1987 n\a starts, won't stay running? electrical?
 

Car is a 1987 n\a base model. Bought it last fall, sat for years, but has a reman. engine with approx. 5k miles. New fuel pump, it does work, we finally got it to come on, it wouldnt before, bad ground. Put a good battery in it, and it started after cranking for a little while. Started, revved up to 2k rpm, died. Would do this every time, run for about 5 seconds at 2k, die. Think the fuel pump is getting kicked off after it starts, bad relay? or something else? electrical isn't my strong suit. any ideas wold be appreciated, thank you!

Find the 2-wire yellow fuel pump test connector on the passenger shock tower. Jump it with a small piece of wire, then try to start the car. If it stays running, your problem lies with the AFM fuel cut switch. When the door inside the AFM is pulled open by engine vacuum, it is supposed to disengage the cut switch and allow fuel to continue flowing. There's also potential for the door to be stuck.

THANK YOU!

That was exactly the problem, the AFM door was corroded and wouldnt move at all. Lubed it up, worked it around a bit, replaced AFM and the airbox, and she fired right up and stayed running, idled at about 1500. Was nice to back it out of the shop instead of pushing it for a change. Next question, oil pressure gauge wasnt reading anything. Engine sounded fine, but still shut it down just in case. Probably just an unplugged wire? the engine had been replaced.

Id check for any disconnected wires and check to be sure the oil level is good. Im new to the rotary butt thats what i would check. maybe theres a fuse for the oil pressure gauge thats bad?

There is a wire connected to the oil drain plug on the oil pan, if I am right that is the oil pressure sending unit. Check to see if that wire is cut or frayed. If not the problem probably lies inside the gauge cluster or wiring to the cluster. That is acutally pretty common with second gens. If you need a stock cluster let me know I have one for sale for $10 obo. Reads 136,XXX miles

^ That's the oil level sender for the warning light.

The oil pressure sender is the mushroom shaped thing under the oil filter. It has a slide-on clip.

Sorry for the wrong information but thanks for the correction