Thread: SR20VE from Auto Tiptronic Primera, into Manual Primera that was SR20DE (A year or 2 older than the VE too)

Hey guys,

I'm hoping you can help me and my friends out. They're doing the above swap.They want to keep the VE ecu. They have fitted the VE motor and changed over the harness so the VE ecu can plug into the motor it was originally on. Engine is cranking ok, but there is no spark. I'm confused as hell as its all the same equipment just in a different car. The ecu doesn't know its in another car. I don't know if the fuel pump is running either. Makes me think it could be something to do with the wiring in the car. Is there a body module hidden somewhere? Like I've seen in some newer model Subarus?? Tomorrow the boys are going to strip the car wiring from the VE primera shell, and fit this to the project car to see if they can get spark. I've done heaps of reading and searching before posting. Alot of people are saying use a DE ecu, but we have everything the VE was running with from the other car so I don't think we should need to do this. We want to get everything going with as much VE parts as possible. And does anyone know the story with the neutral switching from the car being an automatic in its previous life? We've got what we think are accurate ecu pinouts. One of the pins is referenced as neutral switch. Does this just have to be grounded out? Or does it need to be a certain resistance? Or some other protocol?

I would really appreciate any help and any ideas that you guys may have. I have done heaps of searching before reaching out to you guys. I'm sorry if the answer is contained somewhere else in the forum. There's so much knowledge of these types of motors on here, and I havent been able to find the answers needed.

Warm regards,
Dean

I don't think there is anything special you need from the donor car to get the engine to work, like an anti-theft module or anything. But I could be wrong.

If you're not getting spark, you'll want to make sure the ECU is seeing the engine position signal for the cam-angle sensor (CAS). And obviously make sure the ECU is getting power and such as well. No spark typically ends up being a CAS issue if everything else is good.

I'm not 100% sure what the ECU (coming from an automatic car) is going to do based on the neutral switch. Maybe it limits revs, or prevents the engine from cranking (or getting spark?) or something similar. There is no reason you couldn't connect it to the neutral switch of the manual transmission. But if you don't want to deal with it, I believe if it sees ground, it will think the non-existent automatic transmission is in neutral. I think. Assuming the neutral switch completes a circuit. But it couldn't hurt to try it both ways. Open, or grounded.

I have not dealt with a VE engine myself, nor a swap like this, so I'm just shooting from the hip. There are others much more informed that hopefully will come along to help.

Thanks for your input

Today is going to be an interesting day

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