Box up behind glove compartment

[Mastiff]

Dumb question, what is the electronic box up there? I see an edge connector on it that I must have disconnected a long time ago. Well, it's disconnected and I'm the only owner. Anyway, what is it? I don't think it's the ESC box is it?

1983 K5 by the way.

 

[cybrfire]

Dumb question, what is the electronic box up there? I see an edge connector on it that I must have disconnected a long time ago. Well, it's disconnected and I'm the only owner. Anyway, what is it? I don't think it's the ESC box is it?

1983 K5 by the way.

ECU? got pictures? You have the fancy carb?

 

[Mastiff]

I'll snap a pic. No ECU in 1983. Just ESC as far as I know. Carb was all mechanical and boatloads of vacuum hoses.

 

[sweetk30]

yes ecu you said it already . esc electronic spark control.

if you have a 4 wire out of the hei dist then this is needed.

 

[Mastiff]

I could have sworn there was a smaller box for the ESC over on the driver's side. This thing is not hooked up to anything, but maybe it was once. I'm not using ESC on my TBI conversion. This could be prime real estate to mount my ECM for the TBI.

 

[Mastiff]

I'm pretty sure this is the ESC, red box up above the pedals:

 

[ryoken]

that's an ECU above the heater/glovebox....

 

[Mastiff]

that's an ECU above the heater/glovebox....

What does an ECU do in a carb vehicle? This is 1983, I thought all I had was ESC (red box?).

 

[ryoken]

got me, I just know that's physically what it is... you said it's not hooked up to anything right? plug is on the left iirc...

 

[Mastiff]

It's not hooked up. It has a board edge connector you can see in the picture. I'm not running ESC... not sure if I'd need the box anyway since I have the TBI ECM now. The big box is the spark module though:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NAPA-ECHLIN...et&hash=item5888824eff&vxp=mtr#ht_2627wt_1139

So what is the little red box by the pedals?

 

[86454K30]

I am fairly sure that controlled the distributor. The harness from that ecu/esc ran to a 4 position weather pack that hooked to the distributor. There should be about a 2" hole on the firewall behind the distributor towards the passenger side.

My brother had an 83 K10 that had the same thing we disconnected and removed when we put a non-computer HEI in it.

 

[Mastiff]

Funny thing is that I really don't think that thing was ever hooked up. I would have remembered removing the wiring. I did not have a distributor with the extra connector until I swapped one in for my TBI conversion. I wonder if it could be a California emissions thing in 1983. Maybe they stuck the box in mine for some reason... just guessing. I still think the red box is the spark thing. Not sure of anything at this point though.

 

[Mastiff]

Red one might be cruise control module?

 

[diesel4me]

Not sure about GM full sized trucks,but I had a '82 GMC Cabbalaro with a 229 V6 that had an electronic feedback carb,and it had an ECU under the passenger side kick panel...around 1981 is when GM started using carbs with throttle position sensors and mixture control solenoids,that needed a computer to control them...(along with the EST spark distributor,which had its own little module sometimes)..

 

[K85 Octane]

Red one might be cruise control module?

one of natures mysteries

 

[wayne]

Can you get the numbers off the ECU? My thought by looking at it is it's a 87 to 91 computer. Could be that at sometime in the past the the tub was swapped.

 

[Mastiff]

Can you get the numbers off the ECU? My thought by looking at it is it's a 87 to 91 computer. Could be that at sometime in the past the the tub was swapped.

I've owned this vehicle since new. Well, my dad had it and then I got it. He never touched anything.

I'm sure the box is the spark controller now. It's interesting, the box itself is small, but is contained in a plastic holder that makes it the size of a TBI ECM. This is then strapped into the vehicle. It's like they planned ahead on the form factor of the ECM, or the California vehicles needed the bigger computer for the CCC and then they kept the form factor into the TBI years.

Anyway, it's the spark computer. A little thing. I'm pretty sure the other box must be the cruise control.

I think I must have pulled the wiring out of that box when I did my TBI swap and just completely blanked my memory on it. I'm using the big grommet to get the TBI stuff through.

 

[TDS-MN]

yes, I will agree, that is the ESC controller behind the glove box. I've removed and replaced mine, I did not like the way my truck ran when i had it bypassed, however I still had rest of the system as stock.

I have nothing that looks like the red box in my '85, so I'll go with the guesses of Cruise Control.

 

[496truck]

I've owned this vehicle since new. Well, my dad had it and then I got it. He never touched anything.

I'm sure the box is the spark controller now. It's interesting, the box itself is small, but is contained in a plastic holder that makes it the size of a TBI ECM. This is then strapped into the vehicle. It's like they planned ahead on the form factor of the ECM, or the California vehicles needed the bigger computer for the CCC and then they kept the form factor into the TBI years.

Anyway, it's the spark computer. A little thing. I'm pretty sure the other box must be the cruise control.

I think I must have pulled the wiring out of that box when I did my TBI swap and just completely blanked my memory on it. I'm using the big grommet to get the TBI stuff through.

That is the location of my TBI's ECM. Pretty sure your TBI ECM will fit there without issue.

 

[DickeysK5]

The TBI ECM will fit there. I put mine there in my '84. The plastic bracket is not the same size as the TBI ECM. With a little careful cutting of the plastic bracket, the bracket can be made to fit the TBI ECM. The modified bracket and TBI ECM can then be bolted back into the stock location.