I have always found what I needed by searching your forums. Sweet knowledge base guys! I have the fsm and an oily haynes manual. I seek your immutable combined wisdom on a few missions of mine. This is a long one.

Background
I had a great running 82 nt manual for a few years till I got tboned on the drivers side last year, so I towed it to my garage and ran the engine frequently just to hear all the tlc I had given it. I recently picked up an 83 nt manual that had sat for 6 yrs..... practically free. Might be a bad idea yes, but I love these cars... Before it was parked it had some electrical problems, would not run.wrong size battery. (imo) was arching on the hood and must have caused all sorts of problems. Bad owner. since I have had it I have swapped fluids, drained tank, changed fuel lines, refreshed rubbers, cleaned sparks, cleaned engine bay..., changed filters, changed the battery cables and cleaned grounds. I still have deoxit on order for other terminals. And I still need to test relays and all fuses.... battery on the way. It is not seized, I still have to clean dizzy and prime oil pump before trying to hot wire starter or any key turning... I should be able to do that like other cars right?

The problems
I want to know...
Can 82 ecu be used on the 83 harness if it is dead?
Are there any real problems with an engine swap from my happy but not rolling 82, including tranny most likely, into the 83 bay? As far as vaccuum lines (I noticed the ac lines have one running into console on 83 but two on the 82)
Am I over my head?
Should I stop what I am doing and just gut the 82 harness, and gently dump the 82 engine into the 83 shell? (the idle adjust screw is rusted and frozen... I don't know what else I may find out... but the engine is not seized... )

I love you all and await your professional opinions.

 

Welcome to ZDriver!

Yes, everything is interchangeable between 82-83 non-turbo.

 

Thanks nismo. I have noticed a few differences. Among them the air filter size, I moved the 82 into the 83 and had to cut open the intake plastic part to fit into the body of the 83. But it is a k/n so I am happy. Also the idle adjust setup is different....

On the 82 it comes from the the throttle body to the tee where it connects to the bccd? Thing, and and copper part from the air rubber to the intake. The 83 is different and runs from the same tee to the intake mani. Is there an issue if I can feel an unplugged hole under the throttle where the 82 version plugs in? I have yet to remove and clean the throttle.

Why did they change that layout? Would it be a problem if I use the 82 idle adjust in the 83 and plug the hole on the intake? Routing the rubber to feed from under the throttle? Newer set up must be better right? I have had problems in the fsm and haynes trying to find out why it is the way it is.

Today I got the car to turn, no more burnt out fusibles... yes! But no start. I didn't have any starter fluid. I am going to swap the rail with new injectors from the 82 and put them in the 83. I have a new fuel filter and a secondary in line just after it installed already. I intend to por15 the tank and change filter set up to factory after this.

When I crank again I will have another car to backup the battery since it reads 10-11 volts now on the gauge inside. That is my fuel check. For the spark check I just need extra eyes for each plug that I will hire up during the same test if injectors don't fix the problem. I might test sparks from the plugs before fighting the whole rail mission. I already scrubbed the old spark plugs but have not changed anything in the dizzy...

Thoughts? concerns? Extra ideas? The afm connection is pretty coroded but my deoxit is not due for the next three days and crc qd clean does not help.