I decided that I would use the factory sr20det ECU and looms along with the 180sx dash which I had acquired from the 1/2 cut.

The decision to use the factory ECU was initially because of the cost of aftermarket computers, but after speaking to members of the sr20transplants forum, it became apparent that the factory ECU would be a far better choice.

The first thing to do with the sr loom was to strip out all the redundant wiring (which i'm sure isn't 100% complete even now). The absolute easiest way to do this is to clear a large area in your house/garage whatever and unravel the lot and lay it out neatly on the ground.

Next was to use the wiring diagrams obtained from sr20transplants and ozdat (2 extremely useful groups) Nissan S13 Manual and SR20DET ECU pin outs and diagram.

Traulling thru all the wiring and removing what wasn't needed took a good week of atleast 4 to 5 hours each night. Like others have said to me, if you're going to do this yourself, take your TIME!

The next step with the wiring was to hook it all upto the engine and see if I could bring the engine to life for the first time! Remembering that i'd had the engine sitting in my garage for 8 months, I was pretty damn keen to get it going.

After spending 2 to 3 hours a night over a past week I finally managed to get all the wiring sorted out. Then you'd think it would simply be a matter of plugging this in there and turning the key, right? Wrong, nothing ever seems to work out like that.

After plugging in and double checking everything (or so I thought), hooking up fuel/fuel pump and connecting the battery, I finally was ready to turn the engine over for the first time (well first time for me).

Cranks over nicely, but doesn't start. Ok check fuel is hooked up correctly, yup, check for spark NUP. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why it wouldn't start. Everything seemed to be hooked up correctly. I remember reading an article (by Geordie Smith from SR20transplants group)
and he had the same problem, ie engine cranked but no spark. How'd he fix it? Simple really hook up the freakin ignitor pack arghhhhhh god damn I'm an idiot.

Ok plug the ignitor pack in and turn key (remember this is 8:15am Sunday morning and there is no exhaust on the motor bar a tiny dump pipe) and vrooooooooommmm well a little vrooooom and more farting really (listen to sound file). But it started and that called for a big yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa followed by my flatmate racing down to the garage as he thought i'd finally been crushed by the car :)

Hear my sr start for the first time sr first start.wav (right click and 'save target as').

I am currently in the process of changing all the dash wiring over. I had a 180sx indicator stalk (headlights, wipers, indicators etc).

The good news is the instrument cluster fits straight over the the datsun 510 steering column and if you've got a Boss kit to hook up your sports steering wheel. The kill swithch for the indicators works perfectly.

I will add pictures and wiring diagrams of how I went about this as it is a fantastic upgrade for the little datsun 510.