About 3 weeks back I started swapping my old tired motor out of my 92 sc300 NA-T for a friend's lower mileage motor out of a 95 NA supra, and swapped all the turbo parts over. I'm not very mechanically inclined, but I've had friends who are helping me the whole way.

So yesterday I thought I had everything put back together, so we pulled the EFI fuse to prime it, and the car turned over fine. We put the fuse back in, and went to start it. It started for a second, but then just sputtered and died. I turned the key to start it again, and the car made an incredibly loud mechanical grinding noise that I have never heard a car make before. I tried starting it a few times after checking several small problems, and it repeatedly made the noise.


Here's what I'm thinking:

Can't be the starter because the motor turns over just fine with the EFI fuse out.

Possibly distributor? I set the motor to top dead center and pulled the whole distributor to find that while the mark on the distributor was top center, the the marked tooth on the distributor gear was at about 2 o'clock. I'm assuming this should be lined with the mark on the distributor itself and then put back in with everything lined up to 12 o'clock, but I don't know, and I don't know if this could be causing this noise.

Could possibly be the flywheel or clutch not being spaced properly or aligned properly, but I don't know if this would be a factor since the car is in neutral and the clutch is in while it makes the noise.


Any help or ideas would be appreciated, I'm stumped... Thanks.

 

interesting. so it cranks fine with the starter if you have the EFI fuse out?

 

Yup, cranks over fine... Double checked the distributor and everything seems to be in spec on it.

I'm leaning towards maybe the flywheel isn't spaced properly from the block. But I really don't see how that would work differently with the EFI fuse out.

Another friend suggested maybe the turbo isn't getting oil, and I did change the oil feed line, so I dunno.

Another night of troubleshooting ahead of me.

 

yeah i dont see how the flywheel spacing would be the issue. itd grind with or without the fuse being in.

good luck man. keep us posted with the outcome.

i wonder if something is fuggered with the clutch.

 

We were thinking clutch, but I dunno if that would matter since the pedal is pushed in.

 

Pulled the starter and the teeth on the gear were all ****ed... We're guessing that the gear isn't retracting which is causing the grind. That or something is misaligned, but the flywheel just bolts up, so the only thing I could think of is that it's not spaced properly.

 

ah crap! the starter might be sticking. and not retracting. i doubt its a flywheel issue. but check your flywheel for damage. that sucks man.

 

I have another starter, I'm just skeptical about trying it and ****ing this one up too... I'll try it tonight, we'll see what happens.

 

Swapped the starter... The ***** is running.

 

good stuff. good stuff. glad its right, man. now for more vids... haha.

 

Yeah, still gotta replace a gasket on a power steering line that's leaking, bleed the power steering, burp the coolant, set/retard the timing, and mess with the tuning a little.

Sadly there's a DDay on sunday that I'll be missing because I want to give the car at least a week before I start beating on it, haha.

 

niiiiiice. did you keep the turbo set up the same?

 

Yeah, I'm just gonna fix things as they break... I'm on a tight budget here, and I just want to get seat time at events since it's summer.

 

tow that thing out here. haha. we can get you all kinds of seat time.

 

Would be nice, but it doesn't really fit with the whole tight budget thing. haha.