Dave951

Today I attempted to start my car after about a year of downtime. I performed a lot of maintenance and numerous upgrades during that period. I had a friend inside the car so I could listen and look for leaks and strange noises. When he cranked it over, it seemed like there was a lot of "clackying" noise coming from the camshaft housing which I imagine is the lifters. I'm nervous now that I may have installed them backswords... is that even possible? Any advice in this situation would be greatly appreciated.

Ian's951

My lifters made quite a racket for a few minutes after my engine rebuild. Pretty normal to hear some noise for a while until they are "pumped up" seeing that they are hydraulic. It would be pretty difficult to install a lifter backwards....

Tom M'Guinn

I've never tried to put them in upside down, but suppose they would fit in the bores that way. The edges would catch on the cam lobes (or the lobes would spin in the recess) -- so can't imagine the motor would run or even turn over normally. At any rate, the clacking is probably the lifters before they get oil. As long as the oil pressure is normal when idling (4 or 5 at idle), then I'd give it a few minutes and the lifters should quiet down. If you don't have oil pressure, turn off the motor and figure out why!

Dave951

Alright, I went out back and tried again. I cranked the car and it makes a putter poof sound like its trying to start but then does not. I can see the oil pressure gauge rise for 4 - 5 when im cranking. I got the battery fully charged before trying to undertake starting the car. My fuel pressure gauge reads around 32psi. I installed larger injectors, but I figured that I hold off on installing the adj. FPR until I got a start. I dont think I hooked up my vacuum/boost gauge correctly since its not reading anything. I checked for a vacuum leak at the hoses. I'm using the shorting plug in my SMT6 to ensure my configuration isnt interferring with the start up and the red LED is light. When I fabbed my new intake pipe i didnt make a port for the crankcase vent from the AOS to go back into the intake system. Do I need to cap the vent to get a start or leave it open? Where can I go from here? I know I have a tiny oil leak near my turbo adapter plate, but would that cause the no start? I can take a sound clip if that would help.

hosrom_951

Tom is right, since i had the cam housing off, i installed one lifter upside down (for testing reasons for this thread) and the cam just barely turns. It is obvious that the camshaft lobes are catching on the lifter.....

When you were working on the engine, and the camshaft was off the car, did you store the lifters in oil? did you store the lifters upside down?

It would be better to have the AOS hooked up to the intake, but for you'r start up reasons, i do not think that is the cause of th noise.

Dave951

Yeah, I did store the lifters in oil. Not sure if they were upside down in the oil, but they were in there. It seems like its less clacky now, and since the engine can be manually cranked them im assured the lifters are in correctly. However still no start

Ski

Is the tach moving? Is it wired correctly for the plug wires? All the grounds connected? Have you double checked the wiring on the SMT6, what modifications did you make, software...you have fuel but do you have spark?

Dave951

I'm not sure if the tach was moving during cranking. When I disassembled the disty I labled the orange plugs with 1 through 4 and hooked up the wires with 1 being the shortest wire and 4 being the furthest. 3 being on the bottom left of the disty. Did I mistakenly do this backwords?

I checked the chassis grounds and they seem to be connected, clean. I havent double checked the SMT6 wiring yet, however the Red test LED is a postive sign since atleast power is hooked up correctly.

I'm using a set of Hallys chips designed for my setup. I'm wondering if my LR MAF is getting power. Since I made a custom harness for it.

On my last attempt I heard a little pop, and checked my timing belt. It looks like its loose hovering up out of the groove some, which scared me. So I'll definitely have to go back in tension it because I think I nearly avoided disaster. I had been checking it during each attempt and it seemed to be fine.

Tomorrow I'll be trying some of the suggestions and will hopefully be able to report back with good news.

Dave951

In from the garage for an update. I reset the engine to TDC, made sure the cam gear alignment mark was perfectly in line with the marking on the rear disty cover and readjusted the tension on the timing belt. Took a quick look at clarks garage layout for the plug wires and I think I might have had the wires for cyl 2 and 3 reversed. Once everything is reattached I'll give in another whirl.

Ski

from the top, going clockwise, starting at 10 o'clock, 4 - 2 - 1 - 3

cap
4-2
3-1

Stephenwz968

Dave951,

I'm in Hopewell-shoot me a pm and let's grab a beer sometime.

Steve

Dave951

Let the trumpets sound, the car started and all seems to be well! Except for the leak at my turbo adapter plate, but I'll take care of that shortly.

Thank you Ski, and the rest of the rennlisters that helped contribute to my troubleshoot thread. Hopefully I'll see some of you in August at 944 fest. Steve, i'll be in touch.

Pictures will be up in a few mins.

Dave951

Pictures!