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  1. #1
    Earl Ingstad evlgt85's Avatar
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    Default 87 dash swap in to 86

    • Text taken from threads on old boards, most answers given by gtluke
    • Be sure to ask gtluke for further assistance, as he has done this swap
    • We encourage you to post questions on our Body Shop and Interior board

    Q: Has anyone here swapped an 87-89 dash into a 79-86?

    It's pain in the butt work, cause you have to pull the whole 86 dash assembly from left pillar to right pillar, drill new mounting holes, get 87-93 switches, instrument panel, center console, e-brake, and it takes at least a day to take everything out, another day to put all the 87-93 pieces in.


    Q: I was just wondering if you need to change the heater box too? and I know I'll have to get the wiring harness but after that is it really that hard? I have to take my dash off to do my heater core so I figured that I might as well do it.

    before i get into detail i got a few questions cause i've done this twice 2 diffrent ways.

    -Do you have an 87+ wiring harness? or do you plan on cut/ splicing the wiring in.
    -The heater box will work
    -It is a pain to wire up
    -I have gutted what i dont need including the fuse box



    I'm going to be using the whole harness from an 87-89 car, I figure that'll be easier than splicing everything together.


    You are going to need to get an 87+ steering column then... if you want to use the whole harness.
    should be pretty easy if you do it that way.
    just pretty much unplug and unwire everything, and rewire it with the newer harness.
    you will also need a 87+ fuel level sending unit so that the gauge works.
    custom drilling and bolting of the e-brake is needed also, not that hard though.
    heater box will still work from your 86



    OK well it sounds like I have everything that I need then except for a fuel level sending unit from an 87-93


    [/i] its completely stupidly hard to get it to work like i did.
    it took me a good 30 hours
    its not easy though man, that wiring is a pain in the nutsacks to lay in there. you are going to have to fabricate a way to get the 4 eye headlights to work with the harness for a 2 eye car.. shouldn't be that hard though, i have diagrams if you need them. (gtluke)[/i]

    Q: what about the HVAC controls???

    the heater boxes are the same,
    so just use the crap out of an 87 and it plugs right in
    gotta wire up the lights and electronic functions though, but if i recall the wire colors are the same there.
    you will need the pull chord thingy from the 87 too, to switch from hot/cold
    you'll also need to wire up your own rear defrost relay and switch as i dont think you can figure out how to make the 87 one work, cause i sure as hell can't, it works off a timer or something, wire up your own like i did.
    i even put used the light from the 87 dash that says the defrosters are on, that works with my switch too




    Q: Did you say that you swapped the dash using a complete harness from an 87 and newer car as well? If so how did you do it? I got the harness and the one from the 89 that I got went through the firewall, whereas my 86 one is a 2 piece one so to speak and didn't go through the firewall... I know that I can pull all that out and put the new one in there, thats no biggie BUT, the thing that I'm worried about is that all the connectors that are on the drivers side by the kickpanel are different on the 89 harness than the 86 one... there are less and they are a different style, the connectors on the passanger side are a different style too... Your help would be greatly appreciated as my 86 Harness is hacked up and I've already test fit the dash and got it all set up.


    you are going to need the rest of the harness too man...
    but, you can cut/splice it pretty easy,
    all that goes to the trunk is
    speaker wires, if you still use them,
    fuel pump/sending unit wires
    brake lights
    park lights
    flashers, blinkers
    reverse lights
    trunk pop, fuel pop
    i think thats it...


    It's easy to swap the '87-'93 wires into the car. If you can do what you're doing to the dash, you'll certainly be able to swap the rest. It's just a matter of time. Also, it's ALWAYS better to keep the factory connections. The less splicing you have to do, the better. Those plug in connectors are definately the way to go. They were made to last for years, and also they snap together very tightly. Also, it's a very good idea to use dielectric grease when plugging any connector together. It will certainly help in the corrosion department.

    It seems that everything is working like it is supposed to since I swapped the dash, except for a couple things, the fuel guage ( I know that I have to switch to an 87-93 fuel level sender so thats no biggie) the dash lights don't work and the headlights don't work BUT the parking lights and the taillights work. Any ideas guys? Also does anyone know how to modify the 87-93 headlight harness to work with the 4 headlights of my 86?

    Just run the headlights on relays. Find the wire to the (aero nose) low beam and use it to fire a relay to run the low beams. Do the same for the high beam.


    otay, it's been several years since i have thought about this....
    i can't locate my schemo-ma-tatic, so here goes.....

    do you have a meter or test lite?

    w/headlite connector removed from headlite, use your test lite or meter to figger out which one is ground,
    make note of color scheme.

    use the meter or lite (here after refered to as meter) to see which wire becomes hot when low beams are on.
    make note of color scheme.

    use meter to see what becomes hot w/highbeams on
    make a note.....

    wack off the old style connectors but leave enough pig tail to work with.

    wack off the new style connectors & leave enough pig tail to sell them to someone who wants to go the other way....

    do you have a four eye w/working lites to test? if so repeat procedure, if not UH OH!!!!

    disconnect battery.

    use eeee-lec-tree-cal tape or wire nuts to test splice into old style connectors.

    splice a double wire into gnd (you will need a gnd to each bulb) & connect to hi/lo & hi bulbs.

    splice the low beam lead into the outside bulb hi/lo
    (i think that either blade will suffice).

    splice a double wire into the high beam lead & connect to the left over terminal on the lo/hi beam & the other hi beam wire into the hi beam lite.

    find some foolhardy soul to reconnect the battery & test it while you are somewhere else!!!!(just kidding)

    reconnect batt.

    check lites.

    when you are satisfied that everything is working properly, solder & shrink tube all connections (you did remember to put the shrink tube on before you soldered them didn't you, wink, wink)

  2. #2
    Earl Ingstad evlgt85's Avatar
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    Default Mounting dash:

    My brother bought an 86GT recently. The dash in it was trashed, but the exterior is pretty nice and it's got a nice roll bar in it. Anyway, we're building a strip car out of it, will see very limited street time. The previous owner had already converted the nose and tail of the car to the 87-93 style (I wish it still had the 86 nose on it...in fact I asked if he still had it laying around, but no such luck.)

    . Since we're pulling the wiring harness out of the 92, the wiring shouldn't be an issue. My main concern is how to mount the dash to the car. Any suggestions?




    the sides bolt up okay with the original mountings
    the top you are going to have to wire tie like i did, or secure it with sheet metal screws
    the center console withh have to go in also
    and the newer e.brake
    you'll need the handle and first cable, and custome mount it.

    what are you going to do about wiring for the new gauges?


    if you bend the original tabs down, you can use lag bolts to affix the dash to the original tabs, it is a 2 person job (the voice of experience, i did the last one by myself & it is lopsided,) to get it aligned properly. i have done several & it works well....


    Thanks guys. We're actually using all the wiring from the 93, so that shouldn't be a problem. This will be primarily a track car, so we don't really need all of the gauges to work since we'll probably have Autometers in place as well.

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