Well, its been over a year since my car has been off the road. I really can't wait to get it started but first things first, finding the problem at hand! This is my first motor swap and i have had help from a few of my friends. I went from a 305LB9 A4 to a Fastburn crate motor with a miniram. I am using the stock distributor with the help of an MSD 6AL box and blaster SS coil. My problem right now is, when we go to turn it over, it will not even try to crank/start. The starter is a brand new GM ministarter. That could be wired up wrong too. I did not do it and i did not even bother to check it. The fuel pump primes and i have fuel at the rails and i believe i have power to everything in the car. I should check the fuses now that i think about it! I do have a cold start injector and it is not hooked up, just unplugged. Same goes for the sensor that looks like a fuel injetor harness at the front of the intake manifold. Is thins the wrong way to "eliminate" the cold start injector? I have an Ed Wright chip and they should have taken care of that for me. I should call and double check with them i guess. The grounds are all good, the vacuum lines are all taken care of. I am not running smog equipment/EGR and i really did not pay any special attention to the charcoal canister. What could it be? If the MSD is not hooked up properly, would that cause it not to even attemp to start? I mean it does not even try. To be honest with you i had barely any time to check it over due to work and i am sure i am missing something simple. Please, any help would be appreciated. I am just burnt out from work and school. Need to take a break and go out rested. Any fresh ideas or constructive criticism is welcome! Thanks for your time in helping this newbie! Bryan

 

Any insight or comments? Friday night i should have time to get out there and mess with it some more. thanks

 

OK, what are some more common mistakes/oversights that occur when going through a motor swap. Just looking for ideas here. I should have more info this weekend. Well, thanks for viewing atleast!!

 

Sounds like you have no power to starter. Check and double check that the wires are in the correct position and on the correct terminals. It is a very easy thing to overlook. Take a break from it all, and approach it with a clear head the next day...sounds like you have power to everything else, get power to the starter and you will be on your way.

 

once you are sure that the starter is wired right and that all the connections to it are tight..


and if it still doesnt start, check for power going to the starter 'noid when you have the key on "start"
for safteys sake, either stay out of the way of the engine when doing this, or disconnect the wire and then check it for power.

 

Like they said check for power to the starter with a voltmeter. Both the constant power and the switchable power. If that is correct and you still have no start take the starter in to get it tested.

Good luck and don't get burnt out like I did.

 

Thanks guys. Very good place to start out. The starter is brand new, but that doesn't really mean much now does it!? Could be a factory defect, who knows. Well, its a little too late now to check on it, kinda dark out there. Tommorrow i'll report back. Thanks again If all goes well, it should be up and running.

 

Starter shimming. If it is too tight the starter won't turn.

 

would it atleast try to make a noise? Nothing happens so it must be electrical in the engine compartment. Its so quiet you can hear the fuel pump prime with perfect clarity! The car has been sitting for a little over a year so i was happy that the fuel pump came on! lol I'm still going to upgrade that too though. Pretty much everything on the motor is new except for the wiring and that usually does not go bad. It has to be an error on my part, which i must now track down. Just looking for fresh ideas, so please, keep them coming. Thanks again guys. later

 

When you hit the key to start, do you hear a click?

 

none at all. That is what i mean when i think there must be an elctrical problem. It does nothing. Oh, one thing that i changed...does the ground from the battery need to go to the engine? I know it was going to the alternator on my 305, now we put it on the frame. Is this ok or should it go back to the alternator, does it make a difference? I have the power line to the back of the alternator but the ground i did not put back. Also, the grounds to the back of the motor are on, both heads, and are good. Just to rule that out.

 

I guess you are working on an 86 IROC, like your name says. I have never seen a ground wire on the back of an alternator. Are you sure you mean a ground, not the charge back wire? Usually the alternator has a wire to the battery and then the wires, if equipped, from the main harness or to a regulator. I don't know the specifics of your car though...

I am running my ground wire from the battery to a spot on the frame of the car. On that same spot, I am running a ground strap to the engine block. I sanded the frame area down to bare metal for the contacts and then sprayed a little battery protector over it all to prevent corrosion.

I say get out your trusty DVOM and start looking for voltage. If you have a test light, they can be handy too...

 

Well, i just went out and double checked, and there are two ground wires coming off of the battery. (Was like that from the factory) One i have on the fender, good ground/on bare metal, and the other which is more thick, (that i thought went to the alternator), is the one i have on the frame. Now, the power terminal has one that did go to the back of the alt. and it is black and red striped. Another goes to the starter. correct so far? And yes, i've got a test light and digital multi meter on hand here. I checked with a test light and found that there is power to the alternator and starter, according to the test light! Now, if the starter is wired wrong, would it still show power to it? Yes, right? I think i may just hook up the ignition/distributor to the stock harness and hook up the MSD box after. I think that could be my problem, an error on hooking that thing up. What do you think now, besides that i am a simpleton!! thanks again

 

Your ignition has no bearing on whether the starter turns over or not. There is a ground, constant (thick wire) power, and a remote (smaller wire) power wire. The starter doesnt know if the ignition componets are hooked up correct or not, as well as anything else (besides the ignition switch in the column). All it knows is when it gets power (and is grounded), it works (unless its bad) but that I doubt.

 

The ground wire you have coming from the battery.... on my 86 Iroc it runs to a accessory bracket right below the alternator. attach this ground somewhere to the engine, be it the accessory bracket by just by bolting it back to its factory place, or by drilling a hole and making a ground for it. This should help your problem

 

As mentioned above, that heavier ground goes to one of the bolts for the smog pump bracket. If that doesn't fix your problem, try a remote starter switch. if it turns over using that you may have a bad or misadjusted ignition switch.

 

It sounds like it is a starter problem. Previous posts are correct in saying that the starter has no effect on the ignition or fuel systems. Either the engine will crank or not. Verify that your battery is OK. Does your engine turn over with a socket on the damper bolt? Starter could be jammed. If that is ok, attach a remote starter to the solenoid to see if that works. If not, disconnect the battery, drop the starter, and remove the wires. Attach jumper cables to the battery, place the negative on the starter body, and just momentarily touch the large terminal on the starter, not the solenoid. The starter should turn. If not, bad starter, if it does, check the solenoid.

 

Well, we went out there and tried a couple of things. We re-checked all of the grounds, and moved the one back onto the alternator bracket so the ground is now to the engine. Also, the timing was screwed up a bit so now that is corrected. We have fuel and we have spark. We checked the sparkplug wires and grounded them out, and there is spark. The ingnition will not work for some reason. So we turn it to "ON" on the steering colum and we are jumping the starter manually. It cranks very nicely, just does not turn over. Almost, just not quite there. So, could the ignition itself have a problem, like if the old alarm is messed up and is not letting the car turn over. This wouldn't happen though if we are manually starting it, would it? Also, would bad gas do this? I'm going to run up to the gas station and get some new gas and dri-gas. Try that and see what happens. The gas is over a year old and really does not smell like it should, not as strong! So, anything else i should go over? Thanks again for all of your comments, so far they have helped out. Thanks

 

You have a derivation of a TPI right? You said you have spark, at the plugs it sounds like from your description if I understood correctly. If that is the case, I would look harder at the fuel delivery and injection. I had a strange no start condition. The engine would crank like normal, had a strong spark at each plug, fuel pump was coming on, had normal fuel pressure. It ended up being the computer was bad, no injector pulse...

Not hard to fix, but it was odd I thought.

Hope thats helpful, just another idea...

 

It sounds like your problem with the starter not cranking is solved. The engine cranks manually but not with the key. From what I can gather, the engine starts when you jump the starter so the trouble is in the ignition switch circuit. Have you jumped out the neutral safety switch or clutch safety switch to see if that is the trouble? Maybe the ignition switch itself is bad.

 

Ahhhh, I see know...The ignition switch is what you meant by ignition...I was confused, I thought you ment an aftermarket ignition like MSD or Crane CD ignition system.

I agree with his suggestion above about checking the ignition switch...

When you say it almost starts, what happens? Starts for a second then dies, sputters and dies, or just plain never comes to life...

 

I just thought of this now that you say that TJQIROC. I have my interior apart from doing various things in there too... like a megashifter install! Well, i did not finish that and the damn harness is not connected in there. So, this would result in a signal being sent to the computer saying that it is not "safe" to start the car, correct? Basically it is not going to turn over from the ignition in the console because of this, right? So i should try and get that finished before anything really. lol What a sh it head i am. I'm still going to run through other things, like changing the gas. So, what do you think, sounds like it this time? I know the motor sounds good to me and the timing is good, its just that something is holding it back. It wants to get started, it just stops after the starter is done with its job, ya know? I think this may be it. I'll try and get out there tommorrow to check it out. Sometime this week after work will have to due. Its so close now. Thanks for all of your help guys. I'll report back hopefully with good news next time-Bryan

 

Yeah, you need the neutral safety switch hooked up or it will act like you are in drive and trying to start it.

 

For testing purposes, you can just jump out the neutral safety switch. Just make sure that whenever you do this, the car is always in park/neutral. It will start in gear and you can get hurt. I don't think it goes to the computer, it is just completes a circuit from the ignition switch. One of the senior guys could tell you for sure.

 

Well, great news! I finally got a chance to head out there and i corrected a couple of things. Without any major problems, she started right up after i plugged in the harness for the shifter! The thing is pretty close to being streetable. The timing is almost there, and the fuel pressure is right now. I need to adjust the TPS now and make a few minor wiring adjustments, and it should be ready for the road. I am planning on next weekend. Thanks again for everyone's help with this. After i plugged that harness in, it fired right up, and man does it sound healthy compared to that 305! I'll try to get pictures up in the weeks to come. Thanks again guys, later-Bryan