Sunday, 27 November 2016

The Big Push - Day 2 (wiring + fluids + START!)

Yesterday's efforts broke the back of the last leg to start-up, with the only remaining wiring being the interface with the existing Chev circuits:
- wire ignition on (pink 4mm wire).
- wire into the brake circuit (red 2mm wire).
- wire the reverse lights (yellow 2mm wire).

Then it was a case of adding all fluids, holding our collective breath and turning the key!

Nothing.

With "ignition on", we could hear the fuel pump relay click and the fuel pump whirr into life for a couple of seconds then stop. All good. Part of the design.

Then twist to start, we could hear the starter relay click, as well as a loud clack from the starter solenoid... but nothing.

After a couple of twists with nothing, one last twist caught and the engine stumbled into life...


A couple of things... you can hear some lifter tap, so there was a bit of concern around oil pressure. The idle is rough and hunting, plus the accel pedal did nothing.

We killed it and scratched our heads for a while; we needed to know what was going on.

I took a drive to a mate's house (Stu the Aussie champion) who lent me his OBD2 ELM327 adaptor. But on my return, JtC had nailed it!

The plug to the throttle butterfly was loose. A quick click and voila! Smooth idle!

We even had gears. First time in daylight for nine months...



A quick run up the hill showed that the thing was gutless as anything. Full throttle saw the car crawl up the hill... something awry there.

And one final issue, a buzzing from the relay that feeds the fuel pump...



One final video that highlights the baulk on start. The first crank is a no-go and the second fires...



So the issues are:
- baulks intermittently on start-up
- buzzing fuel pump relay
- gutless

Interestingly in the last video, the fuel pump relay is much quieter.

Time to do some research but the issues do not seem insurmountable.

HUGE thanks to JtC for all his efforts! There is no way I could have achieved all this in the time we did without his time, efforts and experience. Well done!

J

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