3BABY

Hi Guys,

so with respect to my first thread, i have an AT 4-port 2005 version that had a very tired engine, the engine/box was pulled out and the engine pulled down. So the original plan was to just rebuild the engine, give the porting a little tickle and throw it back in a drive it as a daily driver. Now as most of us would think and say when were standing in the garage looking at the engine bay void of a powerplant.. "well ive gone this far, if im going to do a rebuild why not rebuild a 6-port and do the manual conversion at the same time"

So, after a few beers and some thought i figured my best shot at this would be to purchase a complete 6-spd damaged car or at minimum a front cut.. thus, I managed to purchase a half cut JDM 6-speed that needs a rebuild in the engine department (no problem). i have read a bunch of threads and info on the do's and dont's of doing this conversion.

here
and here

are just a couple examples (above).

My question and this thread is not going to be directed at the mechanical aspect of this conversion (that is all above) but at the electrical. specifically the PCM, Key/transponder, the PATS system, any other CAN related devices, between JDM and AUS/NZ model vehicles.

the original vehicle i have is a New Zealand new, i can see already that the keys are different. my original key looks to have the "keyless" entry buttons on it, while the JDM cut has just a simple key with inbuilt transponder.

so after i swap out the PCM to the 6-port one and sort out my mechanical locks, or get some new keys to suit my barrels and the JDM PCM, what problems will i run into in terms of my Entry Control Module?

shall i go as far as just swapping out the entire body loom under the dash? (pulling my dash out and swapping everything under there) or shall i just try to get away with using my existing body loom and just the JDM engine/PCM loom and then seeing what problems i run into with the Entry Control Module?

ASH8 i know you have allot of info on this, could you shed any light on this?

ill keep this thread updated with the progress and pics.

Where im starting - Auto Trans and Engine out:
upload gif

08RX8

Hey bro here is thread on this conversion check it out all you need to know. https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-specific-performance-mods-97/mt-swap-151684/#post2563386

3BABY

Hey 08RX8,
thanks for the link, i had looked at that thread and it does have some good info.

On the topic of the electric side of the conversion:
This is the most technical part of the conversion in general in my opinion. The mechanical side everything bolts in nicely, driveshaft length are the same so using a MT shaft is fine, engine and exhaust all just fits.

On the electrical side: Given that the PCM, ABS pump, Gauge Cluster have to come from the same car i decided to just purchase an entire front half of a JDM import that had a seized engine. Swapping the looms over isnt as simple as it sounds and the JDM donor car had the rear loom cut. There is a rear loom that runs from the rear of the vehicle to up under the dash, a front loom that runs from under the dash to the front of the vehicle and a engine loom that goes to the PCM and battery/start relay.

The existing vehicle had a few options that the JDM car did not, like auto leveling headlights, washers, HID headlights etc. so i had to pull apart the JDM front loom to wire in all of this gear. Also, the wiring in the front/rear looms specifically; the loom plugs at the dash corner (where everything connects up inter loom) are not a direct match. There were a few wires to things that ran into different plugs so i had to go through every loom wire-by-wire and make sure everything was in the correct place, there were no shots etc and each wire was connecting to the correct wire on each plug, wires that were not i had to rewire into a new plug. Also removing all the wiring (and there is allot) for the TCM. The wiring diagram for the vehicle was of great help here. however there are still some differences between the JDM, NZ/AUS and US versions (i had a wiring diagram for US).

after everything was wired up i pulled all the fuses and had to add each vehcile system at a time (fuse-by-fuse) and test each system to make sure it worked.

After installing the engine and starting it up, i was almost surprised there was no codes and the CEL remained off. I got into the PCM via the CAN bus system (OBDII) and checked everything was ok, and it was. One thing that is not mentioned, that i had issues with was the EPS controller, i originally used the AT EPS controller, upon turning the ignition to "ON" sometimes i would have power steering sometimes i wouldn't i thought there must be an dodgy wire so i double checked my wiring, there wasnt, it was fine, i changed to the MT EPS controller and that resolved the issue. so in my case PCM, ABS pump, Gauge cluster and EPS controller and Central locking module had to come from the same car.

Another thing i wasnt sure about was if all RX8's had DSC, i was sure (at the time of dismantling) the JDM donor car did not have this as i couldnt find any dash button or wiring for it. I had disconnected the Yaw sensor in the origginal vehicle (once the new wiring was in) and the DSC light on the dash was on (signalling DSC off), i plugged it back in and the DSC light went off. so now im thinking that DSC is built into the ABS pump controller (at least between the donor and the NZ new vehicle i had) so the question is still open for me --> do all RX8's have DSC?. i have disconnected the Yaw sensor currently and the DSC light is on. When im on gravel both wheels spin so i assume 1stly LSD and 2ndly DSC is off (by way of disconnecting the yaw sensor). i have not tested this completely yet.. may be some heavy breaking and steering will determine if i end up in a slide or not.

One thing i still have todo is get a good dyno tune done, i gave the engine some decent porting, so it feels like its a little bit fuel limited at the moment.

So all up, the conversion mechanically is fairly straight forward, the conversion in terms of wiring and electrical is fairly involved as one has to either take complete looms from a donor car (one that have not been chopped) and be prepaired to loose whatever options came on the original car OR pull apart all the wiring and go through wire-by-wire and add these things.

Picture of the wiring loom under dash and final rear loom after everything was checked:




Short block after rebuild:


Engine/Box running gear from the donor (2days work to get this out and cut up):