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[Surfnut]

Hi Everybody


     You may remember back in early February of this year I posted about my intention of swapping my old 1991 XR-2 engine / trans into a mid-mounted engine position in my 1979 Kelmark GT. Pictured below :

 

     You can find that thread under "General" if you search for "The Death and Resurrection of My XR-2"

     Anyway, after a monumentally crappy 6 months, I've  spent the last couple of weeks tearing into the engine and wiring harness trying to get the engine to crank and start but I haven't been having much luck.


     At this point, the engine and trans are in the garage on a rolling platform I built.  I have the wiring harness and all connections connected to the engine as it should be (I THINK) as well as the steering column and instrument cluster.  I've grounded everything that I can find that looks like it should be grounded to the engine and the battery.  


     I've been to the techcapri.com website to download and study the wiring diagrams but I need more than that.  Does anyone have a link to a place that I can find some kind of wiring diagram for a "Start / Ignition" circuit ?  Something that tells me what wires should have power when the key's in the "Start" position ?  I'm probably missing a ground or a connection that I didn't plug in but right now I'm at a loss trying to get this thing to crank.

     With the key in the "Start" position I've got no power to the starter solenoid.  I traced that black wire with a red stripe all the way back to the computer.  I don't want to just jump 12V to it to see if it'll start 'cause with the way my luck's been this year, I'll fry the whole works.

     If anyone's got any helpful advice for me I'd  sure love to hear it !

Thanks,
Dave

[Surfnut]

I got it to crank.  I had the switch that's located at the clutch pedal taped down so the circuit was completed.  I traced the black wire with a yellow stripe from the switch back to a connection where it loops into the black wire with a red stripe.  That connection was really badly corroded.  Once I cleaned it up the engine cranks without a problem.

Now I have to figure out why it won't start !
I wired the fuel pump to run with the ignition switch in the run and start position so the pump is running and the return line is returning fuel.  I guess I should check for spark  ?

Any ideas ?

Dave

[Surfnut]

No spark.  I'll research the archived forums here.

[Surfnut]

Checked the blue wire under the coolant reservoir.  It has a constant 12V whether the key is on, in start or run or if the key is off.  I have 12V on both sides of the connector so I think the blue wire isn't the problem.  

I checked the grounds at the thermostat housing.  I took them off, cleaned everything and reinstalled.  Checked and all the wires are grounding well.

I checked the two wires at the coil.  There's a yellow wire with a blue stripe and a thicker black wire with a white stripe.  Both wires have 12V with the key in the run and start position.  Neither wire pulses in the crank position.  I traced the black wire with the white stripe to the larger round connector at the rear of the engine which then routes the wires underneath the intake.

Still no spark.


Dave

[Surfnut]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyTWw07xNhk

[WickedClown]

NICE! Have you started trying to put it in yet?

[Surfnut]

No Sir.  Today's job was to get it running.
Tomorrow I start whittling down the wiring harness and cut out all the stuff I don't think I'll need.   I usually cut 4 or 5 wires and then start the engine and run it.  If it still runs, then I probably didn't need the wires I just cut, right ?

After about a million hours of wire cutting and splicing I will fab up a temporary "firewall" to mount everything on.  When the drivetrain goes into the car, that firewall will sit behind the engine and in front of the car's trunk.
When I need to get to something, I'll pull the trunk panel off and all the wiring will be hidden behind it.

Anyway, after I get the harness chopped up I'm going to start building the engine cradle and suspension mounting points.  THAT'S going to be the FUN stuff !

My neighbor's a fireman and when he came over to see what I was doing he saw a hundred wires lying all over the place, the car battery, the stock XR-2 fuel pump sitting in a plastic bucket of gasoline with two wires running to it and nearly crapped himself.  He turned right around and walked out.  Chicken.

Dave

[WickedClown]

That sounds pretty scary to me. I haven't tried reducing the amount of wiring to my engine, but what you're doing does not sound like a good idea to me. Hopefully it works for you!