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S13 to S14 Distributor Swap

23036 Views 11 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  s13poppyboy
Ok, so I've searched several forums now and found that swapping between these two distributors seems to be common practice for the coil upgrade.

In my case I actually broke my S13 Distributor while removing it for a timing chain guard removal. It was simply stuck and wouldn't slide out. I finally got it out but it's not useable anymore. I bought a pulled S14 engine today with all the accessories on it so I could use the distributor to fix this particular problem.

Now I need to figure out how to plug in the S14 Distributor to my S13 wiring. I have noticed that people have done the opposite so the reverse can't be that hard. The S14 Distributor has 6 pins in the main harness connector and the S13 haness only has 4. Also, the S14 Distributor has an additional 2 pin haness conection that I assume is for the internal coil.

Any help or redirection to another thread would be much appreciated. I did try searching but came up with nothing. If I figure it out I'll post a walkthrough.

-Zach
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Here's what I've found out so far. I've included some questions in the pictures.
All the harness diagrams are drawn from a rear-view aspect. So, you're looking at the back of the harness where the wires come out.


Wow "Finder" I'm special...........^

The S13 has a group of fender harnesses that attach to various things. Th S14 does not have the external coil so this fender harness is not used/necessary. The S13 has a Coil and power transistor mounted to the fender. Both have a harness and there is one more connector that comes out of the bundle of wires that conects to a spade connector on the coils' base... presumably to ground.

Also, the S14 Distributor has a "condenser" mounted to it with a spade connector conecting it to the body of the distributor. Do I need to move it somewhere else?

Here is the guide I found that shows how to put a S13 Distributor into a S14.
I'm trying to do the opposite so It's hard to translate it.

http://jimwolftechnology.com/wolfpdf/DISTRIBUTOR%20SR%20KA%20CHANGE%20CAR%20TO%20EXT%20COIL%20AND%20TRANSISTER.PDF
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Whoa. People swap out their S14 distributors for S13 distributors because the S13 has an external coil which can be upgraded to a MSD peice. Its not very complicated either way. Just grab the FSM for both cars and compare the wiring harness. You will obviously need the connectors to plug the distributor in.


EDIT: I missed your second post, sorry. Heres some wiring diagrams from the FSM, Im almost 100% sure they will solve your problem if you can read them

S14:


S13:


Heres a helper on how to read them if you dont. The circles in the lines show a ground that connects to another ground such as the two black ones for the two top pins for the S13's resistor/condensor connector. Both wires are black and both connect to a ground. The letters with slashes in a hash in between the wire lines determines the color/stripe/dot of the color.

Heres a color chart for decoding them:


The numbers by the arrows on the S14 image correspond to the pins on the connectors which I also arrowed. You can see the flow of electricity from the connector to the wire to the inside of the device to the ground or wherever it ends up.
Thats all you really need to know right now. Just make the diagram look the same for both using your handy dandy soldering iron.

One more thing. Personally, I wouldnt go through all of this trouble. S13 DOHC distributor are easy to find.

Almost forgot, those two wires you dont know where they go. They are for the S13's crankshaft position sensor/S14's camshaft position sensor(same thing, different name). Heres the diagrams:

S14:


S13:
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Hey thanks alot Shwag. Those really helped out. I've come up with what I think will work properly and have made a harness adaptor. I chopped up my old broken distributor and used the harness conector for the adaptor. This way I can switch back to the S13 Distributor when I get one. I really didn't want to splice into my engine wiring harness. I <3 Adaptors.

Here's what I came up with:


The adaptor that I made allows me to conect my 4-pin engine harness to the adaptor then the adaptor to the S14 distributor's 6-pin connector. There are 2 pins left on the S14 harness so those wires plug into the Power Transistor harness on my fender. The Power connector for the External Coil just plugs right into the second harness connector on the S14 Distributor. A few zip ties and some electrical tape and all should be secure and out of the way. I sure hope it all works.

I try it tomorrow... right after I find a guide on timing.

-Wish me luck
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Putting the distributor back in is a pain in the ass.
Hey, yeah I'm pretty sure it's not going to be easy to get the right tooth lined up. This is the first time I've ever pulled a distributor. I have combed the forums high and low and found no mention of how to install it. Just alot of "Put in in TDC and plug 'er up" That's about the quality of the info on distributors around here.

Thanks alot for your help finding the schematics that made sense of the wires I was questioning. I've got the service manual on PDF so I'll hopefully find it in there. I have a timing light so as long as I got the damn thing in right I can time it easy.

-Zach
so yeah.. it's not cranking... maybe I need to ground that little spade conector on the S14 Distributor that has the condenser plugged into it.

No idea... someone please guide me!

-Zach
Ok, so I went to Top Hat tonight and picked up an S13 Distributor. The people working there are really stand-up guys. They had tons of KA parts and gave me a good fair price. I also found out a few things about my engine in the process. I found out that the upper timing chain covers are different for the S14 and S13 in such a way that they will leak if swapped from one to the other.

For those who may come upon this thread looking for the same answers I was looking for: I also found out that if you want to do a distributor swap there are also some sensors that have to be changed. I believe it was the intake temperature sensor and possibly another one. Hopefully if you need to do the swap they you have someone that can answer the specific questions like that. The forums here do not have the answer as far as I could find through searching.

So, in the end I couldn't get the S14 Distributor to work in my S13 with the adaptor I attempted to create. I reccomend that anyone trying do do a similar swap post a how-to if they can figure it out so that others may benifit from it. I'm sure that plenty of S14 owners out there would love to upgrade to an external aftermarket coil. In fact, I KNOW that many people HAVE actually done the upgrade and it seems like a commom practice. However, there are no how-to's showing the process.

-Zach
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why would u need a diff intake temperature sensor when ur replacing a distributor, that makes no sense in my eyes
I know what ya mean. That's just what the guy said. The Sensor is different in the two models and somehow it makes the ECU no nuts when you swap the distributor or something. I didn't really get specifics because I was buying a S13 distributor to put back in the car so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Hopefully someone that knows about all this will make a post so guys like me don't have to guess.

All I can tell you is that the adaptor I made didn't work and I got no spark. The internals in the S14 distributor are the same as the S13's externals. It was just a matter of matching up the wires. I thought I had it right but then again noone else seemed to know either. I don't get it really. I thought that the Distributor swap was a big thing and at least a few ppl would know the wiring bit. Oh well, I hope that someone pickes up my DIY request post and makes a thread in the "Installation Guides" Forum. There has got to be SOMEONE around here that's done it.

-Zach
I know what ya mean. That's just what the guy said. The Sensor is different in the two models and somehow it makes the ECU no nuts when you swap the distributor or something. I didn't really get specifics because I was buying a S13 distributor to put back in the car so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Hopefully someone that knows about all this will make a post so guys like me don't have to guess.

All I can tell you is that the adaptor I made didn't work and I got no spark. The internals in the S14 distributor are the same as the S13's externals. It was just a matter of matching up the wires. I thought I had it right but then again noone else seemed to know either. I don't get it really. I thought that the Distributor swap was a big thing and at least a few ppl would know the wiring bit. Oh well, I hope that someone pickes up my DIY request post and makes a thread in the "Installation Guides" Forum. There has got to be SOMEONE around here that's done it.

-Zach
HEY,Please help me,i also want to swap s14 head and need distributor wiring diagram completely.Or it is possible to use my old distributor?
someone send me the s13 and s14 dizzy diagrams PLEASE
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