I just bought a 88 FC for a side project and put in a fresh new battery, car cranks but doesn’t start when I turn the car into the on position none of the gauges move, everything else in the interior works fine ac, radio, interior lights, etc. any ideas?

 

Does the tach bounce when cranking?

 

No, nothing on the gauge cluster moves at all

 

Have you checked all of your fuses?

Have you checked compression? Good way to at least know if you're getting some compression is to pull the spark plugs on one rotor, then crank the car with both the spark and fuel fuses pulled. You're going to want to listen for 3 consistent "puffs" when cranking. If you hear 2 strong puffs, and one weak one, or no puff at all, that means at least one side of that rotor doesn't have compression. Check both the front and rear rotor this way.

Are you sure the ECU is good? Usually if the tach doesn't bounce, that points to an issue with the ECU. Easiest way to test this is to swap in a known good one and see if it'll start. NA ECU's are a dime a dozen, so they're relatively cheap.

You also said you have a new battery. If NONE of your gauges work, including the battery voltage gauge, I would also wonder if there's an issue with your gauge cluster.

 

Please search. Many people have asked the same question before.

check fuses, especially egi under the hood and engine and meter fuse under the dash.

does the check engine light up then turn off? If it doesn’t light up when ignition is turned to on, ecu most likely doesn’t have power.

Do sensor connectors on the engine harness have 12v? If not, ecu is not powered up. Do ground wires have continuity to ground?

check spark. If no spark, could be ecu is not powered on or CAS is bad (rare as it’s very simple).

if you have spark but no fuel, try jumperimg the fuel pump. Fuel pump is controlled by the air flow meter, so could be a bad air flow meter.

if you have spark and you smell fuel out the exhaust, check timing by checking CAS alignment.