Knight1_FD3S

iTrader: (1)

Good Afternoon Guys & Gals!

I've been a member for awhile now; plundering the plethora of information and knowledge so graciously shared by every contributing member on this forum for years: thank you for all of your help, direct or indirect. But I digress...

First of all, I'd like to give a big shout out to Fritz_Flynn for the shell and misc. parts and Bstarr for some other parts as well. You guys are great!

So here is where we stand in chronological order (WARNING: LONG POST):

-Purchased 93 FD Rolling Shell with wheels, manual rack, headlights, hatch, doors, subframes (both)

-Saved a bunch of parts from my last build (94 FD wrecked unfortunately in 2012 but salvaged as much as I could prior to getting rid of the shell) Retrieved Megan coilovers, nearly full interior, diff, driveshaft, trans, motor/body/dash/instrument, engine harnesses, better condition doors/hatch, igniter, fluidyne radiator, Greddy 2-Row FMIC & Piping, gauge cluster, R1 Seats, CF Bonnet, and taillights from my parent's house where I had been storing everything. Most things were in boxes in the basement, the motor/drive train/trans were left outside under the deck under a tarp on top of a concrete slab. I live in Northern Virginia so the weather throughout the past few years has been extremely variable, high humidity, high heat, rain, snow, dry cold, etc. I work at an automotive performance shop in Chantilly, F3 Auto and the vehicle has been in this shop throughout the entire build: occasionally pushed out to the parking lot when we have a lot of clients (customers first! Lol)

Notes: motor and all the parts I had stored came out of my FD running. When I got in the accident, my FD held a smooth idle (front corner damage)


PHASE 1: Chassis Work
​​​​
- Duplicolor Anti-Corrosion Anti-Rust Sound Dampening painted the entire undercarriage and wheel wells; did the same for the entire cabin area and added Fatmat (rival of Dynamat but cheaper) for the main parts of the cabin (I am an audiophile)

-New front wheel bearings

-Refurbished and Rebuilt Calipers, painted, new pads! New shims, stainless steel lines installed

-Extended Studs Installed

-Megan Coilovers Installed

-Engine Bay scuffed/primed/painted/cleared

-Door Jambs/Hatch Jambs/Fuel Tank Jamb scuffed/primed/painted/cleared

-My old Doors/Hatch Installed

-Shell came with body harness so I left that intact

-Ran battery bin relocation 12V wire 4 Gauge

-Ran Front Body Harness to OEM positions

-Installed Carpet/Dash/Seats/Blower/Heater Core/Interior Panels/Door Panels/Pedal Assemblies/and the rest of the interior (ran dash/instrument harness prior to installing dash

-Replaced both exterior door handles with aluminum handles

-Installed diff and axles

-Cleaned/Rhinolined Installed Fuel Tank/Neck/Straps

-Tested Fuel pump and it worked (never measured fuel pressure just tested to see if it would turn on..so keep this in mind)

-Relocated Fuel Filter to Engine Compartment on fuel feed line

-Installed Taillights/Sidemarkers/Peripheral Light Housings

-Installed Catback Exhaust (supported by hangers)

-Installed Bonnet

-Plugged in ECU

-Installed Head unit

-Installed Optima Yellow Top to Bin & installed 4 Gauge ground wire to chassis

-Installed brand new ignition key set/switch combo

-Tested Power Windows/Radio/Lights - ALL worked EXCEPT for turning signals (this steers me towards ignition circuit I heard they are linked)

PHASE 2: Motor Work

-Now I figured time to start the work on the motor; opted NOT to do an internal rebuild as the motor came out running (I turned off the car the last time it ran) and also did a compression test with 90-98 on all faces by manually turning crank pulley)

-Deleted Air Pump and Installed Banzai Racing Idler pulley; figment was a little off so grinded down the bottom side of the coolant neck to give me about 3mm more clearance. Turned crank pulley manually: no wobble good tension.

-Did the rich man's Non-Sequential Mod, welded flaps open, ported internal wastegate a smidge, deleted vacuum lines down to 5 lines (vacuum capped all open nipples), removed all solenoids and preemptively installed resistors to each solenoid harness and a relay for the EGR harness

-Block off plates for AWS? (Forgot what's it's called), Air Pump, EGR, essentially everything except for the OMP block off plate (don't feel like premixing just yet)

- Installed new Spark Plugs with antiseize (forgot which ones but its the ones you guys all recommend on here), 10mm Magnacore Wires

-Dropped Motor/Trans simultaneously intact, installed new master/slave clutch cylinders with a stainless steel clutch line bypassing OEM dampener and hardline installed ABS unit, bled brakes/clutch

​​​​​​-Installed Fuel Lines (I may have installed backwards, but went according to diagram on here, and ran ventilation line to atmosphere (with filter valve) by the igniter

-Installed all coolant lines: to and from radiator, heater core in/out, and bypassed throttle body coolant lines and plugged nipples.

-Got an oil cooler off a coworker's Viper SRT-10 (Setrab looks pretty big think its a wide 19 row); ran NPT to 10AN fittings and respective adapters on block side and installed feed/return lines for oil cooler.

-Topped off coolant/oil (haven't done trans/diff fluid yet)

-Installed MAP sensor/O2 Sensor to DP and plugged in respective harnesses

-Installed Driveshaft

-Triple Checked & Torqued down every bolt I could find

-Installed Banzai Pulley Kit

-Installed Crank/Alt/Water Pump/Air Pump Idler Belt

PHASE 3: Motor Start Attempt

-Preemptively deflooded by pulling Fuel Relay); 10 second crank sets with 1 minute stop intervals in between

-Filled fuel tank with about 4 gallons of fresh 93 octane

-Hooked up Jumper Pack and attempted to start; crank but no start condition.

NOTE: did this

PHASE 4: Diagnostics

-Noticed that turn signals didn't work so checked the FSM; manual states turn signals and dash idiot lights are linked to ignition circuit; tested for voltage coming out of B/W wire from ignition switch: no voltage

-Noticed fuel pump was pretty quiet despite having been tested out of the car; did not hear relay click a priming sound (I remember there being a half second whine as the lines pressurize

-Wasnt sure if vehicle would crank without ECU, unplugged ECU and the vehicle still cranked; so added this as probable cause and ordered another 93 N3A1 (FED MT) from a known running car (or so they say), hasn't arrived yet, so haven't tested yet.

WHAT I HAVE TRIED:
-Manually bypassing fuel pump relay and running test leads from fuel pump wires R/W & B to constant hot 12V sources and Chassis GND

-Manually bypassing ignition switch and running test leads from B/W wire to constant hot 12V source.

-Opened up ECU to check for blown/leaking capacitors/resistors, cold solders, scorch marks: NOTHING APPARENT. Tested All 3 ECU grounds and came out good (I know there's a 4th one but those go to sensors so didn't test), proceeded to plug back in but still decided to not cancel pending arrival of N3A1 ECU.

WHAT IT DID:

-When turning to Ignition 2/On position, idiot lights now worked, turn signals worked, so tried to start: nothing. Jump Pack ran out of juice so I called it a day.

MY DIAGNOSIS:

-Failing/Dead Igniter
-Failing/Dead Coil Packs
-Foiled Spark Plugs (from me trying to start so many times)
-Weak/Failing Walbro Fuel Pump (its so quiet)
-Replacing ECU with more forgiving 93 FED MT N3A1 ECU

WHAT I NEED HELP WITH:

-I would like to get power to my B/W wire from the ignition switch the proper way; I see voltage coming in from the G/R, B, and one other wire strong but nothing goes out the B/W from the ignition switch

-I would like to get the car started (it's been 18 months of me working on this car in my spare time lol), if I have overlooked anything or if anyone has any advice or has experienced a similar issue, if I'm skipping a step or doing something wrong, please tell me!

-If you are near me, I'd love some assistance and moral support (losing hope haha): free food and beer on me and my eternal gratitude: we could barter services or something. If you're interested check out my job's work at:

​​www.Instagram.com/f3auto

Thanks in advance and I appreciate you all taking time out of your day to read this; regardless if you can offer input or not I hope this thread will eventually help a lot of other members and lurkers (like myself) to overcome my dilemma.

Cordially,
Vinh Khong (Knight 1_FD3S)

If you'd like to contact me directly you can reach me via phone/text at 703.855.0065 or e-mail at vinhkhong@f3autodetailing.com

P.S. I may have forgotten some things and will update as I try new things or remember something I may have tried, I don't usually create threads so please Mods and Admins move it to the right place if I messed up.

Attached are photos of the build thus far! Exciting yay!

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

One thing that you should do is totally clear any excess gas out of the engine by deflooding the engine.

..and LONG post?...nah..I had a baby,she grew UP and I am now a grand-dad...hahahha!
*remember..Libraries may be going out..BUT the internet always has stuff to read!.So a good post is not a bad thing!

Knight1_FD3S

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! Will try that today =)

TomU

iTrader: (11)

Have you verified spark or no spark at the plugs?

Fritz Flynn

iTrader: (263)

Vin that's a ton of work this should be a really nice car when finished

So you have fuel pressure?

You have good compression?

You have spark?

It turns over?

The injectors are opening/working?

If you have the above things it should at least back fire LOL