Looking for a good place to START

[umpire613]

I need a couple of good places to Start.. Just got my 2.9 ltr. all in an buttoned up. Tried to fire it but no luck. not ever a good burp.

We started by cycling the key 5-6 time to get the fuel rail and pressure back.. up.. cranked it several time and zip.

we had set for tdc with the distributor just hitting the first plug. figured that should be within a couple of degrees. , now i stabbed in new dist but used the old tfi unit.

with a inductive timing light i am seeing it flash so am assuming we are getting spake but have not pulled a plug and actually seen any spark on a plug will try that tomorrow or get a lite tester.

I did pull a plug and it did smell of gas but not drenched. so am assuming we have gas pressure as necessary.

it has a new msd coil.. so will check that as well to see if getting spark. there. and i have an accell cap and rotor. new JBA plug wires triple check they are in the right order..

the engine wont turn over without it in neutral and the clutch pushed in which is normal. is it possibe that the tranny neutral switch could cause it not to start ? as we did stab it together with the tranny in the truck. and it may have gotten bumped.? with key on and lights on I am getting back up lights for what it's worth.
First what can I rule out and
finally where what is the next logical step

I figured with as carfull asd we put this thing back to gether it would fire on the first crank..

So it's together.. all dressed up and no where to go.. by the way say away form pasesetter header.. they were a pain to install and I think their jig is off cause had to notch the collector to miss the frame rail and another 1 to 2 inches on the colector length would have been nice cause the angle was off by about 5degrees from making a easy connection and. tI may yank these things and get so JBA in the future but really need so ideas to get it to fire for now please.. Thanks in advance..

 

[hidesertrat]

Sounds like you are on the right track; you have to have: fuel, spark and timing in order for the engine to run.
Don't assume anything.....prove it.
I didn't have problem proving I had spark, one of my plug wire came loose from the cap and was arcing across from top of cap to plug wire.
To determine if you have fuel to the fuel rail: Turn the key on, should be able to hear the fuel pump run for the first second or two. I hard of hearing or have quite pumps, so didn't hear this. However, by depressing the shrader valve on the fuel rail I was able to determine fuel was making it to that point. Not sure if it is under the correct amount of pressure, but knew there was fuel there.
Next was timing......I left the dist. loose enough that I could turn it. When I first cranked the engine it didn't want to start. I had to turn the dist. about an 1/8 of a turn to get it to catch. Yes, I thought I was at TDC too.
Once, I got the engine to fire and set the timing correctly everything started to come together.
You can't "assume" anything at this point, it will only cause you a
Good luck!

 

[rickcdewitt]

hit it with a shot of starter fluid to see if it has spark.if it doesn't even pop you know theres no spark and you have ignition troubles

 

[umpire613]

yeah I had left it ( dist) loose enough to turn and tried turning a little to see if I could get a pop.. but nothing.. and yes i even hit with a shot of ether.. still onthing if it ever quits raining i'll push the garage queen out and chek all the connections and then start over on the fire up.

 

[mkpecor]

check all of your ground wires

 

[IMenriched]

+1 on the grounds.
Also double check electriacal connections...if it had been awhile since they were unplugged....you might have a poor /loose wire or the spade is pushing back in the loom connector....that'll drive ya nuts too.

 

[umpire613]

Ok .. so I am a dunce.. I had the timint 180 degrees out.. I thought we had turned it over 1/2 rev then put in the dist.. but my kid had not.. made the correction and she fired like a champ.. no got to deal with a flaky oit pressue sending unit heading to the part shop in the am.. oh yeah.

 

[IMenriched]

Ok .. so I am a dunce.. I had the timint 180 degrees out.. I thought we had turned it over 1/2 rev then put in the dist.. but my kid had not.. made the correction and she fired like a champ.. no got to deal with a flaky oit pressue sending unit heading to the part shop in the am.. oh yeah.

All else flails...Sure blame the kid lol, pretty easy to get 180off.

get a good set of mechcanical guages....the sending units are hit- miss.

I was able to hook both oil pressure mechnical and sending unit up together. usually watch the mechnical tho.