring diagram for one. The only problem I could see with the ECU's not being compatible would be the computer controlled ignition. Jason, if you got a wiring diagram for your car make sure all the pins are the same on the 82 ECU as they are on the 83. All's it takes is for one sensor to feed into the wrong pin and you get some crappy drivability. All the sensors themselves and what not should be compatible though. So check out some schematics and see if that turns anything up.

 

do you know anything about putting a new chip in it

 

Check out Jim Wolf Technology. If it can be done with an ECU they can do it.
www.jimwolftechnology.com

 

JWT SUCKS! but sometimes they're your only hope :-/

 

Let me rephrase that for him:
JWT is a bunch of A$$HOLES who are really good at what they do but don't give a F##K about all the little people who don't know how to do what they know how to do! but sometimes they're your only hope :-/

Does that sound about right.

 

Couldn't have said it better my self. I remember all these dumb Customer service video's and seminar's i had to attend when i was a Tech at Lexus...i want to get copies of all those old 80's videos and mail JWT a huge box of them, label it "For All JWT Employees" lol. deffinitely ********...i'll never do work with them again, im sorry i bought anything from the in the past!

 

There is one nice guy there but he is really hard to get a hold of. Why not just go stand alone. HHmm, that seems to be my answer to everything.

 

I'm going to have to agree with KTM here.

Otherwise, you can get a 300ZX NA ECU and retro-fit it to your '83 wiring harness and while you're at it, swap your AFM with a MAF sensor from the same 300ZX the ECU came from.

The '83 280ZX Turbo is the only 280ZX ECU that is 're-programable'.

There's enough of a difference between the '82 and '83 ECU's to make the pre-'83 ECU a no-go for re-programming.

300ZX NA ECU with MAF is definitely the way to go if you're on a budget.

Of course, if you have trouble reading wiring diagrams, you may want to continue to look for a replacement '83 ECU...

Good luck!

 

I usually hate when people try to advertise in the forums, but I happen to have a 300zx ECU for sale along with everything else needed for the ECU swap It comes with the right ECU, the MAF and the chopper wheel, and some extra wire which is everything needed. It's also a real easy swap to do.

 

Your safest bet would probably be to get the right ecu for your car if its n/a then get a n/a ecu from a junkyard or someone.if its turbo get one for a turbo.

 

also figure out why the ECU blew? are your fuses bad or did your alternator's voltage regular blow?
This time check the grounds on the ecu and maybe add an extra ground strap or something.

So what are the big differences in the 1983 turbo ECU? that's the setup I have for my swap.

 

this ecu problem goes all the way back to 79 .....i tryed to put a 79 n/a ecu to my 81 n/a ....it did the same thing yours did .....it would run my car but idle was off and when reved it just sounded wrong .....ecu's are NOT interchangable between years .....
it seems that every year , datsun changed a sencor or added a wire to the system..this is the same with the head temp sencor ....I put a 1980 head temp sencor in my car when it was pluged in my car would not run ....i switched back and it was fine.....i wish they would have just left it all the same but that's not the case

 

If you grab a salvage yard ECU just grab all the associated sensors to go with it. You should only need the AFM, the head temp, and the TPS sensors. You'll probably need the IM too (not sure though). One of em had extra side terminals, not sure what year that was though but I know it's not interchangeable (I've tried )

 

I remember seeing around the idea of swapping in the Z31 ECU into the 280ZX's, but unfortunately "Z31" and "ECU" are considered too short for the Search button to recognize. Anywho, you've covered swapping in the NA Z31 ECU and MAF sensor into the 280ZX, but what would be an appropriate swap for an '82 Turbo? I'm assuming I'd need a Z31 Turbo setup right? If so, do you know if there's any wiring diagrams/instructions out there for what I'm supposed to do? I could've sworn I saw something like that somewhere, but I'm not sure if it was on this forum or not.

I've seen that JWT sells a Z31 swap kit, but since it uses a Mustang MAF, Z31 CAS disc and different injectors, that sounds like it'd be more expensive than something like Megasquirt. Is all that extra stuff really necessary, or is it only necessary when buying one of their "modded" Z31 ECU's?

 

All that stuff is geared more toward hi performance. If you're just looking to upgrade your ECU then you don't need to go all out with the JWT kit. It just allows more air and fuel flow for higher performance engines. Megasquirt would be just as beneficial, if not more so for far less money. It eliminates the Air flow meter so you don't have to worry about that. And you can program it to run what ever injectors you have or end up getting. I'd personally go with megasquirt as an upgrade. If you can come across all the Z31 parts in good shape for really cheap then that's definitely an option.