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Thursday, September 4, 2014

Day 24 & 25 - Nothing and then Something . . . (9/2/2014 & 9/3/2014)

9/2/2014

Today was a bust. Our usual ridiculous work day after vacation was ridiculous. I planned to head to the part store for some miscellaneous stuff. However, I am so blasted the only thing I going to work on is sleep.

9/3/2014

Headed out to the part store at lunch time to retrieve goods. Work was awful again . . . in a silly way. But, I'm thankful as it allows me to work on cars :)

After work, I attacked the garage with Spotify blasting a good mix of music.

Offered up the unwrapped driver side header

Look at all that space between the header and brake lines/ABS pump

Low pressure PS hose is little close, but should be fine after the wrap

Crossover exhaust

Tons of space on the passenger side

Ground cable

Mocked up the external slave again, but with a 90° fitting

Fuel filter's final position along with that sweet tie wrap!!
Don't worry, that tie wrap isn't permanent . . .

I took a breather and decided what to do next. Since I crashed out yesterday, I needed to catch up. So I started the systems check to get it ready to start tomorrow. I dumped some fluid in the engine, transmission, and fuel tank. For now, I plugged in all of the sensors (even it they weren't installed). After priming the engine . . . I started the systems check.

Turned the key and found three issues . . . Check Engine Light constant illumination, always on (buzzing) fuel pump relay, and no sound from the fuel pump. Great . . . . 

It's been 5 years since this car last ran. Could it be locked up fuel pump? Could it be a bad fuel pump relay? Could it be the wrong fuel pump relay?

I visited the swap manual to try and diagnose the two of the issues; the fuel pump not running and the buzzy fuel pump relay. Did some continuity testing and it all matched the swap manual wiring lay out. The only thing I can come up with on the buzzy relay (it should go off since there is no engine operation) is a mistake in the wiring (remember, this is a hackered harness I'm dealing with). So I moved to the next thing, no sound from the fuel pump. 

Now, with the relay buzzing away, surely the pump should be turning as well. I used the Mustang method of trying to jumper the pump. Turned the key . . . nothing. I tried jumping the pump with just the battery . . . nothing. This is turning out to be a real head scratcher.

I sat in the car for about 30-45 minutes reviewing the diagrams and other troubleshooting methods. Everything looked to be in place other than the two issues I'm working on. Then the light blub came on!! The E36 has no less than 10,000 ground wires. Remember this car just had a bar installed. I'm sure Brent had the move some stuff around in the interior to work.

Sure enough, two of the grounding points had nothing plugged in. I found the connectors and plugged them into the grounding post. Turned the key and still have the buzzy fuel pump relay . . . but . . . what's that? By gosh, the fuel pump spun to life!!

Well . . . since we've made it this far . . .


On the first turn of the key!!! Talk about a glorious (albeit rough running) noise!!!

Hot Damn . . . just gotta finish up all the niggly stuff now.

Then I found one more gotcha . . . . small oil leak from the rear at the oil pan. DAMMIT . . . I hope I don't have to drop this pan. Two good things about this:
  1. I'm a pro at removing this engine and trans
  2. Better to find it now than later
I shut the garage @ 3am. Tomorrow, we tackle the pan issue (I've heard this type of leak plagues the Canton pans), finally wrap the header, mount the remote oil filter adapter and do some other miscellaneous things.


Here's the count down list:
  1. Main harness
    1. IAC
    2. Temp gauge
    3. IAT
    4. Reverse lights
    5. Alternator
    6. Starter
    7. Fan switch
    8. Neutral switch wiring
    9. EGR jedi mind trickery
  2. Make some brackets and block off plates
    1. PS reservoir
    2. ABS pump
    3. Overflow tank
    4. EGR port block off plate
  3. Run some hoses and lines
    1. Fuel lines
    2. Coolant hoses
      1. Heater core bypass for now
    3. Vacuum lines
      1. Brake Booster
      2. Fuel pressure regulator
  4. Wrap the driver side header
  5. Paint the engine mounts
  6. Install engine and transmission
  7. Install driveshaft
  8. Run the exhaust
  9. Mount the radiator
  10. Install suspension
  11. Fill the engine and trans with fluids
  12. Prime the engine
  13. Add Gas
  14. Add Battery
  15. Turn the key!!!
See you cats later!!

-=PJ
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