Partially rebuilt motor, frustrating no start

[etay89]

I'm going to give as much excruciating detail as humanly possible. ANY help is appreciated.

Ok, I had a 99 GSX with rust issues. Took all the fun stuff out and put it in a 97 GST. Literally, it its part of the chassis, its GST, everything else is from the GSX. Took me longer than expected but I got it done. The car ran for an epic 28.2 miles before I broke splines off the t-case AND broke the rear t-case seal. At that time, I did a MAJOR overhaul.

Before jacking up the car again, the car had a full 3 in megan racing exhaust, ngk spark plugs and wires, a walbro 255, act2600, southbend tz disc, fidanza flywheel, and a punishment front mount with a dodge modded 1g bov. Now, I swapped the regular head to one from an Evo 3. No head work was done. Installed Kiggly beehive valvesprings and titanium retainers, Put in new lifters. Removed the 7 bolt rods/pistons and replaced with ones from an Evo8 with about 40k. Got new piston rings and gapped them properly. ARP connecting rod bolts, rod bearings, and headstuds torqued to 90 ft lbs. Felpro head gasket. New bosch water pump, kept the balance shafts. new timing belt. 7 blade hx35 with bep housing, PR o2 housing with tial 38mm mvs wastegate vented. tmz tranny. 4an ss fuel line and fuelab filter. fic 1000cc injectors and aeromotive fpr. tuning is ecuflash/ceddymods. flashed it just to handle the injectors for a quick idle log then tune off that.

Excuse the last paragraph for spelling errors and terrible punctuation. Anyways. now I lowered the car and got ready to start it. I primed the motor like I should...tried to start it...cranks but wont turn over.

Now, I flashed it back to stock, and put the 450's in. No go.

Removed the FPR and put the stock one on. No go.

Unplugged the MAF, no go. Now, here's where it got tricky. I unplugged the fuel pump to relieve the fuel pressure...then the car started...idled for like 8 seconds..then died out (because of the fuel pump being unplugged). Well, now time to figure out why the no start.

fuel, spark, timing, compression. I don't have the tools to check timing but i'm pretty sure AT THE WORST, i'm a tooth off. Compression..130-125-120-115...it is low..but i could deal. spark? pulled each plug and each one sparked. fuel? It was reaching the rail but since I dont have any friends, no one could help me check if the injectors spraying.

One day, a dsmer noticed that my cams weren't spinning. He said the flywheel. Well, I jacked up the car and I pulled the t-case and saw a bunch of metal shavings. So I replaced the fidanza with an act streetlite, tried to start it and still no start.

The starter was also rebuilt. So really, Im at a fork in the road, so I need help.

 

[rEclipserGST]

Have you checked the fuses? Relays? Alternator voltage? Battery Voltage? Fuel pressure?

You said something about timing being a tooth off MAYBE, how did you verify?

Have you tried jumping the car with cables?

Also, that compression is very low. Within servicing limits, just saying.

 

[huafist]

Compression numbers are expected to be low when the rings are new and haven't seated yet. As far as the no-start, I can't think of any logical reason why unplugging the fuel pump would cause the car to start, especially if you've tried two sets of injectors. Pull the fuse for the fuel pump, spray some starting fluid in the intake manifold, and see if it'll hit - if it does, you've definitely got a fuel problem somewhere along the way.

 

[donniekak]

The only way unplugging the pump will get the car to start is if it's running to rich to start for some reason, and cutting fuel lets it burn off what's puddled in the ports.

 

[etay89]

Have you checked the fuses? Relays? Alternator voltage? Battery Voltage? Fuel pressure?

You said something about timing being a tooth off MAYBE, how did you verify?

Have you tried jumping the car with cables?

Also, that compression is very low. Within servicing limits, just saying.

All fuses are fine. All relays have been tested, battery voltage is somewhere in the hihg 13's (brand new battery I also charged). Fuel pressure is something I thought about. Since upgrading the fuel line basically from the pump to the rail, would that change anything?

Compression numbers are expected to be low when the rings are new and haven't seated yet. As far as the no-start, I can't think of any logical reason why unplugging the fuel pump would cause the car to start, especially if you've tried two sets of injectors. Pull the fuse for the fuel pump, spray some starting fluid in the intake manifold, and see if it'll hit - if it does, you've definitely got a fuel problem somewhere along the way.

It was the most mysterious thing I ever encountered (except for when I was doing the conversion, I near saw a scorpion..being that the car was from Texas...until I pulled the rear bumper ), but nonetheless, when it did start, it sounded phenomenal.

So far I've been recommended trying the following: using starting fluid, testing the injectors, replacing the Cam Angle Sensor.

I have a "come over to my place and help me" thread on one of the local forums and donniekak said that in my video that the tach never moved while trying to start. Here is said video for analyzation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kF6zuqYwSA

 

[DSMTyson]

If timing is off by 1 or 2 teeth, it should still start. So I don't think that is the main issue.

But if you think the timing is off by 1 tooth, FIX IT.

 

[etay89]

If timing is off by 1 or 2 teeth, it should still start. So I don't think that is the main issue.

But if you think the timing is off by 1 tooth, FIX IT.

I don't think I'm off for 2 reasons.

The cam marks ALWAYS line up at TDC

As far as I'm concerned, the car started and ran. The only thing I didnt check during the whole 8 sec. start was the oil pressure for the holset. I have the oil pressure gauge in the cabin. I don't mind the hot oil

 

[etay89]

With a little help, got it.

It starts...that's step one... - YouTube

Now, that it started...now I have new concerns. The car ran for over a minute, I got an oil pressure gauge hooked up to the holset right at the turbo and the car NEVER had (or showed) oil pressure.

It started smoking at the turbo/manifold. It could be just some oil build up..but I wanted to play it safe...not stupid.

How it ran: Maf plugged in, 450's, stock fpr, cam angle sensor...180* out :-/