Fresh engine rebuild - not starting.

[Allan Kelsey]

I am in the middle of a complete restoration on my 1985 Carrera coupe.
It includes a motor and trans rebuild.

Here's a shot of the motor fresh out of the body. You can see the bottom right corner displays the starter cable and single yellow wire.


Now that we have put the rebuilt motor back in the car and connected all the wiring and oil lines, I am obviously eager to start the engine. It was bench run by Terry Worick (the amazing engine builder in Lincoln Nebraska) before I collected it, so I know that part is good.

My problem is: there is no cranking and no lights on the dash!
To add to the frustration, Im not intimidated by the mechanics of the whole project, but I become a whimpering idiot when it comes to chasing electrical problems.

This is what I can confirm, so far:

• The Interstate battery is charged and providing good voltage
• The wiring for the starter has the black and red heavier cables attached to the tall post on the starter and I have ONE yellow cable, which I have tried attaching to each of the 2 spades available and neither have changed the problem.
• When I turn the ignition key to the sprung start position, nothing happens.

So where do I start and what am I looking for?

[Mehoff]

If nothing happens when you turn the key (no gauges, no warning lights, etc) it's the ignition switch. I just had this problem last weekend.

Nothing to do with the motor, just bad timing

[ant7]

Have you attached the earth straps ?
Just a thought!
A...

[CCM911]

Yup! I once did the same thing. Check the bundle of brown ground wires on the left hand side of the engine. That will do it.

Originally Posted by ant7

Have you attached the earth straps ?
Just a thought!
A...

[yelcab1]

You got too many ignition wires for one thing. Relax, this is actually an easy problem.

Turn on the ignition key, do you see 12V at the yellow wire? If not, keep tracing back until you do.

Do you see 12V at the big red cable?

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Allan Kelsey

...[*]The wiring for the starter has the black and red heavier cables attached to the tall post on the starter..

Your missing something major.

Check to see that you got 12 Volts between the tall post (where the black and red attach to) and the ground (car body).

Double check that the 12 pin connector (driver side by the rear fuse panel) is connected.

[theiceman]

did you connect the ground from the transmission bracket to the body ?

[Allan Kelsey]

Eureka!!!
I got it. I found 3 black 25c piece size buttons on the bulkhead of the dash below & left of the ignition switch. These carry wiring through the the bulkhead & I had 2 come loose.
Once they were pushed in, it all came back to life ��

Thank you everyone for the input & help.

[DRACO A5OG]

WooHoo!

Congrats!

[bigel]

Nice work! I'll be doing the same in the next week or so and hoping not to have the same mystery problems...fingers crossed!

[Discseven]

Allen... how-bout posting some pics of engine and taking us through what was done to it.

[scarceller]

Allan, Glad it's running now! This is going to be an interesting build indeed!

[Allan Kelsey]

Originally Posted by Discseven

Allen... how-bout posting some pics of engine and taking us through what was done to it.

Karl,
I would love to do that. I have good pictures & it's been quite a journey.

[ant7]

Good to read you got there in the end, its often the simple things that trip us up
A.

[Coloradocurt]

Originally Posted by Allan Kelsey

Karl,
I would love to do that. I have good pictures & it's been quite a journey.

Ditto on the pics, and some more about your engine builder, Terry Worick, what he did and what it cost you. Did you keep the stock pistons and barrels, or upgrade to the Euro ones?

[scarceller]

Originally Posted by Coloradocurt

Ditto on the pics, and some more about your engine builder, Terry Worick, what he did and what it cost you. Did you keep the stock pistons and barrels, or upgrade to the Euro ones?

Terry also built this one:
1985 3.4 build using MAF 279.56 HP, 237.63 RWHP

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by Allan Kelsey

Karl,
I would love to do that. I have good pictures & it's been quite a journey.

Excellent! Everybody sees and does things differently so your perspectives and experience would be interesting to hear about and see.