Magnum EFI to carb conversion

[Bret Ludwig]

Let's say hypothetically I have a Magnum 318 Dodge truck with a dead ECM and I want to get rid of the ECM entirely. I know there is a carb manifold available, will a standard electronic or points distributor fit these engines? Or is there an aftermarket one that does and provides conventional triggering and advance mechanisms?

If it has an automatic, does its box need the data from the ECM and if it does, can it be rewired to use other inputs or a non-electronic-engine box?

 

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Let's say hypothetically I have a Magnum 318 Dodge truck with a dead ECM and I want to get rid of the ECM entirely. I know there is a carb manifold available, will a standard electronic or points distributor fit these engines? Or is there an aftermarket one that does and provides conventional triggering and advance mechanisms?

If it has an automatic, does its box need the data from the ECM and if it does, can it be rewired to use other inputs or a non-electronic-engine box?

Year of truck, please?

Ted

 

[philthy]

you will spend more money and time to convert than buying a new pcm

 

[Stan Weiss]

Email David and see if he repairs this model. I had ECM for my Geo Tracker repaired by him, Great service. david ruberg Stan

 

[Tom Line]

I've driven both, and it seems to me that the ECM yields more power, smoother warm-ups etc. If it was lean-burn, I'd say go for it. But not the ECM.

Let's say hypothetically I have a Magnum 318 Dodge truck with a dead ECM and I want to get rid of the ECM entirely. I know there is a carb manifold available, will a standard electronic or points distributor fit these engines? Or is there an aftermarket one that does and provides conventional triggering and advance mechanisms?

If it has an automatic, does its box need the data from the ECM and if it does, can it be rewired to use other inputs or a non-electronic-engine box?

 

[Steve (archive)]

Let's say hypothetically I have a Magnum 318 Dodge truck with a dead ECM and I want to get rid of the ECM entirely. I know there is a carb manifold available, will a standard electronic or points distributor fit these engines? Or is there an aftermarket one that does and provides conventional triggering and advance mechanisms?

As far as I know, a circa 1973 full-function (trigger, mech. advance, and vacuum advance) distributor for a 318 will fit in the engine and cna fire a standard circa 1973 Mopar ignition module (or GM HEI module since we're in the custom realm anyway ;-)) The big question that I do not know for certain is whether or not there's room back there for the vacuum advance on the side of the distributor to swing around to allow you to set the timing- that's more vehicle-dependent than engine dependent, since the carb-type manifold WILL have clearance for the distribuor.

If it has an automatic, does its box need the data from the ECM and if it does, can it be rewired to use other inputs or a non-electronic-engine box?

That depends on the year of the truck. From the start of the Mangnums until about 1996, the transmission only used electronic controls for two things: 1) locking the convertor, and 2) engaging overdrive. Those signals came from the PCM, but a lot of guys that put these trannies in old muscle cars just used toggle switches, and there is a little "black box" available to do it automatically without a full PCM. The rub is that starting around 1996, Chrysler got rid of the hydraulic governor in that transmission, and used a tonewheel type outputs speed sensor that generated a signal fed to the PCM. The PCM in turn combined this with other inputs and sent a signal back to an actuator in a modified version of the valve body and thus was involved in ALL the shift-points and shift-rates. That's a much harder system to duplicate than the earlier trnamission that still retained a full hydrualic governor.

 

[Daniel J. Stern]

Tom, Bret's a moron and a troll. He's made that abundantly clear in rec.autos.makers.chrysler, babbling ignorantly about all kinds of stuff he clearly doesn't understand.

 

[Dodge-Him]

I converted a 88 dodge Carburetored truck and the original wiring was left hooked up and taped over to run the electronic lock up and such and new was wired in as per instructions! Yes as far as I know all you need is a intake and carburetor and the electronic conversion kit.

What year is it and what body style Dakota or ram?
Barry A. Lee

 

[Bret Ludwig]

Tom, Bret's a moron and a troll. He's made that abundantly clear in rec.autos.makers.chrysler, babbling ignorantly about all kinds of stuff he clearly doesn't understand.

You're a real ****-penis these days, Stern.

I asked the question, "hypothetically" because I wanted to know if it could be done, just out of curiosity, not with any specific year in mind or whether it was all that great an idea.

You bust my balls on every little thing, just to obscure the big picture, on which I am pretty knowledgeable compared to most people.