Help! - 80SC Upper Rebuild - Engine Not Starting

[subseamark]

I was able to mate engine to transmission and get engine back in car over the weekend. That was a good day; not so good today.

I'm having problems starting the engine. It almost starts.

- Car sputters and getting exhaust.
- It takes about 15 seconds or so of engine rolling before engine feels like it is going to start.
- Thought is was timing issue. When you move the distributor when cranking, at certain area, it feels like it's going fully start, albeit a little rough.
- If you tighten distributor at sweet spot, it does not feel like it's going to start as good as is does when you move distributor when cranking.
- Getting spark.
- Getting fuel. Also tried starting fluid, no difference.
- May not be firing on all cylinders. Hard to tell at this stage.
- Did not mess with CIS, but did change out fuel injector lines, individually, one at a time.

This my first time. Any thoughts/help appreciated.

Thanks,

[al lkosmal]

Double check that your spark plug wires are routed to the correct cylinders. It is very easy to make a mistake when removing and replacing them. And the 911SC distributor rotates counter-clockwise........Firing order is 162435

Porsche 911 Firing Order | GTSparkplugs

regards,
al

[Flat6pac]

All fuel lines constantly flow fuel if the airflow sensor lifts with vacuum from the cylinders
Set your distributor with the rotor coming to the mark on the dist edge after you set Z1 on the pulley
Sounds like you might be one cog off on dist drive. Rotation is CCW on SC
Turn the key on and lift the horse shoe behind the air cleaner for a couple seconds. This will turn the fuel pump and you should feel pressure from the fuel in the System charging the cylinders
If it doesn’t start, you might be 180 degrees out on the dist.
Check Als suggestion too
Bruce

[boyt911sc]

Pay attention to what Al and Bruce suggested. This is how I get my CIS motors to start for the first time after a rebuild:
A day before my scheduled start-up, I checked the following:
—check control fuel pressures and leave CIS pressure gauge.
—check for air leaks using a smoke generator.
—battery fully charged.
—check for oil pressure using a mechanical gauge.
—check for ignition timing and leave inductive timing light.
—check for fuel discharge from CSV and fuel injectors.
—set the fuel tank.
—check the oil level
—test run the FP for 10 mins. and watch out for any sign of fuel leak.
—hope and pray you have NOT forgotten something important.

I prefer to use my home-made engine test stand for all my start-ups or take the motor out. I expect to get the motor to run at first or second attempt or I would be disappointed. The only time I failed to make the motor run was when I installed the cam shafts in the wrong bank and took me weeks to discover the problem. What a stupid mistake.

On the day of the start up, double check my list and turn the ignition switch to fire the motor. If the motor does not start and run the first minute, you got a big PROBLEM.

Tony

[subseamark]

Was able to start engine today!

Distributor was in wrong position. After Bruce's comments went back and checked again and sure enough, wasn't right. Feel a little dumb because I swore I had it correct.

After I corrected, engine fired up immediately. Ran for 20 minutes and changed oil. Thanks for all the help from the forum; it was invaluable.

[mikedsilva]

yep, great place this forum.. especially with contributors like Bruce, Al and Tony.