GR8WHITE

I am looking for advice on how to complete wiring connections for my new Ramjet 350 engine. The car is an '82 Corvette (non-Collector) which had the Cross-Fire F.I. engine. There were lots of wires, vacuum tubes, etc, required to run the old engine. The Ramjet is much simplified. Came with its own wiring harness with everything labeled. I am not a wizard when it comes to wiring a car. The few connections I have left are the Tach feed, ingnition wire, fuel pump signal and ground, battery positive. I'm not sure where I connect these wires. Should they go through the fuse terminal, or ??? Any help would be appreciated.

Bryan52803

I wish I could help you but my ram jet is still sitting in the garage

What hood did you end up using, and how much more clearance did you need?

Bry

PS: Keep me posted when its all said and done, theres so little info about the engine on the internet!

zwede

Let's see... Tach feed goes to your tach. The old distributor had a terminal marked tach. Usually the wire going to it is brown. Connect this wire to the tach feed.

Next to the tach temrinal on the old HEI was the ignition feed wire. Usually pink. Connect this wire to the one marked ignition wire on the ramjet.

Fuel pump and ground needs to go to the electric pump in the tank. Not sure if your stock pump will be enough. Ramjet need a 43 PSI pump. I think cross fire was lower. About 12PSI or so. You also may need a relay between the pump and ramjet. Check the instructions.

Battery pos can be hooked up anywhere you have a constant 12V. The bat terminal on the alternator works fine (the post with the heavy gauge wire). The horn relay under the drivers side fender also has battery power.

carriljc

I wired mine up about a year ago;
1. the Tach Lead is labeled as such and you can run directly to your tach.
2. You can run the ignition wire to a spare fuse "switched" terminal on your fuse block.
3. Run the B+ lead to the large post on your starter(make sure you use a fusible link here).
4. As far as the fuel pump wires, just run them directly to the fuel pump.....my MEFI system came with separate fuses to deal with the pp.

All the necessary relays should be included in the system.

GR8WHITE

I bought an L-88 style hood that fits the later C3s on e-Bay for $350. I just checked to see if they're still offered but did not see it. If you are interested I can dig up the guy's contact info and you can probably get one.

p.s. I grew up near Galena (actually, very close to Apple River State Park).

markdtn

Use a stock C4 LT1 or TunedPort pump on the stock sending unit. Should plug right in. Delco pump kits include the correct terminals.

GR8WHITE

Thanks for the help. I found the brown (tach) and pink (ignition) wires. Regarding the tach...Should I re-use the tach-filter from my old engine? (not sure if the new engine has it built in).

Most everything has it's own relay, but I was wondering...do I need to insert a fuse on the B+ wire that I send to the alternator?

I bought the high pressure fuel pump suggested by GM (getting ready to install it and a new sending unit). I was wondering if I have to string wires all the way back to the tank or could I just trace the wires from the old pump and connect to them?

GR8WHITE

Thanks for the help! I see you have a '68. I doubt if you changed out your speedo since the Feds didn't impose the 55mph limit at that time. My '82 has an 85mph speedo and I can't stand it -- plus I converted to a 4L60-E cop trans which does not have a mechanical output for the speedo cable. Any chance you have a source for converting to an electronic speedo for 80-82 'vette? I've looked into the round ones by AutoMeter, and don't like the digital ones from Dakota Digital. My problem is that the original speedo is flat across the bottom, so I'd need a modified bezel to fit a round one...

BTW: How do you like the Ramjet for performance? What size engine was in your '68?

markdtn

Use the original tach filter.

See http://www.bowtieoverdrives.com or http://www.jagsthatrun.com for a mechanical speedo adapter for a 4L60 or 700R4 trans. Corvette Clocks by Roger and others offer a 140 or 165 mph conversion for your mechanical speedo or may be able to convert it to electronic.

I would rather use a stock internal pump for your tank and use the stock lines, but that's me. You can use the stock wires fairly easily if you put the computer in the storage compartment. If the RamJet has an engine compartment mounted computer, I would just string the wire.


[Modified by markdtn, 11:58 AM 6/15/2004]

GR8WHITE

Bryan, I just saw your picture standing next to your 'vette with the Ramjet to your side. I noticed the air cleaner you have has a nice looking chrome cover. Could you tell me what brand it is, part number, etc. and where I could buy one? I bought the 7" K&N filter and it has a black rubber endcap, plus it's a tight fit with the fan shroud.

FYI: I will be done with this project within the next month. As you can see, other posts to my question have given me good advice on the electrical details. I just need to finish the electrical connections (only a few left), vacuum line hookup (shouldn't be too tough), install the drive shaft, hookups to the transmission, install high pressure fuel pump, and fire it up. I won't program the tranny until it's running. Plus, I need to get some custom work done on the exhaust system. I basically put a complete new drivetrain in this car. Rear axle is now sporting 3.73 gears, new posi, seals, etc, and the tranny is a GM remanufactured 4L60-E police version. Should handle the 400 lb-ft of torque this baby puts out. Of course I'm here in the Mile-Hi City and I'll never produce that much power. I had to buy a standalone transmission controller since this automatic is electronically controlled as opposed to my old 700-R4. I am working with a company out east (Powertrain Control Solutions) that has developed a controller to work with many popular transmissions. I will have details of my project posted on their website after I'm done. Good Luck.

Bryan52803

That actually came stock. I made sure I ordered from GMPartsDirect.com because they were the only ones i found that had the MEFI4 computer which included the Oxygen sensor so this must be a new perk as well. I can lookup the air filter and get that for you if you want i think it lists it in the manual.

So do you recommend redoing all the drive train? After I discovered my rear differential cover was cracked I figured this would be something i needed to do :-( As long as I dont have to replace the differential itself I think I'll be fine..

Bry

Bryan52803

Ok I'm not sure if this is it but i *think* they pulled it of the ram Jet 502, in which case its listed as

12490257 AIR CLEANER

Thats what you were looking for right? Let me know if I can help anymore.

Bry

GR8WHITE

I searched through the supplement to the engine manual and found they suggest hooking the B+ wire to the starter post. I like your idea about the alternator better since it keeps the wire away from high heat. I was also wondering about the coil placement. The Ramjet comes with a standalone coil and mounting bracket. I could not find a convenient place to mount such a large bracket. So, I cut off part of it and mounted it to the firewall. I was wondering if I need to ground the coil with a separate wire since it's on a fiberglass firewall?

Another problem I'm concerned with is the anti-knock sensor's connector. It's very close to the flange of my short-style headers. But it's the flange, not the pipe. So, the pipe is actually 1/4" or more away from the connector. Do you think that will be enough clearance? Should it be protected with a heat shield of some sort? Either that or I'll convert to long-style headers that take a different route.

GR8WHITE

Talked to Roger. He said I can get a 165mph mechanical speedo that drops right in and looks stock (@ $250). Then I need a black box to convert the electronic signal from the tranny into a mechanical output drive. (@ $300). Not cheap, but would preserve my mechanically driven cruise control transducer and I wouldn't have to change my tach to match an aftermarket speedo. Thanks for the help.

markdtn

C4s with TPI (86-91) have a little shield around the knock sensor. You might find a C4 and see if you could peer under the hood and determine if it would fit.

Glad Roger could help. He restored my center cluster, and it looks great.

carriljc

Sorry about being so late...I've been working. My speedo is mechanical so I never looked into converting it. I did convert my tach to an electronic one since I couldn't use my tach drive anymore. I was using a short stubby K&N filter for awhile, it really didn't allow sufficient airflow(according to K&N's formula), so I fabricated/modified my L88 hood to use the cowl induction thru 2 K&Ns and down to the front intake.
My car's engine was a 350 HP L79. My RamJet came with the MEFI-3 and it ran just fine, other than being stinky. At the present time I have installed a '730 ECM, which I wired in parallel with the MEFI (I'm paranoid about single-failure and redundancy). I like the RamJet just fine. Lots better than carburetors, it just really annoyed me that it would always run rich. Learning how to program my own chips now....kinda fun, but when you ask I realize that I work too much and don't have enough time to play with it.

GR8WHITE

Do you recall what throttle cable you used and where you got it from? I've heard Lokar sells a universal one that works for the Ramjet. What headers do you have? I have shorties that hug the block but I'm concerned about the anti-knock sensor being to close to the header flange. I just wondered if you might have a long set that works better.

GR8WHITE

Can you tell me what amperage fusable link you used? I was thinking of getting an in-line fuse holder (that uses the modern plug-in type, not glass tube) and inserting a 10 amp fuse. I know there are fuses and there are fusible links but not sure what the difference is... Is a fusible link like a circuit breaker that you can reset instead of replace?

carriljc

I've got full length Hedman headers so the knock sensor isn't a problem. Recently read somewhere(don't rememer source) that you can mount the knock sensor just about anywhere on the engine block(I guess somewhat reasonably in the spatial sense).
I believe I used a 14 gauge fusible link....a fusbile link actually is just different chunk of wire that melts before your real harness does. You can look up what gauge fusible link to use by knowing the what size wire you're trying to protect. You can get fusible links at Autozone, etc for a couple of dollars.

markdtn

Can't speak to the Ramjet, but I used a stock C4 cable on my TPI conversion. It was a little long, so I cut the end off at the pedal and used a hood-cable clamp to shorten the cable (not the casing).