Hello everyone..
I just put my stroker motor in the car, hooked up all components. But for some reason my car wont start. There are still some electrical plugs that need to be hooked up but there little stuff that I don't think has anything to do with it firing up.

Couple things that Im concerned with.
I had to upgrade to a bigger starter because my flexplate is bigger. I went down to Auto Zone and pick up a starter from a SBC 70 Camaro 400 and it bolted up just fine. Now heres the confusing part. The wire that goes from the Positive terminal to the starter has another cable attached to it. It looks like its a ground but im not sure. It looks like I can mount this plug to the passenger side motor mount, Could this be an issue on why it wont start?

Also I recently had to recharge my battary after my camaro was sitting for a year and half. I had it recharged last week and it had to sit a week because I was not done with putting it together. Now that the battery is in I turned the key and the battary gage inside the car read about 9 volts or so, It did not pass the red area, So Do I need to recharge the battary again. Please look this over and help me. LOL.. That would be great.
Chris

 

Absolutely. Bolt the ground to the motor mount and call us back with the other issues that are certain to come up. Do you have a computer with Datamaster or some other data collection software? Are you able to program your PCM for the changes that will need to be made?

Ben

 

No. I have to get my computer tuned. My last tune was a 355 .030 over. So i need to do that. I will later bolt on that ground to the motor mount. Im hoping thats why my car wont fire. What about my battary? what do you think about that. Potential problem.
Chris

 

If your battery is only putting out 9V, it needs to be charged. Its going to be harder to start with the starter pulling all the power, and nothing left for the fuel pump, injectors, PCM, etc. I'd suspect if you have 9V with no load, when you turn the key to "START", the voltage is dropping close to zero.

Describe what happens when you turn the key to "START". I'm hot sure I understand from your description. You're talking about a starter that might not be wired correctly, so that leads me to think maybe the starter isn't working, but then you say it won't "fire", and that may indicate the starter is working, but the engine is not starting. Might help if you clarified.

 

Injuneer:
I dont think I have a problem with my starter I think it works fine. I have not put the negative cable to the bottom of the motor mount yet So i will do that. And in refrence to what happens when i turn the key. The intinial turn you can hear the fuel pump kick in. Then I try and turn it completly and nothing happens. My battary volts read just inside the red zone. So im going to try jumping the battary or get it recharged and get that motor mount cable ground taken car of.
Chris

 

Injuneer, I noticed that you have a th400, I was looking to do that as well becuase my car is a drag car now just like yours. I was wondering were can I get a good th400 that will fit in my LT1?
Chris

 

If you'd like help with your non-starting problem, I'll try. But if you want to ask about a TH400, why not send me a PM?

 

Ok heres an update.
After countless hours my stroker still will not start. My car consistently cranks and cranks but will not turn over. A friend of mine came over this weekend and he put a cap full of gas in the rubber intake seal just in front of the MAF. We tried starting it and the car acted like it wanted to start but went back into cranking mode. I can hear the fuel pump kicking in just fine.

I borrowed a test light from a friend of mine and did the following.

With Key on tested injector fuses(power is getting to the fuses)
Tested ignition fuse (power is getting to the fues)
Pulled off all injectors to check for power. (power was getting to the injectors)
I pulled the plug that goes into the Ignition Control Module and tested the out two pins that supply power to the coil. (power was getting to them)

NOW HERES THE WIERD PART THAT I CAN NOT EXPLAIN.
At this point I'm not convinced that the car is getting spark. So I pulled the wire that goes into the opti with the coil attached and placed it on the intake (ground) I started the car and NO SPARK AT ALL.

I plugged the wire back into the opti and pulled off the number 1 plug WIRE and placed a spare plug in it and on the intake (ground) we tried starting the car and no spark.
It doesn't make sense to me if we can put some gas in the intake and the car would feel like it was going to start. And I check to see if im getting spark and the result is no spark. SO what the hell is going on here.
Thanks
Chris

 

Have you checked to see that you're getting enough fuel pressure? How old is the gas in the tank?

-B

 

Make sure that all of your wires are connected.
I had a similar issue and found that I had missed plugging in one of the four wires that runs through the firewall and under the dash.
I plugged them in and it fired right up.

 

The only check for fuel pressure we did was we turned the key on. Took a screw driver and placed it on the shrader valve. And some fuel started coming out then it stoped. I believe that intial turn of the key just primes the fuel rails. I would have to try starting the car to make sure its coming out

Thats for the four wires under the dash. Can you please explain more. Where are these wires? What do they look like? For some reason My auto meter RPM gage doens't work and it use to when I was trying to crank the motor. Now it wont register at all. IM wondering if that is what some of those wires your talking about. I know my RPM shift like is tapped into the PCM.
Chris

 

http://shbox.com/1/1995_Z28_engine_harness_A4.jpg

Labeled in the lower left. I initially thought that they only ran to the HVAC system but they must have some other function as well.

 

When I look at the lower left I see something that says A/C evaporator. I dont think thats what your talking about is it? Which plug is the one that goes into the fire wall? Sorry im still learning eletrical stuff.
Chris

 

You're looking at the correct group.
That one and the 3 other plugs labeled C210, C220, C230.
These all come through the firewall and plug in basically behind the glove box.

 

Hey Chris,

Did you ever take off the coil & ignition module to check why the coil was loose in the bracket?

Blown383 - the gas is less than a week old (other than what was left in the tank - guage was at less than 1/4 SO EMPTY). That was the 1st thing I noticed when I went to help Chris out. He got 5 gallons of new gas on Sunday. The car is most definately getting gas as its about all you can smell when it is cranking. One plug we did pull did show signs of having been sparking with carbon on the insulator. I asked Chris to try pulling the coil wire and putting it on the manifold or header to see if he was getting spark from the coil. We did test a plug and did not get any spark, but the plug was on his painted manifold so that test may not be valid.

Chris - didn't you test the voltage at the ignition control module?
Any ideas guys ????