[Ecotec] VT/VX/VY Manual Conversion tips

[stevoss]

shiters we got it up on the hoist on friday pulled the box and tailshaft swapped the o2 sensors from exhausts, looked at the shifter and its too small for the hole in the floor that the auto set up was from, dam gonna have to get onto the guys that sold me the conversion and see if they actually gave me the right one.

 

[gunsy]

what have you guys done about the auto tranny cooler,i have just done the conversion and i cant seem to find where the cooler lines go to and they keep leaking fluid every where. it looks like they go into the radiator but there is no cooler on the front??

 

[stevoss]

i have 2 vt and they both have 2 trans coolers 1 on the radiator and a stand alone infront of the air con condenser, i just undid the rad one and ripped out the other, and all lines. can also get rid of the breather line near the tranny as the manual box has a mounted breather,


okay clutch, box and shifter is in, on the series 1 vt it has a larger hole for the shifter which i fixed by mounting it in the rear holes first then just drilling the front 2 through the front where it wont fit, then reusing the bracket off the trans cooler i bent it straight cut it short and drilled 2 more holes so as to secure the front up nicely pics too follow.

 

[stevoss]

all done and driving, had a massive panic attack couldnt start the car, then my mate realised it was just the positive terminal was not connected properly because i had no lights or anything else lol any questions on anything so far give me a yell, will update more as i get time into a complete sequence of events.

 

[gunsy]

hey mate good to hear you've got it finished,how hard was it to do the wiring loom? ive got mine running on the auto computer still,an Holden are the only ones who can link the manual computer to my bcm but they dont wanna touch the wiring!

 

[stevoss]

piece of piss mate, the full loom just plugs and plays, make sure you get the one for your car though ie vt series 2 manual (conversion) for a vt series 2 auto (Car).

break down of the wiring:
1) passenger foot well remove the trim covering the ecu,
2) gently pull the ecu off the cradle
3) undo 3 plugs on the side of the ecu
4) remove the ecu out of the way and remove the cradle off the wall by means of a flat head screwdriver and a little bit of thought
5) there is a big black plug on the firewall all you need to do is squeeze each side of it and it will push forward slightly
6) the wiring is still held inside the car by some cable tie things so just pull them out and start feeding the single section of loom back through the hole into the engine bay
7) in the engine compartment side remove the black grommet from the firewall by pulling firmly and by use of a flat head screwdriver.
8) now it starts to get really hard from here as you can do it many ways,
9) jack the car up and put on stands for 20mins
10) With the car up get underneath and disconnect the 2 single detonation(knock) sensor plugs either side of the block by squeezing with you fingers on both sides and pull straight down (these are absolute bitches)
11) disconnect the exhaust 02 plugs either side
12) now pulling the cable forward form the det sensors disconnect the lower clips to things so that you can pull the loom up in front of the motor
13) now its time to drop the car back down
14) start to undo the plugs on the front of the motor from the bottom and moving up (there is also an earth on the front of the motor attached to the tensioner i think it needs to be undone)
15) you need to remember the path in which the loom is placed to do this you can use a white permanent marker or something and just draw marks where it was running
16) on the passenger side of the engine at the front you will see it is all running behind a pulley, (DONT PULL IT OFF) you dont need to just feed it behind it (really fidly)
17) having disconnected the crank angle, water temp, aircon (front of the radiator there is a plug), inlet temp, afm, more i cant remember you should have it too the point where you should remove the top half of the airbox, And piping, also remove the egr pipe off the side of the throttle aswell as the cable and cruise control cable out of the way. (another earth on the rear of the engine passenger side)
18) undo the clips on the injectors and on the back of the engine there is a single plug near the firewall
19) 3 large connectors on the drivers side of the engine need to be disconnected
20) and a small conector on that side aswell
21) you should be able to feed the loom back out both sides and start nearly pulling it all out
22) there is a lot of clips on the firewall at the top you will see these just squeeze them together and pull the bottom half away will allow you to remove the loom out of it
23) if you havent remove the auto already it would be wise to disconnect the transmittion wires now, you will have a stupid clip on the drivers side which is fairly big and the inhibitor switch which you might have to remove as a unit, just wont undo.
24) Replace in reverse to installation


will take pics of the loom and label the plugs when i get time but any more questions and i will answer them first.

 

[stevoss]

also swap the bcm from the same car as the ecu, then just drive to holden to get it changed if you need to or just program your keys to the new bcm i swapped a mid level bcm into the car from a low level then i am just going to get my old keys reprogrammed, until then i have just kept the remote that came with the conversion using my key until i get it all changed.

 

[SpaceYam]

Hey Gunsy, Holden aren't the only ones who can link a PCM to BCM.

If you're on the Central Coast in NSW, go see Aaron at Coastech in Fountaindale. He really took care of the problems I was having with my car and he absolutely knows his stuff.

 

[stevoss]

okay here are some photos mostly in random order


what should see when disconnected at the ecu and pulled through the firewall


this is the plug on the detonation sensor


3 plugs on the firewall plus a smaller one to the right


where it comes out of the firewall


plug on the bottom of the aircon hose


here is the earth on the front of the motor, just take off the nut


the connection on the bottom of the coil packs i needed a really small socket to get this off


remember where this runs


ecu in the cradle


3 plugs on the side of the ecu


temp fix until i get a better bracket as the shifter hole is larger in a vt series 1


the clutch master in the foot well


i didnt have a stopper for the clutch so i just used an old bolt with 2 nuts


picture of the accel pedal and brake how they overlap needs to be undone to swap pedals.


how the brake connects to the firewall


picture of the top of the brake pedal and clutch under the dash

 

[gunsy]

thanks heaps, yer i got the conversion with only pcm and manual loom and no bcm. thanks David i deffinately go see them.. i cant find anyone that wants to touch it.
do you know if the auto computer will plug into the new manual wiring loom (if i decide to swap it myself) just so i can get it to some one who can link the new pcm