88 No Start After Engine Swap

[RustInMyEye]

So about two mouths ago i bought an 88 Comanche 4.0 5 speed with the plan to make it my daily driver. This is my third and oldest jeep, and its been a fun build so far. I bought it non-running, with them saying the engine was blown. It didn't even have a battery so i could see if anything was working. just showed up with a trailer and offered 1100. I got it home threw in a battery from my trail cherokee and gave it a go. What to you know it started right up, sounded awful, but I was excited to know this thing wasn't complete junk.  so i started to pull out the engine and i could finally see the golf ball size hole in the side of the block, but hey the thing was still kickin! 

 

Anyway so I put an engine in it from an 88 cherokee that had 130xxx miles on it. Swapped in the cooling parts from a 94 cherokee. and bolted everything back together. Gave it a new oil pump, timing chain, water pump, thermostat and water outlet, knock sensor. Also some new battery cables, battery, ignition coil, starter relay.

 

Anyway I'm at the point where I'm trying to start it and its not happening. It was originally not cranking at all, after some testing we found that the ground wire to the starter relay wasn't doing anything, so we overrided it back to the battery, an issue to be solved later. With that in place, the key will properly crank the engine. But then we weren't getting any spark, so we tested the coil and replaced it anyway because my wallet was just to fat...    From some reading that ive done i don't think the cps is bad, was going to replace it but the store gave me one for the wrong year and i had thrown out the box  so i can't return it, didn't even notice the connectors were different until i had it in and so anyway, yeah.    

 

So, some help would be greatly appreciated.   I'm frustrated that the jeep started and now it won't. i have a feeling its the distributor, as I'm useing the one that came on the engine i swapped in.  

 

here's a picture for the hell of it

 

 

[Mattwheels]

First things are first, need to check for spark from the Coil, and need to check your fuel lines for fuel. If you're not getting spark from the Coil, its most likely a CPS. Also I would do all of Cruisers Renix tricks to bring it up to speed, make sure everything is grounded properly and all the problem area's are resolved.

[88ComancheMitch]

Do all of Crusier's tips. Then sell me your rims. :yes:

[Jeep Driver]

edit

[RustInMyEye]

Yeah ive been reading Cruisers tips and other posts by him about distributors and engine swaps.  Fuel rail has great pressure.  

 

And the rims are shot, large chunks missing from the edge almost to the bead seat. 

[cruiser54]

1 through 5 for sure. 27 is always a good idea.

 

CPS test is #7.

[RustInMyEye]

Thanks for the help guys, dumb as is sounds none of the sensors grounds were hooked up.  They were cut by someone to not be named (my brother)  and i had no idea they were even there.  so with them grounded to a new location it fired right up.

 

 

On to my next issue.  on starting the engine it was very noisy. I looked into the valve cover and didn't see any oil!  I had replaced the oil pump, which came with a new pickup. I thought it should prime itself. Could this be a problem with the distributor?

[cruiser54]

Glad to hear about the starting.

 

What brand of oil filter are you using? 

[RustInMyEye]

Its a Purolator from advanced auto

[cruiser54]

Its a Purolator from advanced auto

How did you install the oil pickup tube? 

[RustInMyEye]

I put a little oil on it, tapped it with a rubber mallet to get it started, and pushed really hard.

 

edit: thinking back i probably used the mallet the whole time. but it didnt look damaged or anything

[cruiser54]

Hmmmm. How long did you run it with the oil not reaching the valve train, and what did your oil pressure gauge read during that time? 

[RustInMyEye]

maybe 2-3 minutes at most. i got out the truck right after it started and didnt look at the gage. looked into the cover because of the noise and told my brother to shut it down. 

[RustInMyEye]

I assume I'm going to have to pull the valve cover and make sure all the pushrod and other oil passages are clear.   

[cruiser54]

Need to see if it's building any oil pressure. Unplug the CPS and crank it for a minute while watching the oil pressure gauge. 

[FrankTheDog]

Is there oil in the pan? Sometimes we forget the simple stuff.

Also I thought when installing a new pump or starting a new engine you were supposed to prime by spinning the oil pump through the distributor hole.

[RustInMyEye]

Theres 6 qaurts of Valvoline synthetic long life.  Ill check the oil pressure first thing tomorrow.     

[RustInMyEye]

so cranked it for a while and it didnt move. so i just started it to not kill the starter and it went up to 40psi and we started to see oil up top. what a relief! 

[RustInMyEye]

ok this is dumb but i havent hooked up my throttle cable because, well, i can't find it in my garage. Anyone have a picture of how these linkages get rigged up? 

[88ComancheMitch]

There is a clip on the gas pedal, and a clip thsy goes into the firewall. Then it sweeps around and clips into a bracket somewhere near the throttle body. And then the cable snaps on the throttle body.

 

 

All clips except the two end ones are square.