Originally Posted by LantanaTX
I have been working on other things but am now back on track. Today I bought the MB Star diagnostic system and an IBM T30 laptop. My uncle who is the race car mechanic will be here for 9 days starting October 10th. I am tying up a few loose ends so that as soon as he gets here we can dig into it. Tomorrow my ECU goes to Beckman to become a virgin again. There is still alot of unknowns but Kanzus' experience is very helpful although there are some different issues we each have to deal with.
The only real concern with the swap is the electronics. the engine swap couldn't be much more straight forward.
Here is the therory:
Program the new ECU to the car using the Star DAS. The Star system does not allow you to chose Crossfire, so I have to select something similar that came with a 5.0 V8. Maybe a C or CLK500? May also have to use developer mode to resolve other issues. Not sure what will happen when it reads a Chrysler VIN number??? No on knows the answers to this but I hope we can work it out so I don't have to put the V6 back in!
I am not changing transmissions but the gear ratios and rear end gears have to match the selected car. this could be a problem but have been told that in developer mode this can all be changed. I do think this has to all be programed correctly prior to trying to start the car. Once the key has been turned three times the ECU is locked again and any changes after that are almost impossible.
I'm not trying to take the wind out of your sails, but a couple things crossed my mind reading you post.
When you say the turn the key 3 times bit, hasn't the key already been turned more than three times. If it's impossible then then it should be impossible now right?? Am I making sense on that one?
Once the ECM is "virgin" again, what's it reading a Chrysler VIN from? Maybe the TCM, maybe, that's all I could think of. Nothing else is going to be VIN specific.
Justin