Sorry this has been covered before but my search skills suck.
I have a 85 SVO that I want to upgrade to 86 specs. Not sure what ecu to use. It looks like any of the LA3 made for manual transmission will work?
Thanks
Sorry this has been covered before but my search skills suck.
I have a 85 SVO that I want to upgrade to 86 specs. Not sure what ecu to use. It looks like any of the LA3 made for manual transmission will work?
Thanks
LA3 is the most common choice. To get it to work, 35lb injectors and the larger VAM (vane air meter) must be used along with the new ECU. Further, there are some minor wiring changes needs.
http://www.forced4.com/la3swap.html
'86 PE will work too. Are you changing the upper and lower intake too?
Bleed Ford Blue! '84 Grabber Orange SVO, '88 Saleen 1 of 4 w/Automatic, '89 Steeda, '71 DeTomaso Pantera GT5 Wide Body EFI 4.6 DOHC...soon to be a Gen3 Coyote and some Old Ford Muscle w/ BB power. 1.21 Jigawatts!!?? PETRO EXPRESS=CITGO=BOYCOTT!
State of Illinois - Taxation without Representation!
Sound like you have a good plan.
Bleed Ford Blue! '84 Grabber Orange SVO, '88 Saleen 1 of 4 w/Automatic, '89 Steeda, '71 DeTomaso Pantera GT5 Wide Body EFI 4.6 DOHC...soon to be a Gen3 Coyote and some Old Ford Muscle w/ BB power. 1.21 Jigawatts!!?? PETRO EXPRESS=CITGO=BOYCOTT!
State of Illinois - Taxation without Representation!
You dont have to buy a large vam.......all svos came with them.saved you some $$$$ lol
85 or 85.5 SVO? What injectors are in there now? What ECU? Inline or square intake? The late '85 cars were the brutes of the bunch.
I just ask about what's there now, as the SVO got brown tops in mid-85.
As mentioned above, the LA-series are a good choice, and only need a few minor wiring changes to make work on one of the non-87-88TC cars. That is, if you already don't have a PE ECU in there now.
Last edited by Chuck W; 08-23-2014 at 10:22 PM.
83 TC "Clone"
85 Marquis LTS
86 LTD Wagon
Bleed Ford Blue! '84 Grabber Orange SVO, '88 Saleen 1 of 4 w/Automatic, '89 Steeda, '71 DeTomaso Pantera GT5 Wide Body EFI 4.6 DOHC...soon to be a Gen3 Coyote and some Old Ford Muscle w/ BB power. 1.21 Jigawatts!!?? PETRO EXPRESS=CITGO=BOYCOTT!
State of Illinois - Taxation without Representation!
Good point on the VAM. We converted our '84 Turbo RS Capri to an LA3 but it came with the smaller VAM originally necessitating the larger VAM. Our SVO is an 85.5 so no upgrades were required.
Get some brown tops and an 87-88TC ECU and call it good. For the usual asking price of a PE ECU, bang for the buck goes to the LA-series ECUs. I think I remember somewhere that the 87-88 auto ECU's (LB and 8UA's) have a bit more aggressive timing than the manual ones.
The repinning and wiring mods needed for the ECU swap is minimal.
The 87-88TC ECUs have a faster processor in them and would make for a good upgrade for a daily driver, IMO.
83 TC "Clone"
85 Marquis LTS
86 LTD Wagon
83 TC "Clone"
85 Marquis LTS
86 LTD Wagon
are the brown top injectors used on the 85-89 Merkur XR4Ti units the same as 85.5-86 SVO? and will work with the LA3 ecu? I see them come up on ebay once in a while.
Is there a good supplier for rebuilt ones that don't require a core? my 85 has green top 30 lb units and I don't know if they would be accept them as cores.
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