Best wiring setup for hybrid van?

[EvilcowRoland]

Posting this for a friend. He's recently picked up an '87 V6 minivan and wants to drop a hybrid turbo 4 into it. He needs to know what wiring harness setup to use. From what I recall, the pre-90 V6 cars were all SMEC, so will the '89 turbo van harness just plug into the bulkhead at the firewall? If so, anyone have one for sale? Is there a better way to do this?

(Yes it's easier to start with a turbo car in the first place, but please keep the info helpful. He's been around these cars a while and knows his stuff, just not terribly familiar with the V6 setups and it'll be his first hybrid. Thanks)

[90TurboVan]

I can't say for sure, but if the connector bolts on, I'd think the pinouts would be the same between a V6 and 4. Worst case, all the same signals will be there, you'll just have to put on a different bulkhead connector. That's all I had to do going from an '86 interior harness to '89 TBI engine harness on an L-body.

[EvilcowRoland]

That's what I figure too. I just didn't want to tell the guy to go ahead and do it and then he come yelling at me because the pin-outs are way different. I've converted a TBI van to turbo, but I've never done a V6 to turbo so I wasn't sure if things were the same. But I figure a SMEC is a SMEC so all the wires are there, just maybe not in the same places. Plus I don't know the first thing about wiring on a hybrid, so I wasn't sure if the regular turbo harness was even the best path to take. He's doing research on T-M too, so hopefully he'll be ready once the project comes together. Thanks.

[tehf00]

Find anything out? I'm doing a 3.0V6 (1990 van) to 2.5 Turbo (from 1989) van and looking for similar information.

[EvilcowRoland]

Nothing concrete yet. The van I'm talking about is an 87 with V6 so it's a SMEC. I need to know if the older SMEC harness matches the 89 4-cyl version.

You'll have an easier time being a 90. Basically just find a 90 turbo engine harness and it should plug right in. Compare the wire colors on your current engine harness with the ones on the turbo harness first, but they should match up. Just plug it in and go.

[Wizard]

Actually you have the needed harness already and why not use that now? Just leave one wire off for 3rd set of injectors. Rest can be moved around to reach different locations for the sensors by unwrapping the harness and rewrap in new configuration. Use megasquirt and chop the end off for the computer and wire it in.

Second option and harder to find:

Turbo caravan 89. Take the harness from it and the computer if you are inclined to reflash it for the hybrid setup. 90% of the wirings are there.
Rest you add extra wirings for megasquirt setup and modify the original harness
somewhat. The bulkhead is exact 1 to 1 pin. I did lot of research into this.

You'll need 3 book FSM for 1987 for working on the engine harness. First 2 is for chassis, electrical/performance (for 2.2/2.6), 3rd book is supplement that addresses the 2.5L and V6 3.0 along with schematic.

Cheers, Wizard

[EvilcowRoland]

Sound advice. I'll let him know. I just talked to him about the van this weekend and he said he's holding off doing anything to it for a bit, but he's collecting the parts and all now. He has the 2.5 block and the 2.4 head with all the necessary parts. And he just bought an 89 van harness from Simon, so I guess he'll be going that route at least. Not sure on computer setup yet.