Thanks for the kind comments guys.
OK so today has been about putting the engine in and connecting everything up. Unfortunately not a lot of pics.
Ian came round this morning and it took us about an hour to get it all in place with the 4 bolts all torqued up.
I then spent most of the rest of the day connecting everything else up - taking my time so I didn't miss anything.
Neil came round in the afternoon and worked on the drivers front wing, eventually getting it primed - looking good.
Around 5 I reckoned I was ready for the startup so I phoned Ian and he popped round.
I'd had the battery on charge for a couple of days. After nervous anticipation I eventually turned the key while Ian filmed...........
click!
Bugger! Turned it a few times and just got a click each time - the sound of the solenoid in the starter.
We put it in gear and rocked it back and forth - could hear the engine turning no probs. therefore felt it was either battery not up to scratch, or something wrong with the starter motor. I'd unscrewed a couple of bolts on the starter motor so I could repaint it. My first though was I'd buggered it up somehow. I started planning a partial engine drop to get the starter motor out so we could test it.
Ian popped home and came back with a powerful jump starter/charger. Connected it up. Turned the key and ......
It turned over! It kept turning over. And turning over. Even allowing for petrol to work its way through it obviously wasn't going to catch.
Still it was a really positive step forward.
So next Ian tested the fuel pump fuse as he was surprised we couldn't hear it whirring. We undid the fuel connection at the top of the filter. Turned the engine over and no fuel came through.
Ian eventually sussed that There was no power going to the fuel pump circuit, but power was going to other circuits. He was able to jumper across from another circuit and heard the pump working OK, which was good news.
We discussed if the alarm system was stopping the fuel because it thought something was wrong, but if so it would have beeped a different number of times. It was as if something was stopping the fuel circuit from working
Then a thought suddenly came to me. I asked Ian if it was relevant that the ECU was still in my attic. Apparently that was really relevant. Really really relevant.
I got the ECU from the attic and fitted it.
I've never embedded a video before but here goes
http://www.youtube.com/embed/T1HEce_h044
IT LIVES!!!!!
The idle is a bit lumpy but as soon as you increase the revs it smooths out instantly.
At the moment I'm running the chip on its 'exhaust caps off' setting. So it's expecting the exhaust to be really free flowing and it isn't - I'm wondering if that's affecting the idle. I can't run the 'caps on/normal' setting as the ignition is too advanced.
I'm going to try a stock chip in it tomorrow.
Happy happy happy tonight.
The memories of that sickening feeling as it snaps flush with the head stay with you for a while! 