On a total mission today - get everything done to start the engine.
First i rewired the ignition coils and injectors and tested - this time they worked.
A quick trip to purchase some oil at lunch meant we had something to fill it with - so around 7 litres went in.
We then turned the engine over to try and get some oil pressure. Obviously the pipe to the gauge is too long, so we got nothing. Slightly riskily we decided to proceed anyway.
We filled the fuel tank, put the fuse back in, and pressurised the system. A careful check for leaks over a few minutes confirmed its fine. We then tested the injectors, and all four produced a nice fine atomised mist of fuel in the throttle bodies.
I replaced the old spark plugs with new ones. Time to run ....
The engine turned for a good 20 seconds before we saw anything. Then a few coughs... and splutters... and it kinda fired. A bit. Then died. I decided to adjust the tickover screw to increase the speed a little. On the next fire it sprang to life, but very lumpily. We let it run for 20 seconds, and the manifolds started to smoke as the oil burned off them.... but only 2 of them! Two were stone cold.
I spent ages thinking this through, retested the injectors, retested the ignition - all fine. Eventually i had a vague memory of seeing that hayabusas firing order is 1-2-4-3, so based on this hunch, i unpicked the loom and swapped the connectors. Bingo - fired into life straight away on all four cylinders.
There's still some tuning to do - tickover is still a bit lumpy and the barometric sensor doesn't work - but it runs, and is probably driveable.
Feeling rather happy, we tidied up, fiddled with the gear change a little more, and did a bit more tidying on the loom.
A well deserved night off and a load of beer tomorrow, then to tackle the bodywork! Just 24 days into the build and it looks and feels like a real car.
Todays Build: 2 people, 5 & 4 hours. Total build time so far: 82 hours, 116 man-hours.
