Can someone please tell me where the ECU is, I am going to do the 1.8 ecu swap and figured I might need to know where it is. Did anyone ever do a dyno? because a couple people said that it did not help at all then others did. Thanks

 

Under the dash left front size.

If you lie on the ground at the drivers side and look up to your left (high above the fuse box) you'll see a metal object screwed to the side.

It's a b**ch to get lose, stupid screws

 

It is a BIG pain to try to get the ECU out!! What I did was remove the panel that covers the fuses and wedged the computer there and connected the harness to that. Some people have zip tied the ECU to the old one. I tried that intially, buy there wasn't enough room. Good Luck!

 

Well, I did this last saturday. It is hard to get the old one out, but not as hard as getting the new one in wink1.gif . The way I took mine out was with the mounting bracket still attached. There are 2 bolts that hold the bracket to the car and 2 bolts up higher which hold a bank of 3 relays to the bracket. Also, there is a tie holding the ECU harness to the bracket. Cut the tie so you can get it out.

You have to try several times to get the ecu out, for it seems it only comes out in one way. Putting the new one in is just as tricky. Look at the back of the bracket. There is a rubber piece back there that slides into a slit in the firewall. This holds the top of the ECU in place. Get the bottom 2 bolts back in and work on the relay bank (if your anal like me, you will get all the bolts back in.)

Took a little under an hour.

As for performance... I still cant tell if its better or not (I did the cam and ecu in 1 step). The bottom end feels a little better, but I did not do a before & after dyno tongue.gif

 

If you can get a hold of a wrench socket set (sorry not sure of the name) I got mine out in a matter of 25 mins or so. It's way easier to get at the srews with a wrench rather than a socket. So the wrench socket set works wonders.

 

^^ Do you mean a ratcheting wrench or dogbone wrench?

 

Ratcheting wrench I think. The kit is from Canadian Tire, it's the MasterCraft Maximum edition. There are 8 metric and 8 imperial socket like wrench ends and a rathet. The ratchet has a swivel head to form to any application.



Like this but there is a set you can get that is identical to a ratchet set.

 

^those are exactly like the gear wrenches I used, the pivoting head works wonders in tight spaces. I still had to yank the ECU out with my bare hands, bracket and all, to get it out!

 

Yeah, I forgot to mention that as long as you disconnect the ECU plug you can be pretty rough with it too. There is only the bracket to unscrew from the firewall and then it should come right out to make it easier......maybe.