First time power up
 

Hi all
Im pretty close to connecting the battery and going through the necessary steps to inject some life into my kit.

I have a pretty good idea of the steps i need to take, and wanted to see if there are any additional hints and tips for making this milestone a sucessful one.

My steps are
1 - With no fuses in vehicle, no fuel, connect battery
2 - With multimeter check no short circuits.
3 - Fill engine with oil, coolant, check for no leaks (no fuel yet)
4 - connet power fuses, check ignition switch and powers on circuits (15,30, etc)
5 - check starter engages and engine turns over (wont fire no fuel yet)
6 - check coolant and oil levels and the engine pumps fluids around the system , top up as neccesary
7 - install one fuse at a time check cirucit for power in correct places, ensure fuel pumps engage,
8 - checkswitch circuits, eg indicators, headlights, hazards etc
9 - Disconnect return and supply to main tank (I dont want to use main tank as I dont have fuel sender yet, so top of tank is open)
10 - Turn engine over and see what happens.


Anything else??
Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve,

Seems a very logical route...personally I just connected the battery up with all the fluids in and fuses and cranked her over....worked fine for me (apart from the fact when I took the key out she kept running!! - soon sorted that gremlin out)

My only advice would be to bleed the coolant system really well.....the bleed point and header tank are very close in vertical height and it is easy to get an airlock in the system.

...oh, and a must have (seriously) - bucket of water and fire extinguisher (just in case)

ATB

Rich

I just plugged in the ECU and hoped for the best.... brrrrummmmmm!

I did have a fire extinguisher, fire cloth, and hosepipe on hand to assist with any unwanted "entertainment".

I tested the electrics as I wired them up, and deliberately left the fuel pump unconnected.

Then come the big day I filled up all the fluids, connected the fuel pump and turned on the ignition. I then checked the fuel lines for any leaks and when I was happy started the engine. On the second compression brrrrrmmmm!

I ran the engine for a few minutes, then checked over for leaks, and tightened a few hose unions.

Pretty much the same as Chris here. As soon as the pumps had primed themselves and fuel had made it ways to the swirl pot and fuel rail, she caught pretty much straight away.

You worry to much Steve!

Connect battery up and and crank over without fuel. If there is a short, the fuse will blow. Check levels and add fuel.
Good luck. This is one of those defining moments. When it starts, you will have a big grin. If it don't start, do what I did. Kick the tyres then squirt some easy start in to make it start! Ran for a little while. Then went and found the fault. Had the satisfaction that I got it started even it the engine did not want to!

Good luck

Do you want to know what happen????..............

I got the fire extinguisher ready to hand......
Hosepipe ready ready to hand.

Put battery in no poprblem there
Put fuses in, checked my circuits, nothing wrong there.
Turned the key and nothing happened..... I could here the starter motor go, so add a jump pack to the battery and the engine turned over.
Added some fuel to the swirl pot, having disconnected the main tank supply and return.
Turned the key nothing happened.
Check fuel pump voltage nothing, I had used a wire from the ECU that I thought was the for the fuel pump relay, it wasnt as it was only giving 3.6V.
So i moved the fuel realy over to the switched ignigtion, second stage on the ingition key.
I could here the fuel pump spinning up and making a whining noise until the fuse popped.
Checked my wiring again all was ok.
Checked against elsa win and I had the in and out fuel lines on the engine the wrong way round, pressure was building up behind the fuel regulator.
I had to remove the fuel lines and swap them over.
Did that and as it was under pressure had a nice huge plume of fuel vapor mist all over the rear end of the car, over my hands and face...nice.
No explosion, as no smoke in mouth at the time so was ok :)
Reconnected fuel lines, and went to turn the key again.
and Voila the engine fired up and idled. Fly by wire throttle also worked,
Had a problem with brake warning lamp, being on when it should of been off, and vica versa. Have the same with the oil pressure light, it off to start then comes on, So I have to fit a normally closed relay to invert this voltage.

As the day went on, i let the coolant get hot, and my rad fan kicked in!!
Bloody good feeling when the thing firsts fires up!!!!

So i made a video and put it on my website :)

First time fire up
Its streaming so you dont have to download it:)

Next step for me is I need speedo tacho etc. And connect indicators, brake lights headlights etc.
Module 3 might come october when funds and holiday allow

Cheers Steve

Ummmm. Petrol mist... :)

Brilliant feeling, isn't it! Well done! :D

I noticed that your prop-shafts where turning when it was idling - did you have it in gear?

Nice action!

The first time the car fires up (that's the engine runs, rather than a 999 call), is just great... from this point it gets better and better I reckon - engine runs, car moves under own steam, car drives to IVA, registered, first road drive, and finally first track day......

Nope, but there is no force on the wheels, I can stop it with my hands.
If I grab it with my hands and flick it backwards it stops.
I have a brand new clutch in, but no clutch fluid at all yet, I dont have brakelines, so cant fill up the triple fluid resovouir.
My motorbike used to do this when it was on the center stand with the engine running.
If the car had wheels on, and was on the ground, i dont think it would drive off without me,
Is it a problem?

Yup such a good feeling.
Until it fires up and runs, it an expensive lump of "scrap" metal, now its come alive its worth a bit more.

You make it sound like I have only just started..... so many more good milestones to reach.

Quite chuffed as well as it is all VAG gear not honda or rover where there is a bit more information from other builders available.
Had my ECU sent away for re-chip and imoboliser disabled. So far it looks like that was a good fix.
Also chuffed as I had to make and design the entire wiring loom from scratch.
Now I just have to hook up some lights and see if the rest of the loom works as its supposed to.

I think i might be looking at a spring 2011 IVA. :D

Cheers
Steve

Probably not - it may be the vibrations making the the shafts rotate slowly - like you said, If it where on the ground with some wheels on it, you wouldn't have noticed it.

It's just drag in the gearbox, and totally normal.

To whom was the ECU sent out of interest, and what was the cost? Did they also bin the emissions stuff that is surplus on the Marlin?

Who supplied the exhuast? 1 cat, and 2 absorbtion silencers? I guess the turbo is doing a fair chunk of the attenuation.

I just spotted the boost pipework! That's a heck of a long run!

Well done Steve. Sounds good!

Don't worry about the driveshafts. That's normal.

It is a good feeling for first time start up. Had it twice now!

Next is moving under it's own steam without the body on.:biggrin1: Won't be long!

Got a question for you. How easy could you make up another loom and at what cost? Pm me if you want.

Dont know Mark@ Marlin arragned this.
Marlin, yep 1 cat, 2 silencers, post cat lamda probe is ditched
Yup front to back but the intercooler is at the front in the main airflow.
I appreicate lag might be a problem, but I hope I get an addtional performance gain with the location of the intercooler.

Thanks !

Easy just takes about 6hrs labour and a load of wire.

Pm sent

My engine is running realy rough when i give it a few revs.

I checked the spark plugs and all four were badly corroded.
The coill packs are supposed to have an o-ring seal to prevent water getting to the top of the plugs. They were all missing on my engine. This allowed rain water to get in, probably when the engine was taken out of the donor.
Some plugs had corrosion (brown water marks) about 10mm or so up the plug ceramic!!!!!.
Im surprised it actually started at all in that state.

So have ordeded new o-rings and new plugs.
Hopefully this should sort out my mis fire, and I should end up with a purring engine, fingers crossed.

I should be getting the new parts today, over the bank holiday weekend, i can then hopefully sort this out.

Might make a new video if it fixes the problems. :D

Press fit, or bolt down coils? The former in their earlier codes are unreliable, and if upping the boost it's probably prudent to replace them.

Bolt down ones. Two M6? bolts diagonally opposed

Ive done the plugs at 0.8mm
removed each coil one by one and there is a noteable difference (proper misfire)
as I remove each one. So i don't think it is the coils

I'm wondering if it gets starved of fuel at high RPM, as Im only using the swirl pot It may pick up "air" as the swirl pot isn't being topped up from the main tank.
Will need to get a fuel gauge in the main tank, then run it all from that, and see if the problem goes away.

It runs sweet at idle, so I think that is the cause

Cheers
Steve