coheed

Unfortunately, the closest shop that'll be under $300 is a 2 hour drive, that I've talked to so far anyway. And I don't trust myself enough to weld up a driveshaft lol. This isn't a bad idea. I may call a few of them tomorrow. Man, 84-86's around here seem even rarer than finding a Comanche in a yard.

There’s very little info on what wiring is needed from the CamaroBird platform to run the 3.4 fuel injection in another vehicle using the stock PCM. These swaps are also very popular for MG’s, to the point that there’s one company that will make you a harness from scratch, but I could never find a list of what needed to be kept, so I made one. All of this applies to the wiring associated with 86 trucks and 94-95 automatic Camaros, as later trucks may have different colors and pin locations for the wires and the 93 Camaro has a transmission that isn't electronically controlled (though most of this info is similar if not the same). Below are the connectors, how to identify them, and what wiring you need to keep from each one: C100 black 10 pin, located in the top pass side of engine bay near the PCM Cavities: A: pink- power feed for injectors B: dark green w/ white tracer- A/C relay control * C: dark green- A/C clutch solenoid feed * F: brown- power feed from coolant fan fuse G: pink- power feed for ignition H: dark blue- coolant fan relay control K: pink- power feed for injectors You can eliminate the C200 connector but keep the following wires. Located behind dash in the firewall (this looks like a bulkhead connector, but it isn’t, it's just epoxied into the firewall opening) A1: dark green w/ white tracer- VSS input to cruise control module ** Any wire that feeds the under-hood fuse block and interior fuse #5 when the ignition is in the run position. C210 black 4 pin, located behind pass kick panel A: purple- theft deterrent relay to starter solenoid B: black w/ white tracer- ground for ALDL port C: orange- PCM 12v constant D: gray- fuel pump prime connector C215 black 11 pin, located on steering column J: gray- w/ black tracer cruise resume/accel ** K: dark- blue cruise set/coast ** L: gray- cruise on ** C220 white 10 pin, located behind pass kick panel A: red- power feed from cluster to alternator exciter (hot in run only) G: dark green w/ white tracer- VSS for cruise ** J: dark green w/ white tracer- fuel pump relay control C230 blue 10 pin, located behind pass kick panel B: brown w/ white tracer- check engine light (switched ground from the PCM) C: white w/ black tracer- diagnostic request signal for ALDL port D: white tachometer- signal to gauges **** E: dark blue- VATS 55mhz signal wire (wire bypass to this if not tuning VATS out of the PCM) F: dark green w/ white tracer- A/C request signal * G: pink- power feed from PCM ignition fuse H: light blue w/ black tracer- brake signal input to TCC *** And obviously any wiring attached to the engine, transmission, and fuel pump needs to be kept. If you connect the 10ga yellow wire feeding into the theft deterrent relay (the relay that stops power going to the starter due to VATS behind the passenger kick panel) to the purple in that same relay connector going to C210 connector, you can bypass the theft deterrent relay. You can then pull that relay and all associated wiring. The yellow comes from the crank position in the ignition switch that will replace the factory green wire that goes to the starter relay on the MJ. I extend the wire for the #5 interior fuse for the fuel pump relay into a slot that is powered with ignition in run/start in the engine bay fuse block from the Camaro. I also extended the wire for the #4 interior fuse for the PCM constant power and shortened the feed from the fusible link into the engine bay fuse block. Doing this completely eliminated the interior fuse panel. No other interior fuses need to be kept. I chose to connect the dark green with a white tracer for the A/C request signal on the 3.4 harness to the light green with a black tracer from the truck harness. This is the wire the Comanche uses to send 12v to the low-pressure switch on the truck system and can trigger the Camaro PCM to turn the A/C compressor clutch on. With a little trimming a PT Cruiser electric fan fits the 2.5/2.8 radiators pretty well. They have 2 speeds and you have to wire both power feeds together to get the high speed. Some of the OE style replacements are advertised as pulling over 2000 cfm, so a good one should keep the truck plenty cool. Also, if you use a program such as TunerCat you can lower the fan turn on/turn off temps. The stock fans come on at 228° and that seems like asking for issues given the cooling issues these trucks can face. Also, if you get a upper radiator hose for a 2.8 with A/C you can trim it to fit perfectly from the 3.4 t-stat hosing to the 2.8/2.5 radiator. J, K, and L from the Camaro C215 will get plugged into yellow, red, and green on the MJ C215 connector respectively for cruise control commands. The NP207 shifter is a different shape than later shifters, so I chose to get a later shifter from a junkyard and found a Novak cable kit used on FB as it was way easier than figuring out the math on a linkage since I was ditching the 207 for a 242. The A904 shifter is a linkage style shifter, so I also decided to get a later style auto shifter and cable from a junkyard and use it instead of doing math. The shift distance is almost the same between the 87-95 MJ/XJ and the Camaro, however you’ll need to trim some on the backstop of the shifter to be able to reach the first gear position of the 4l60e throw. And because the 84-86 auto shifters are linkage based, the firewalls don’t have a hole for cable shifters. You will also need to cut and weld the cable brackets from both the AW4 and 4L60e to attach the cable to the case. My truck was not wired from the factory to have a functional check engine light in the cluster, but I know some 86s were. As such, I just spliced a power tap for the 12v feed to that bulb and plugged it into the fuse panel and spliced the switched ground from the Camaro PCM to the other contact. I have not figured out how to turn the reverse lights on the truck on with the new shifter. The previous AX5 had an internal switch, and the Camaro uses the PRNDL switch attached to the shifter. Still trying to figure that one out. *: not needed if using MJ wiring for A/C **: not needed if not keeping cruise control ***: not needed if using a manual transmission ****: only needed if using a tachometer

So, since swapping in the 3.4 and 4L60e I haven't had 4wd because the stock front driveshaft is too short. I was looking through driveshaft lengths, and it looks like a front from a 2.5 auto would be the right length for what I need. How long would I be waiting to find a 2.5 automatic 4wd XJ to pull a driveshaft from? Thinking it might make more sense to pony up the money to get one made from Tom Woods.

I don't see why not. If someone knew what plastic to use it's just copper laminated with plastic. I mean if someone really wanted to I suppose you could scan it and cut out new copper and then laminate that, having essentially a brand new one. Yeah, that's true. Maybe they were just wanting to update things and got lucky. I mean the mid 80s weren't that far away from major changes between year models. And I know the newer ones will work, I just prefer to keep this one for the reasons I mentioned above if I can. I found a full 86 cluster on ebay for $165, which I suppose isn't unreasonable. I messaged the seller about the circuit paper on the back since the photo's don't show it very clearly. But if someone on here has a 3/4 cluster in decent condition here, I'd rather go that route.

Yeah I know I could make a newer one work, but I'm used to how the older gauges look lol. Plus this one is out of my grandfather's truck and if I can keep it working I'd prefer to do that.

Yeah, looking at clusters on eBay the newer clusters look like the boards are made differently. Not surprising with the ownership change I guess.

Thanks guys. I've been looking at info on repairing these old circuit papers, and I may try that, but it can't hurt to have another cluster on hand.

Been tracing down a parasitic draw on my truck for a while now and believe I've isolated it to the gauge cluster. Looking to buy either the circuit paper by itself, or a cluster. The issue seems to be isolated to the indicator light side, but the other paper is in worse condition. If I'm buying a full cluster I'd like to get one with a tach, but a 3/4 like I have now is fine. I don't know if later years circuits are the same or not, but if anyone knows and can verify if they do or not, the info would be appreciated.

I saw this one. If my daily wasn't in such good condition body wise this would make a good V8 swap candidate.

Did some poking around and found this thread that has the measurements I took of my tow mirror doors, another members measurements, and Pete posted some shots of a service manual detailing how to mount them and some measurements. It's hard to tell in the pics, but it looks like maybe @Sasquatch's truck had oem tow mirrors at some point and someone took them off and mounted some aftermarket ones. The top bracket is wider than the lower one, and on the oe ones the brackets are the same width.

I think the lower holes are where the towing mirrors are supposed to be mounted from the factory. If I had to guess, someone remounted them higher at some point. Here's a picture of them on my truck when I got it and a picture from one of the sales brochures, both of them have the top mount basically in line with the door handle, not up at the top like yours is mounted.

Yeah, I'm happy with how it sounds. And of course, a phone microphone isn't gonna pick up the best sound and it's a bit deeper in person than it is in the video. The cat is currently gutted, but mainly to get rid of the awful rattle it was making. I'm gonna replace it at some point mostly because I have asthma and it's easier to breath when inhaling catalyzed exhaust vs not lol. Aside from the little problems I'm having I'm very satisfied with it. It's no 300hp/330ftlbs that my Lexus has, but it's a massive difference from the tired old 2.8. The PCV elbow I ordered fit and fixed the issue with the vacuum tee. Need to get a bit of hose to rehook-up the EVAP valve. But I got to looking at the elbow I ordered and some similar ones I had been looking at and realized it was just a Dorman 46017 meant for a bunch of Fords. So, if anyone stumbles on this looking for a replacement for the vacuum tee on a 3.4 Camaro, I'd start looking there. I've also driven it about 25 miles since siphoning fluid out of the transmission and the slipping code hasn't come back, so fingers crossed there. As far as the charging issue goes, there's multiple problems causing it. The battery was low last time I went out to use the truck. Like 9v low. I threw my charger on it and got it back up, but the next morning it was dead again. Alright, so I've got a parasitic draw somewhere. Easy enough to diagnose right? I threw my multimeter on it as an amp probe and found it was drawing 0.75 amps with everything turned off after about an hour of sitting. Not great. Through some poking and rereading the wiring I realized that I had run the exciter wire for the alternator to constant power, will need to rewire that. However, with the exciter wire unplugged it's still drawing 0.37 amps. I had some issues with the VATS in the PCM that lead me to wonder if the PCM was bad and drawing the battery down. With the PCM unplugged it was still draining 0.37 amps. Then I do the classic pull each fuse until the draw goes down. Well, I pulled every single fuse and relay for the engine harness and the truck harness with no luck. I even unhooked all the fusible links from the junction block, so the only positive lead was going to the starter and no change. I feel like at this point I'm going to have to unplug each sensor and circuit in the truck until I find the issue. Electrical work is so fun.

As @ghetdjc320 mentioned the general spring metric ton replacements are an option for that amount of lift. My truck has the metric ton replacements from them, a very small lift shackle (I think maybe 1/2" or there abouts of lift), and some old sagging rubicon express 3.5" on the front. It worked out to 3.25" in the front and a little taller in the rear unloaded. With the right shackle you could get it to 4". It's still on short arms from CORE4x4 and the ride is fine. It just rides like an old truck.

No huge update for now, been on a 12 day trip starting in Detroit to get my mom's new rv to her current place in Florence, OR. Replaced the O2 sensors with some Bosch ones I got on closeout from rockauto because when they were up to temp the left bank flat lined on voltage and threw a check engine light. Seems to have fixed that. Also had a DTC 80 code (transmission component slipping) come up on the first few drives. I'm hoping that was caused by over filling the transmission. I had assumed that having the trans apart aside from the valve body that almost all of the fluid would've gotten out somehow or another. Well, you know what they say about assuming. I had put 8 quarts in, and after pulling some out with a syphon today it seems like I put in about 1.25 qts too much. Drove it a few miles today and the code didn't pop back up, but I didn't get much faster than 45mph so we'll see. Welding a nut to the brake pedal bracket didn't give the brake switch enough tension for it to not back out just a bit and leave the brake lights on all the time. I'm thinking I'll spin the switch out a bit and put some blue loctite on it and put it back in position. This might also be contributing to the DTC 80 code because the PCM uses brake input voltage to regulate the TCC The alternator isn't charging at idle, and I don't know if it's the alternator, my wiring job, or a dying battery yet. It charges fine when I use scan9495 to set the idle at 1200rpm, so I'm hoping the battery just got deeply discharged sitting for so long. It's also throwing multiple EGR codes. This computer checks if the EGR is operational by opening 3 different valves while coasting above a certain speed and measuring the difference in the MAP sensor. Seems like a decent enough way to check if it's operational, unless there are vacuum leaks in the system. Enter this guy This is a rubber molded vacuum tee that splits vacuum to the PCV and EVAP valve via plastic hard tubes. And as you can hopefully see, there is a massive crack from the base all the way to the side for the PCV. So, I just replace this right? Well, these motors are just old enough to not have any factory replacements and young enough to not have any aftermarket support for being classics. I've ordered a no name, no motor or brand specific PCV elbow that may be able to replace this and take the PCV line on the motor, but I would need to route the vacuum for the EVAP to a different source. If the elbow works, I'm thinking I can route the EVAP to the back of the manifold where the HVAC controls and the vacuum reservoir hook up. If that doesn't pan out, I'm thinking I'll pull the upper manifold off the engine, remove the press fit pipe and tap the manifold to accept threaded fittings.

If I remember correctly the one on my 86 is 90" long and it has a few inches of excess. As long as the one you have is around that length it should reach.

Very surprised recently how quick Summit racing get parts to me. Also surprised how different the 50 series Flowmaster sounds compared to the 80. On their website the 80 is supposed to be more aggressive and louder than the 50, but with the 50 on the truck it's significantly deeper and louder Either way I'm, happy with it

3D printed some PCM brackets I found online and threw together a mount out of some scrap angle iron I had, I'd like to redo it with some better materials at some point, but I want this back on the road. Decently tidy engine bay. The shifter positions didn't need to be changed with the cable adjusted, aside from taking some material off of the rear and cutting a larger notch for second. Unfortunately, the newer shifter doesn't line up with the mount tabs for the older center console, but I found an older one for $15 on eBay. Comparing the Flowmaster 80 and the resonator I had laying around I much preferred the sound of the Flowmaster. However, being designed for a crossflow application there wasn't a good way to mount it since it's offset/offset. The resonator is 22" long and the Flowmaster is 17" I think, so with the cat behind the crossmember it made the system much longer than I wanted it to be with both. I threw the resonator on with a downturn as a temporary solution until the Flowmaster 50 series delta flow I ordered shows up and I can redo it. I watched as many videos as I could find of 3.4 exhausts, Camaro and otherwise, and I think the 50 delta flow will be a decent compromise between Flowmaster style sound and not sounding like a Honda with a folgers can. The material in the cat is loose and rattling a lot. Because of that it's not really doing its job, so I'm debating hollowing it out for now to get rid of the rattle. Don't have the money for a decent replacement at the moment. Resonator: 20251009_150950~2.mp4 Flowmaster: 20251011_121412~2.mp4

Need to get all my photos together for a full update but took it for its first spin with the 3.4 today. Incredibly impressed with the difference. The video was too big to host here, so I threw it up on youtube

I guess I wasn't holding my mouth right when I was looking at my diagrams. It's listed under the engine controls system for the California V6, but not the 49 state, instead of the cluster page. For anyone's future reference it's fed by the 3 terminal C203 connector near the ignition switch with a red with a blue tracer and a black with a yellow tracer. My truck is a 49 state, and this connector wasn't plugged into anything on my truck. I was worried about back feeding something with power, since neither of the wires at the cluster had power to it and the Camaro light uses a switched ground, but since it's not a California model there's no issue.

Does anyone have a wiring diagram that shows the pinouts and wiring going to the indicator light panel on the left of the cluster? I have an M.R. 277, the 60 series electrical diagnostic book, and the shop wiring diagrams for the 86 and none of them have a diagram that details the connector or wires going to these lights. I'm trying to figure out how to hook up the check engine light circuit from the Camaro pcm I'm using for my swap to the check engine light in this panel.

A handful of cutoff wheels and a good bit of patience lost later I have a new y-pipe and the start of the exhaust. I thought the flowmaster on the Camaro sounded really tinny and I've had a resonator from a BRZ laying around forever waiting for a project. I'd like to do a bedside exit exhaust, but with the resonator and the muffler it'll be a little too long for that. Gonna see what it sounds like with just the muffler and just the resonator and decide what I'll do. Maybe down the road I'll get an aftermarket highflow cat and a smaller resonator with a shorter flowmaster to shrink the length a good bit, but I'm trying to finish this as cheap as I can at the moment.

Thanks, it's been a fun project. Although I've done plenty of engine swaps before, this is the first one I've done on my own vehicle. Zapped together the XJ and Camaro shifter cable bracket today. The paint is drying in the shed and I should be able to put it back on tomorrow. Started on the exhaust today as well. Got the pass side of the y pipe tacked together (the easy side), and plan on trying to tackle the driver's side tomorrow. The flux core welds aren't pretty, but it should flow much better than the 2.8 one a lot of people used for the 3.4 swap even with the BFH clearancing I had to do to get the pipe between the bellhousing and control arm mount. Incidentally, the 2.8 y pipe won't work with the 3.4 oil pan anyway, the clearance between the pan and the pipe is just a little too close and the pass side would interfere with the oil level sensor in the pan. I've read some accounts that putting headers on the 3.4 makes a decent power gain and I can see why, the stock y pipe necks down to a little under 2" for seemingly no reason. Maybe it was an attempt to keep heat dissipation down in certain areas of the exhaust?

Mine were plug and play, but I've seen people on FB say they needed to change their flashers. I believe they have resistors built in.

Routed heater hoses and made a little bracket that goes from one of the alternator bolts down to the bottom of the bracket to keep the heater hoses from sharing the same space as the alt fan or the belt. Covered it in some heat shrink so it won't rub thorough the hoses as quickly. Also, found out if you take a top radiator hose meant for the 2.8 with A/C and trim it in the right spot it fits the 3.4 water neck perfect. Making a one off intake sure takes a bit of time. I'm not completely happy with the angles and how the couplers have to take up some slack because of the lack of tighter radiuses on hand, but I didn't want to buy piping and getting stuff custom bent is even pricier. Plus the couplers will give at least a little flex in the system. Overall I like it. At this point I have just a handful of things left until the truck is drivable again. I'm getting antsy

Need to get some 90° barbs to cleanup the fuel lines a bit It lives 20250927_160903.mp4