Motor is in, but...........
 

Everything is in, and I am trying to fire it up but the starter is not turning over and it makes a electric arcing noise when I crank it over half way. When I crank it over all the way it makes a dead battery click. And that is with a car starter/battery charger. My fuel pump also is not buzzing letting me know it's alive, but I blame myself for that. I put in a 255 lph, and I think I might have not hooked up the wires good enough. I am going to check it in about a half hour. -Chris

Swap in a battery (completely swap, no jumper cables) from another car. That should cure any dead-battery problems.

Check for grounds on the motor. I always run more than one.

well make sure all the Gounds are good to!! if it is not the Battery.

It's running, it was the battery. Also the fuel pump ground by the battery was unplugged. The motor is grounded on the heads to the firewall, and also the ground on the intake is on. What is that ground to? I heard once but I forgot. The problem is that it is running like the biggest piece of crap in the world. It sounds sweet at idle, but it is a dog anywhere else. It's rev's like crap, and drives even worse. I keep changing the timing and fuel pressure but it doesn't run any better or worse really. It sounds kind of like a lawn mower at 2000 to 3000 rpm. It let's out hella smoke out the mufflers when I am driving, and there is a big white cloud of smoke that comes from the header on the drivers side but only at 3000 or above. I can't believe how horrible it is running. I have tried all kinds of different timing and fuel pressure settings but no real improvements. I am about to take it to a shop and just say fix it, I don't care how just fix it. I am going to re-check my grounds today.

Going a little better
 

Yesterday I took out my distributor and put the motor back at TDC then reset the dist & timing. It runs a lot better but is still a dog. I am running an Accel billet dist and it puts the the #1 in a different place. I didn't think that it would matter so when I initially started it up I had to kind of just eye'd it and made up a new #1 cyl position if you understand what I mean. When I took out the dist yesterday and reset it I did it with the #1 in the correct place and re-routed all my plug wires. Well it runs and idles alot better but there is still no power on the low end. Does anyone know what Accel does to the dist to make it so specific to where the #1 is? I tested the grounds for the motor and it is coming back good. I have it going from the back of the heads to the firewall. What is the groud that goes to the intake off the wiring harness by the firewall? I think someone said that it has to do with the injectors or something. The way it is running I am starting to think of a few things. 1- my choice in parts is just a little too extreme for a street car, i.e. intake and cam. 2- the computer can't keep up with all the new stuff I installed and need to get a chip burned on a dyno 3- I just don't know what the hell I am doing and screwed something up. HELP!!!!!!!!!!

No really guys, jump in any time. I am open for suggestions/opinions. Here's what I am going to try tomorrow when I get off work. More fuel pressure, play with timing some more, identify where oil and smoke is coming from, Vacuum reading @ idle. I also think that the gears I have in it right now (3.27's) might be killing the low end w/ my intake and cam. I am having 3.73's installed soon, hope that will help a bit. Do you guys think that my TFS-R intake and cam (.560 int / .575 ex 227/233 @ .050 288/296 total) is what is killing my low end. I thought the extra cubes would pick up the slack. Or do you think the cam is playing games with my computer? I don't know, but I should have a pretty busy day tomorrow. If I don't get any positive feedback from my trouble shooting tomorrow I am going to limp it over to a reputable shop. Thanks for any help or info.

-Chris

Well, it sounds like timing, but I had the saem problem on the white stang remember Chris? I broke down and took it to a mech and I will find out something tonight, he has had it for a week. I didn't get any smoke though. Check your plugs and compression, is your air temp sensor new with the intake or did you use the old one, also your computer may not be keeping up with it all, Where did you get the computer? i thought you lent it to Boyles? Ya know he fried yours don't you?

Hey a reply, wow. What's up Shawn? Well I went out and bought a timing light, and a vacuum gauge yesterday. I set my fuel pressure a little higher, put my timing at 14 advanced, and the vacuum was only reading 5 in/hg. So I just took it to Manning Motorsports and l am letting him fix it. There was just too much stuff going wrong with it. I don't have time to deal with it, I just found out today that I am going out on MSSG-11. It leaves in middle June so I got to get all my crap together. I will keep you updated with my progress though. Take it easy man, -Chris.

from what i have seen that cam is about the threashold of the stock computer..they recremend(altough MM&FF used a stock compuer)with the XE282HR(.565/.575, 236/24x)a pms or dfi..so that might be one probelm..the gears is a big probelm..your cam is setup for 3.73-4.30s+..it makes the power up top..you need the gears bad..i say get 4.10s if you wanna use 26" slicks anytime..
white smoke is not good..white =antifreeze..hopefully nothing is leaking
are you sure than the meter is calibrated for the injectors..ive heard problems of people running 30's b4..they swapped back in the 24#ers and they ran better

please let us in when you get it back!

Yeah I totally agree about the gears, that is in the works as we speak. I am thinking that I will need a dyno tune session at Powertrain Dynamics when I get it back up and running, but that might have to wait about 6 months as I am going on deployment until about December. We will see how quick I can get everything going then maybe I can go do it before I leave. I hope I didn't screw anything up when I put it together with the antifreeze thing, but the smoke seems to be fuel related. It almost killed me driving it to drop it off, my eyes were all irritated. My friend following me said it was getting to him too. I am going to double check my mass-air meter. But I have faith that this shop will be able to sort it all out. I will keep everyone updated though. Thanks for the replies though. -Chris

Well I got it back from the shop today and OMG this thing is freaking insane. It just anahilates the tires and revs like there's no tomorrow. If you blink you will miss it. I just can't believe it. This is in no way a bragging or boasting thing because I know there are way faster cars here than mine but I am just so stoked to have it up and running. The problems were a bunch of stupid crap that I screwed up, and a couple that were just stupid. The Rocker arms wern't adjusted right, the valvecover gaskets were crap and not keeping the oil where it belongs, oil was coming from my old dipstick hole. And in my paranoia of not overtightening the intake I didn't tighten it enough causing a whole host of problems. But it's back now and it hauls some serious ace. Just an update. -Chris

Great news...
 

Oh, the feeling you get when your car is suddenly all fixed and runs like you have never felt before. Good to hear your car is tearing up the streets. Watch out for the MP's. They love to write tickets.

Awesome, we will all wait patiently for some ET's!!!:D