i was at the wreckers today getting a new water pump (found a basically brand new one for $20) and i found an old magna waiting in the pile to be crushed within the next few days. upon inspection i found the engine to look very clean and looked after. so i removed the rocker cover and found a spotless engine that appeared to have had a head recco and new timing chain. it was getting dark and they were closing so i haven't had a very good look. anyway im going back tomorrow and hopefully its still there and they can flick it out of the heap for me. so anyway he said $150 for the whole engine (might try and get auto too) with EFI and all. its a 1990 model with over 3k km's so ide assume that if the engine were original it would look allot rougher and have oil leaking everywhere. so ill take the head off and have a little poke around tomorrow but is there any other points to look at? i will also get a dash for mine as its on the blink. is there any difference before the earlier analog dashes and the later ones as far as quality and reliability? what would you recommend out of the two?
as far as pulling the efi out goes what do i need to have it running out of a car. ill try and get it all but if it comes down to cut and run will i be able to patch it up fairly easily?
long tedious post i know but really appreciate it!
regards jay

if doing a full conversion
for the efi you need the computer /both manifolds
the front wiring loom all the fuses and relay boxes
fuel pump/ fuel relay

the car i plan to put it in is already EFI but i would like to be able to get the engine running out of the car. i could always buy a carby and maniufold (or possibly 'hire' one off someone in the forum fot the purpos of testing??).but i would rather have it running on efi before i put it in so i have all the bits ect. so basicly i need all electrics from the front of the car?. dont know how possible it will be to get everything because the bloke at the wreckers says he is not meant to let me touch the car once its in the heap for crushing but ill try my hardest.
thanks allot!
regards jay

You will need the whole efi loom. Run down both sides of the engine bay, the firewall, enters the cabin through gromet on passenger side and runs to efi. How to you plan on getting enough fuel pressure to the injectors?

so under the dash jay goes. hope i can get in there but theres s#it strewn all threw the car and i am unsure. as to fuel pressure i haven't really thought about it too much but i could jump the fuel pump relay in the car and run an extension off the fuel system in the car to run the engine?
otherwise i may grab a old fuel bump at some later stage and run it out of a jerry can but all depends on how long it takes the engine in the car th self destruct (not too long by the sound of the chain and major lack of power). the main thing i want the new engine for it to avoid having to do the chain and rings ect before i turn 18 because i cant justify spending the type of money till i am going to use the car every day.
it seems that preserving the efi for use out of the car sounds a bit tricky but ill try my best
thanks allot
regards jay

From a Jerry can you wouldn't have enough pressure. If you wired up something to the fuel relay in your car tho and ran some extened fuel hoses that could work. If you have any questions about the efi feel free to ask. I have done a full efi conversion

thanks again!
if i decide the engines worth it i will probably set it up on an engine stand or something and work out some sort of compromise for the efi. even if it means i pay an extra $50 another time for all the electrics and pump at least i have it all there and good so if i ever need parts in the car ill have them right in front of me and known to be good. if god for bid some reason arose where i had to get rid of the car do you think i would get my $150 odd back for the complete engine on eBay or similar as long as it run? thats the only thing that is making me think twice (shows how much of a tight ass i really am! lol)
does the electric fuel pump have a return line from the injector rail or something. im dam pissed i dont have my Gregory's Manuel here to look up these things (shouldn't lend things like that), because ide be able to see the wiring diagram and at least have an idea of what im up against!
appreciate it
regards jay

i got the the wreckers at 4 and only had an hour to stuff around. i managed to pull the head off in under 20 minutes and found that there was a fair bit of corrosion in there. although its a reconditioned head someone hasn't run any inhibitor and all the journals are eaten away and i wasn't going to spend $150 for that.
the one thing i did find was a electronic spedo out of an elite or gt or something. i removed it and hid it out of harms way for now but need to know weather its possible to convert my old analog system to electronic easily. it seems theres no spedo cable connected so i would need to get the digital sensor to make it work. is all the wiring already there or do i need to add some? i can get it for $25 with a 1 month warranty that includes returns. is there any advantage to the electronic dash over the analog one apart from good looks?
thanks
regards jay

if you do a search there is a few threads on it that i have come accross before. personally its not something i would bother with, its not as simple as plug an play. lots of soldering involved/

The only advantage of the electronic dash is that it looks sexy. You'll need the digital fuel sender too. The multi-pin plugs for the wiring to the digital speedo are different sizes and configurations to the analog ones. Therefore you can't just plug your existing dash wiring into the digital dash. Best way is to get each of the dash wiring plugs from the donor car with at least a few inches of wiring attached. Then you'll have to cut the plugs off your analog wiring harness and solder the corresponding wires to the digital dash plugs. It would be a nightmare job without the plugs as you'd have to solder your wiring directly to the dash's printed circuit board.

doesn't seem worth it although then there would be at least one sexy thing about the car. although no dash will make the driver any better! ill go analog but it would be cool to have a back to the future type dash in there. ow well at least i got a water pump yesterday thats decent. it was brand new!
thanks
regards jay