friends 240 wont start

[Tims_240]

we just swapped another engine in my friends car after he blew his headgasket after he went ka-t.we removed nearly all of the vacuum lines behind the intake manifold, except for the fpr vacuum line, which goes directly to the intake mani.it has spark, it has fuel, we followed the instructions on how to do the timing for the distributor too, and even turned it 180 just to be sure.now, i checked the engine codes and it came up with 11 & 12, which is camshaft position sensor, and mafs.i am lending him my z32 mafs, and yes it is gauranteed to be installed correctly. the only thing that i can think of is that the timing is off somehow.anyone have any suggestions?thanks-tim

[Import_Ant]

you can't use a Z32 ECU with a stock ECU. that may be your problem.

Which engine are you dealing with SOHC or DOHC KA? what year is his chassis?

[Tims_240]

he has my injectors, ecu, and mafs currently on his car.

[fiznat]

What is the engine doing when you are trying to start it? Is it cranking? Is it trying to catch or not at all?

How did you check to make sure you have fuel and spark? Do you have a timing light? When you removed stuff behind the intake manifold, did you leave the IACV parts?

[Tims_240]

it cranks over just like it should but doesnt fire, i checked the spark from the coil, and all of the spark plugs. i know its getting gas because for one i can smell it, and two i poured a tiny bit of gas into each cylinder and it still didnt fire.are any of the small vacuum hoses for the iacv, i didnt think there were, i thought they were all for emmission and the secondary butterflies which we removed from his car.thanks man-tim

[DammitBobby]

No the 4 small hoses are for the pair valve and the fuel canister. You said you smelled fuel is it possible the spark plugs are fouled. Might want to take a look at them and see. I was able to crank my car up even with number 3 and 4 spark plug wires crossed. Don`t ask me how I screwed that up my friend gave me that DA look!

[Tims_240]

brand new spark plugs.-tim

[fiznat]

As far as what should remain on the manifold (read: complete IACV system), check out this thread: zerothread?id=109345

Simply smelling fuel is not an accurate way to determine if you are getting fuel in the combustion chamber. Also, pouring fuel into they cyl not only wont work, but is a bad idea because the fuel washes down past your rings and gets into your oil, reducing it's ability to protect your bearings etc. Pull your plugs and make sure they are clean + dry, then reinstall them and crank the engine a few times. Pull the plugs back out and they should be wet with fuel.

If the plugs are wet with fuel, recheck to make sure you are getting spark. Pull each plug out, reattach the plug wire, and ground the electrode of the plug. You should clearly see a spark arcing to the electrode during cranking.

If you have spark AND fuel, make sure you are getting air into the engine. Try and crack the throttle open a little bit while cranking-- this will help you eliminate the IACV as a possible culprit.

If all of the above fails, check your timing. Make sure you are at TDC for the compression stroke on cyl #1 when the timing mark on the crank pulley is lined up with the pin, and the distribuitor is lined up to fire on #1. You can also check this with a timing light.

Check these things and get back to us!

[Tims_240]

ive already checked the spark plugs to see if there was fuel on them, and there was a bunch, ive taken out each spark plug too and they were getting a real good spark, so i guess its definitely the timing, because i tried to crack the throttle also.if the mafs wasnt hooked up at all, it would still start up right? im pretty sure it does.thanks for the great reply man, and im sure it has something to do with the timing.sooo, when you go to time it, you look at the crank pully and make sure the notch is lined up with the pin, and that will tell you that you are on the compression stroke and it should be TDC and this point, and then take the dizzy out and line it up directly with the #1 plug wire to the cureved pin inside the cap, is all of that correct?thanks alot man-tim

[Import_Ant]

yeah you're right. pics for posterity:

http://www.ka-t.org/tech.htm

Quote »Set your motor to TDC. Then pull the spark plug wires off the distributor and pull off the distributor cap. You have to line up the silver rotor to where the #1 spark plug wire would go on the distributor. You have to hold the distributor cap right where it enters the pin sticking out of the distributor. Its cake after that. Just start out the distributor somewhere at 10:00 and just move it around until you get it right.[/quote]