Why is my new motor still f*#%ed up?
 

I just put a rebuilt engine into the car, it is a half bridgeport. There is fuel and there is spark. Compression on rear rotor is 110 psi, front rotor is 80 psi. The car will not start. It does't even attempt to start, just keeps turning over. Even with starting fluid it won't start. We finally went and push started the car and it runs like crap, won't even run under about 1500 rpm. The exhaust manifold was glowing red hot after about 10 min of idling at ~2k. Water temps were fine. I've got a power fc with a half bridge map that steve kan put in the car back in May. On comparison with a few other street port maps I looked at the timing is WAY different. Could the timing being so off effect the car starting?? I haven't driven this car in over a year and I keep having problems, please help.

Do you have a wideband? It might be running too lean since you said your exhaust manifold glow red.

No wideband. I thought that the exhaust glowing red hot means the timing is too far retarded.

my half bridge started right up when it was cool. and Steve said that bridge ported motors don't like as much timing as normal ports.


also, mine wouldn't idle at anything below 1500, and usually stayed around 1700-1800 rpms

A lean mixture would not cause the problem because the exhaust would not be over heated. Excess fuel would cause that. If it was too rich, you could easily lean it out with the COMMANDER.

Show us your timing for the idle area by an attachment in EXCEL.

I think it is a timing problem, but not the map. VERIFY that the two crank angle pickup sensor on the front of the engine are connected correctly. Neck VERIFY that your coils and plug wires are connected properly.

I have the same problem, I have 150miles on my new engine (half bridge ported) and the bloody thing wont start. Havn't checked compression yet but it is very easy to bump start.

When you first start to crank the car it nearly fires up but as the fuel decays from the cranking table it just turns over and doesnt try any more.

I'll have a mess about with the cranking table but it would be good if i had a half bridge map.

The crank angle sensors are hooked up, and I took the plugs out and made sure they were firing. I won't be around the car again until this weekend most likely, but I'll definately show you the timing maps when I get a chance. I remember the leading going from 8, 10, to 28, and then all they way down to 1 by N20/P20. Swolbynos, does your motor still run strong under 1700? My motor idles ok at 2k, but if I let the clutch out to quick it bogs down and is on the verge of dying, barely lugging the car along, its pretty hard to drive without nearly launching it every time.

i'd be more worried about the 2 bar difference between front and rear rotor

stuck front sideseal?

Yeah thats what I was thinking, the front rotor had a lot of carbon on it, it was difficult to clean off, I'm hoping that once I get it running I can unstick the seal

good luck, i had to open up my engine to rectify that....

your manifold is glowing because you're misfiring. you're spitting raw fuel into the exhaust. the fuel is burning inside the manifold, not the engine, where it should. get it to run smooth and that problem should go away.

set your idle for around 15-1700ish rpm. afr's are not going to read accurately, so just tune the fuel by ear and get it where it runs the smoothest. it should go brap brap brap...

timing should be somewhere between 15 and 20ish degrees at 1500-2k rpm. anything less than that will make it very difficult to hold idle, and can add to your misfire/glowing manifold problem.

What pressure (P01-P20) should I be most concerned with for tuning at idle @ 2k. Do you think the timing being off could cause the motor not to start? How can I change the timing for when the motor is cranking?

You need a datalogic to sort the cranking table out. but you can add more fuel with the commander, its just a pain in the arse.
How many miles are on the engine?? try and get a couple of hundred miles on it first and see how things go, it makes a hell of a difference. run low boost under 7 psi and take the revs to 6K. it'll wear in faster. mine was fine with 80 miles on and revs upto 8K with 7psi boost when I stripped it down, no dodgy wear and looked new inside. I run premix with no omp.
check your tps settings are in range aswell.

gt40single set up on my fd and big port similar problems glowing exhaust,smoking,roughidle,terrible fumes,loud to loud,what ta hell going on where are the real rotory experts if any one knows please post thanks . also where you have yours built

^^Im guesing yours in a map sensor. My friends FC map sensor on his microtech was not connected properly and it was idling like shit and blowing black smoke like a deisel truck.

I've pulled all the codes with the stock ECU, and done the sensor check with the PFC, and my map sensor checks out ok. I really want to put some miles on the motor, but I need to tune this glowing red hot exhaust problem. How much fuel would it take to cause the exhaust to be red if it was just too rich. I mean, compared to a nice A/F ratio say 13:1, what kind of ratio could be causing red hot exhaust? Could a split timing issue cause this?

did you follow my previous advice?

Have you reset the ECU? Maybe the map I put in doesn't work on your car.

If you are in Ohio you should get ahold of the Rx7Store or get ahold of me. Where in Ohio are you?

From my experience with my half bridge and now the semi perepheral , when the cranking fuel map is too much , it kicks like it wants to start then doesnt and the more U crank the worst it gets , because the motor is now starting to flood , check your plugs , I'm sure they would be wet . U can try what we do here, U can pour alittle oil into the motor to help it build compression , after it starts up the first time and the seals have "seated" properly it should start without any trouble. My cranking ignition map is set at 15 deg and the motor hapily idles between 1250 and 1350 rpm with only 5 degrees advance , 20 is too much , that amount of timing causes coolant temps to rise and alot of Unburnt fuel comes out the back , which is why you exhaust manifold is glowing!