Trying to get FD started for the first time in 3 Years. Thanks in Advance!
Thread Starter
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 16
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From: Springfield, VA (Northern Virginia)
Trying to get FD started for the first time in 3 Years. Thanks in Advance!
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!
Last edited by Knight1_FD3S; Oct 19, 2016 at 01:42 PM.



