I will remove the added ground then, I was under the impression that since the motor is grounded to the chasiss, chassis to the battery etc. All grounds being shared, that putting a ground leg from the chassis ground to the ground between the starter and solenoid would only insure a more continuity to ground. I'll put it on the "other" starter mounting bolt instead. I can't seem to locate the Haynes right now, my 4 yr.old may have taken off with it.

 

You shouldn't have any ground wires touching the starter posts anywhere. You can run a ground from the shock tower area to the end plates or the bolt that goes threw the tranny bell housing to the block right under the oil filter, which is the stock grounding point.

Rotaries do take a lot of amps to spin up, so just double check all your connections from the battery on.

 

Yes, that's correct. Finished charging the Optima, put her back in, and "ladies and gentleman..... WE HAVE ROTATION!". Whew! One problem down. Won't start now though, but she's flooded as hell so I'll deflood and try again. I can't tell if my fuel pressure is way off or not either. The damned gauge is a cheesy peice of ****. But at least it's turning over now, I can work with that. Progress is progress.

 

True that. Keep on trying.

 

some MMO down the carb will fire a flooded rotary right up, just kinda smokey. Or I have a trick simular to the fuse trick for SE's, and FC's just kink the fuel inlet hose and have someone turn it over for you.

 

Well, I deflooded 3 times, no go. Then dropped a wrench into the engine bay and snapped the posts off one of my coils! ARGH!!!!! I rewire the ignition and used one of my old stock coils in place of the broken one. Still nothing resembling a start. My fuel pump is going like a raped ape, but the needle onmy fpr never seems to move. I turned in my idle screws to home and out one turn, still nada. turning the alan screw IN on the fpr lowers the pressure right? Guess I better pull the dizzy and double check my timing too. "Murphy's Law" is owning me!

 

So what the starting/not turning over issue?

 

Nope, actually spinning well, just no start. doesn't even "almost" start. But it does turn over well.

 

You are going to have to verify a few things then... Remove the access cover on the passenger side of the engine and center the flat spot on the flywheel in that space. (TDC) Verify that the pulley is now showing pretty close to the timing marks.(checking pulley position). Next remove the distributor cap and the arrow should be pointing at the T2 spark plug more or less. If not pull distributor and line up the divot with the line and stab again.

If all these things are correct so far check to ensure both coils are putting out a pretty even spark. If not swap the ignitors.

I am not saying you have not done these things. Just saying this would be the first things I would do if I had the car in front of me.

 

Hey guys, this is my first "rotary" engine, so I'm still a newbie. Even if it sounds common sense, feel free to throw out your 2 cents. I appreciate all the help so far, but still gotta get her running.

Jesus...
Going to remove the cover and verify flat spot is aligned with that space, but mine has a large "opening" not a flat spot. The same applies right?

I can't check the pulley though, I have a Gilmer drive system on, not stock pulley. Any "other" way to check it?

Will check the dizzy at this point to see if rotor is pointing at or near T2. Will post results. I did notice last night that after I had to wire up the stock coil on the trailing, that that spark is alot weaker than the leading sparks. I doubt it should matter since the leading has a really good spark.

 

Ok, with the "opening" in the flywheel lined up with the flat "exhaust"side of the motor, my rotor points between T2 and T. Am I off a tooth or so, or is that close enough to be right?

 

It should turn over easilly by hand? How easilly? Is that with the plugs in or without? I can turn it over by hand, but not one handed. That's with plugs in.

Yea, I just meant that you should be able to turn it over by hand fairly easily, if it is resistant to rotatation then something might be binding or causing the motor to not freely rotate.

Basically, you should be able to turn it over by hand, if you can't something is wrong. You said the starter was slow, so I guessed it was having problems turning the engine over maybe its internal mechanical problem w/in the engine, but this is definatly not the case. You probably would have heard grinding, crunching, or the motor would have seized and you probably already know or have verified everything I guessed...


I can't help you with the timing... srry... Compression(and Oxygen), Spark(on time), Fuel!

 

Well, I'm gettin closer! I verified timing was close to what it should be by previous suggestion, double checked spark and tried again. No vroom. so I moved on to fuel. Turns out, and I have no clue why, the fpr wasn't allowing fuel through. So I pulled it blew it out, put it back together and putta putta but no start yet. Recharging battery a bit now, as I cranked it quite a bit last night and today. (it was slowing down) I did manage to get it to pop and sputtter on it's own for a sec., but that's all. So here's my question, with the DCOE, do I give it a pump or two, or just crank it and adjust on the carb till she fires? I'm CLOSE THOUGH! She's gonna run today! Still have to tune the girl, but shes gonna be breathing on her own if I can just figure the right fuel pressure, idle adjustment, mixture rate. WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!! Anyone with a sidederaft have any advice on initial startup procedures/settings/ etc.?

 

If it super flooded, I typically hold the gas pedal all the way to the floor, no pumping, and crank it for abt 20 secs, usually it will catch and start sputtering up to speed. that lets in the max amount of air.

 

thats true, the starter body is the ground for the starter

 

My baby breathes, and she runs! Sounds awesome too! That RB dual exhaust kicks ***! (thanks Jesus!) Now for the new issues. I let her run for 5 or 10 minutes to warm up, problem is the temp gauge never moved. Which of the temp units is the one linked to the dash gauge? Also the clutch fan doesn't seem like it's turning fast enough. Maybe I'm just used to different cars, but it doesn't seem like it would do alot of cooling, turning as it is. Is there a bolt on fan that fits these? Like a flex fan type thing. I have a taurus e-fan, but I have to get a non-fmoc rad to use it. Mines too short.

 

Happy to hear she is up and running!! The sensor for the dash gauge is the one under the beehive oil cooler. The big mushroom one is oil pressure. It is a bullet prong right next to it on the block on the rear side housing.

If you need another fan I have a standard one for a 12A here. To check yours... you should be able to move it with your hand but it should not freewheel.

 

Thanks! I apparently hooked up the wrong wire to that prong. There's a little pigtail off the oil pressure sensor wire w/a female bullet on it, it was in the right area, so I didn't even check. Hmmmm.... any ides what that's for? As far as the fan, it does have some resistance, it's just that eyeballing it cold, it didn't appear to turn too fast. I'm still used to piston engines where the fan runs prety much 1 to 1 or close revolutions. Awsome! I'm set then! Even my custom ignition box works great. only issue I have is that I dropped a frickin wrench in the engine bay and of course it hit smack on my new coils posts and broke them off. So, I have one of my old factory coils hangin by a zip tie to run my trailing right now. I'll have to fix that and run new wires to drivers turn sig. That's all. WooHoo!

BTW- I tore out my hatchback panels and etc. yesterday to prep for starting the interior, and mine didn't have the cardboard back panel either. Sorry Jesus.

 

No problem. Given enough time I will just cut one here myself.

 

I'm gonna be making one to use as a back piece foe my fiberglass piece anyway, and I have the extra material to make a second one. God knows, being a contractor, I have the tools for that no prob. So if you don't locate one before I cut mine, I'll just make 2. Soon as I get the 7 liscenced and insured, (a week or so) I'll be finding excuses to make road trips, so I'd be happy to come help ya work on your's when your ready.

 

I would definitely welcome that.