A lot of muscle some prying and I finally got the engine on the stand on the ground. After checking to make sure I had oil and all the wires out of the way, we come to this:first fire
I doesn't sound like it but it did fire and I am satisfied if I can get the injectors to work it will run.
I got a fuel tank hooked up and the pump working and tried to start it. no go. I think the injectors are not firing. I will need to check out if I have power to the injectors and if the ECM is grounding the injectors.
Yep I was right no power to the injectors. But wait no video of it running you ask. I forgot one big thing in trying to run it on a test stand with a stock ECM. VATS. That's Vehicle Anti Theft System. Without the VATS module feeding a specific signal(similar to the one garage door openers use) the injectors won't fire. I am looking into how expensive it is going to be to get something to reproduce the signal but I am thinking it may be prohibitive just for a test run. My laptop got into the update me mode last night as I was searching for a solution and wouldn't do anything until I let it update so I will try later.
Found a bypass module on ebay for $20.00 shipped. I think I will try it.
I'm pretty sure the VATS is just a resistor. There are 16 different ones and the computer is programmed to only recognize one of the 16 resistance values. So you have to pick the right resistor to wire in OR use that module.
The resistor is in for the key, it closes a circuit to the VATS module. The module feeds a 30Hz signal to the ECM to say the right key is in the ignition. Yes you can bypass with a resistor but I don't have a VATS module to use that is out of the car. Trying to get the engine to run on a test stand first so I can make sure everything works before dropping the whole thing into the car. Once in the car I will have a VATS module to work with.
I received the VATS module a little while back and tried it. No fire yet. I have been occupied with re roofing the cabin up north. No fun, a lot of back braking work but now I do not have to worry about the roof leaking this winter. I also received a chip burner to be able to customize the eprom to get the most out of the modifications I made. I was able to read the chip and do a compare to other BINs I downloaded from the internet. Now I just have to teach myself engine tuning using the software I downloaded. I still need to get an adapter and spare chip to make this easier. The stock ones use UV light to erase the data. New ones are are eeproms and you just instruct the burner to erase and re burn the chip, much faster. I had a few moments of panic at first because I didn't realize that many manufacturers made a similar chip and you have to have the right manufacturer to read the chip. Just a matter of trying each one until it works. I am also trying to find out how much more air the 1.6 rockers will give me. Being a SD instead of MAF, I believe it is important to be close or a little rich to avoid a burned piston until it reaches a closed loop condition. A lot of reading. One source said 8% so I will do some more research and see.
Had a few minutes last night and put the fuel pressure gauge on and found out I have no pressure. I am hoping this is the reason it did not fire last time. The pump sounded like it loaded up and there was fuel in the lines but I still do not have enough fuel in my improvised tank. I will pick more fuel up tonight and try again if the pump does supply enough pressure.
I got fuel and found out the regulator is set for around 50 psi. Tried to start the engine after leaving the ECU hooked up for more than the 10 minutes it takes to clear the anti theft system and enable the injectors. Still no fuel out of the injectors. Next I bypassed the ECU and activated the injectors manually. The first time I tried it I got about 2 seconds of fire and startled me with the noise. This video is the second time I tried it.video here
As I said in the video I am going to stop trying to get it to run on the on the stand and just swap the engine in and re work the wiring to use the ECM for a 91 305 TPI with auto trans. I need to get the AIR connections on the headers yet, but after that I figure about 3 weekends worth of work to get it done. But I will need to winterize the cabin we bought this year, and the wife will want to spend as much time up there as possible before it gets to cold.
I have a real problem with trying to let things go when I can't solve a problem. I had some time Sunday afternoon and started checking the 12vdc and ground terminals at the ECM. It turns out I was missing a 12VDC to the ECM. So I have this video here
It started and ran for a few seconds, I don't have the water pump set up to run yet and do not want to do any damage. I have at least 2 weeks before I can start pulling the engine out of the car so I will see what I can do to rig up a motor on the water pump. I have a couple of trips I want to take this fall yet and I prefer to drive the firebird.
Just a note, it stopped running when I pulled the wires apart removing the 12VDC from the system not that it died.
I have something worked out to turn the water pump. It is not pretty but should circulate coolant while I try to idle the engine. I am going to run three 10 minute sessions to initially run in the engine. I really do not want to get the engine to hot, I put a lot of time in on this and I don't want to start over.
Played with the engine last night. Between the noise and the exhaust building up in the garage despite the big door open, and the fact it won't run with out playing with the throttle, I have decided that doing the initial break in on the stand is not going to work. I have spent enough money on stuff to just run it on the stand and can't afford to spend any more. Next on the list is to install the AIR pipes on the headers and get the oil cooler plumbing done so I can drop the engine in and get on with finishing up so I can enjoy the car next year.
Probably for the best - if youre not going to be using the engine-on-stand setup more than just this one time, all the ancillaries are just flushed money.
Glad to see that youre really making progress on getting her running!
Thanks. I am not looking forward to doing the swap over the winter. I am going to try to get most of the work done before the really cold weather hits. Its just I hate to not having an open top car to drive when it is nice out.
I was showing off the engine to a friend and we noticed one header had more flame than the other. I pulled the plugs after it cooled down(no way am I getting near the headers when hot) and sure enough the #5 plug showed no signs of firing. most of the other ones were slightly black and the #7 was only a little black. I checked the plug and it has spark. It wouldn't have more yellow flame unless the injector was firing so I did a compression check and found the cylinder was making compression similier to another one. Now I'm at a loss as to what was wrong. Then I was putting things back together and noticed the #5 and #7 wires looked to be switched around. Probaly the #7 would burn with a spark 90 degrees advanced and #5 would not fire at all with the exhaust open. So I switched them around and fired it up for a few seconds and risked a knuckle checking headers and it felt like #5 was firing. In other news I finally got around to swapping out the headlights as the ones on the car were rather dim. I also had a pleasent suprise th find the replacement gas struts for the hatch had connectors for the defroster soI could just swap them in and did not have to frabricate ones.
A quick up date no much but I got the engine back on the stand with wheels. I figured out how to connect the AIR tube to the headers. I made some reverse flare fittings I can weld on to the headers where I want them then drill through the headers and fabricate the rest of the system.
No real progress on the car. I had to scrape frost off the windows of my DD last week, so I decided to clean up the garage and re-arrange things so I could get the DD in. This means I will have to pull it out to work on the engine but scraping windows at 5:00 am is not fun. Just trying to get the courage up to start modifying the headers for the AIR tubes. I really do not want to screw them up.
Caught a break when one of the wife's plans fell through, so I got some work done on the engine. Started working on the AIR tubes and have the left side on. I just need to drill through the header. I also got the lines run for the oil cooler. it is the right side that is giving me a headache. The number 6 header pipe routes back and over the the number 8 pipe right next to the flange. With that and not having any room on the right side I am at my wits end trying to figure this one out. I may have to get some 5/16" brake line and start at the header and work back to the fitting for the one way valve. Or I may just say chuck it and eliminate the smog stuff altogether.
zordak said:...Or I may just say chuck it and eliminate the smog stuff altogether.
you read my mind 
The problem with getting rid of the smog stuff is that I see a future where I might have to have this thing's tail pipe sniffed to keep it on the road. Up here in Wisconsin there are already half dozen or more counties that require inspections. I need to take a long view on this car as I am less than 10 years form retirement and not sure how well funded my retirement is going to be. So this is going to be my hot rod for the rest of my life.
This is a non update update. Had plans to get some work done over the long weekend but life got in the way. The wife decided to swap her RAV4 for something to tow with.(getting a travel trailer sometime in the future) so she went looking and found a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee but it did not have the factory tow package. The salesperson said it would tow the max if we paid for the dealer installed tow package. Surprise The data the salesperson had was out of date and Jeep did not send an update to dealers. Anyway the dealer decided to make good on the deal and swapped us a 2015 with more miles (8000) and the factory tow package for the one we bought. Straight across trade no change in payment or duration. But it did take up an entire day (OK an afternoon I sleep late on days off) to get all the paper work done and we had to sit there the whole time. That other plans and not feeling well on sunday blew the whole weekend.
Had the day off so I looked at the AIR tubes again. I finally have them done, ugly as sin but done.
and the other side.
There are still a few things I want to take care of before the swap. A good set of plugs, make sure the wires are ok and a heat shield for the starter.
Started to clean the garage today. I can walk around the car without tripping. I need to clean off the bench and do a few things to the engine and will start the transplant soon.
OK now I've done it. I am committed (or maybe should be) I cleaned the work bench and started to tear the car apart to get the engine out. First to go is the exhaust all the way from the manifold to the tail pipes. The plan is to replace it with a 3" system. The battery and starter were next, then drain the radiator. While I was at it I disconnected all the wires I could find underneath. Given the clearances I may have to drop the trans to get at the trans to engine bolts, need to look at it some more.
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