Magnavox to Delco Type II Ignition Swap

To swap your Magnavox Ignition system to the newer Delco system, you will need several parts. Most of the time, you should be able to find the entire assembly, which includes the Coils, coil bolts, Ignition Control Module, and Ignition Control Module base plate with attaching bolts. Most 1993 -1995 GM cars and minivans with the VIN: L " Tuned Port Injection " 3800 will have this assembly. To determine what engine was originally installed in your donor car or minivan, find the character in the 8th position of the VIN. You want that 8th character to be the letter " L. "

Here is a pic of everything you will need for the swap.


Once you have all of these parts, don't worry if you remove the coils and forget where they are located on the Ignition Control Module. The Module has the coil numbers imprinted onto the ICM.


With the assembly complete, you will notice the Ignition control module sandwiched between the coils and the base plate.


Remove the connector to the Ignition Control Module by undoing this bolt.


To remove the old Magnavox Ignition Control Module / Coil Pack assembly, some of you may need to remove this nut holding the ground strap. ( Look at the lower right hand corner of the pic - you'll see the ground wires and the stud for the ICM. )


Then remove the retaining nuts from the old Module.


Once the Module has been removed, clean the mounting bracket base.


Now its time to take the assembled Type II Module / Coil assembly and set it onto the Module bracket. Reattach the 3 retaining nuts and tighten them down.


If you have removed this nut that retains the ground wires, make sure to reinstall the ground wires and the retaining nut.


The next step is to plug the ICM connector back in and reattach the connector bolt to the ICM. Just make sure it’s snug - don't put a lot of force on it.


Now it's time to reattach the Plug wires to the terminals making sure you get the firing order correct. Chances are this is what your install will look like with the Magnavox ignition wires.


If you decide to replace the wires, do not get another set for the 88-92.5 3800. Make sure you get a set for a 93 or 94 Bonneville. In this pic, 1993 Bonneville plug wires were used. This is what the install will look like once the 93 wires are installed.




If you need to locate the parts separately, here is some more information.

For the swap, you can use the Ignition Control Module and Coils from any 1995 + series II engine. But you will not be able to use the Module bracket or Coil / ICM bolts.


As for this Base Plate....


...here is where things get tricky. You will be able to get this base plate from any 93-95 Vin L " Tuned Port Injection " 3800. But you can also find this same baseplate on many 92-93 Grand Ams with the 3300 V6, Buick Century 89-93 3300 V6 (wagon included), Olds cutlass Ciera 89-93 with the 3300 V6 (wagon included), Buick Skylark 89-93 with the 3300V6, and Olds Achieva 92-93 with the 3300 V6. On all of these cars, the 8th character of the Vin will be an “N” = 3300 V6.

With the 3300 module, things get a little more confusing. That’s why we suggest that you get a complete Delco Type II assembly from a 93-95 L27 3800.


We recommend this because there are differences between the Modules used on the 3300s and 3800s.

The 89-92 3300 V6 Modules will not work on the 3800 V6, as they are keyed differently. In 1993, the 3300 should have the same Module as the 3800, so in theory the 1993 3300 V6 module should work, as the 93 3800 and 93 3300 Modules share the same part number. I have never personally tried a 1993 3300 Module, so we can't say for certain that it will work and function as it’s supposed to on the 3800. That will lead us into more research and is something I may try down the road to add to the possibilities of Delco Type II swap options for the old-school 3800 V6's.