Out of options... ready to part the damn thing out [vid]

[Andy348]

Pulled the fuel pump relay, cranked over, same issue. Switched the injector that seemed to be leaking (on cyl #5) to cyl #6, and it stopped leaking. Either way, with the fuel pump relay out and the injectors disconnected, same issue.

It doesn't seem to be stuck on one cylinder either - it sounds better when you pull one plug (still grinds a bit though), but it doesn't matter if that plug is 1/5/6/etc.

@jlevie: I can crank it over fine by hand. And if I pull all the spark plugs, it'll crank over fine. I reused the old bolts that worked fine to begin with.

List of things I installed when it went from working to nonworking: stage 2 clutch, 17lb injectors + chip, new throwout bearing, tranny seals. The car did run/start fine after this point, and only started having problems about 10-12 starts afterwards.

I am missing #11 in this diagram, and that was my logic behind the spacers for the starter. Does this make a difference?

[mpowerful]

Whens the last time you did a timing belt? Perhaps its to advanced.

[Andy348]

About a year ago, but it hasn't been driven too much since then. The car ran fine and then when this problem started I pulled off the head to check what was going on. At that point, when I reinstalled the head, I redid the timing. I guess it could be the timing to blame if I managed to fuck it up twice in a row, but it seems unlikely (I'm pretty OCD).

Edit: doesn't seem possible for the timing because the more I think about it, I did a 12 hour drive, then dropped the tranny, etc etc etc and never touched the timing and it worked fine afterwards. Unless it skipped a tooth at some point? But I don't know if skipping a tooth will cause such a big issue.

Oh, and when I did pull off the head, it didn't look like any PTV contact

[meanEG]

wrong transmission alignment to the engine block. You installed the transmission without dowel alignment pins present in the engine block. When no compression, starter has no problem spinning the engine. When compression then load forces the starter gear out of the flywheel gear at one spot where runout is too much. This causes starter gear to lock itself against flywheel gear peak.

Why didn't this noise appear before, because it took time over heat cycles and load vibrations for transmission to move slightly out of alignment.

Sounds like a serious stretch to me.

[meanEG]

It sounds to me like a timing issue as well. Didn't read the whole post.

[Andy348]

Just checked the timing. Looks great, maybe maybe mayyyybeeee one tooth off but I highly doubt it

[whodwho]

I am missing #11 in this diagram, and that was my logic behind the spacers for the starter. Does this make a difference?

That is for an automatic to bolt up the torque convertor. You have #10 and it is on the bolt head side of the flywheel?

[Andy348]

Yes sir made sure of that

[meanEG]

Just checked the timing. Looks great, maybe maybe mayyyybeeee one tooth off but I highly doubt it

I think it may be advancing somehow. Ignition will act like that

[Andy348]

What do you mean by advancing the timing?

I'm gonna try something after lunch... yesterday I put spacers in-between the tranny and the block to push the starter/flywheel further from one another. For some reason, this lead it to crank perfectly fine. When I then put on lock-washers, it stopped working. Going to try and take off the lock washers and see.

[jlevie]

Reusing the PP bolts normally works, but when I replaced the stock clutch on the race engine with a Spec clutch I found that the original bolts were slightly too long since the Spec PP was thinner. That was just enough to push the ring gear slightly off it's seat. Pressing the ring gear back into it's seat and shorter bolts fixed it.

[Andy348]

Thinking back and checking my order history, I did replace the pressure plate -> flywheel bolts for new ones. I didn't replace the pressure plate at all, just a clutch and resurfaced flywheel later (once the problem arrived). Does this change the diagnosis?

[Andy348]

Figured the lock-washers might have overtightened the starter to the bell housing causing the problem, but when I loosen it up so the starter is even further from the flywheel, there's even more problems.

[jlevie]

Thinking back and checking my order history, I did replace the pressure plate -> flywheel bolts for new ones. I didn't replace the pressure plate at all, just a clutch and resurfaced flywheel later (once the problem arrived). Does this change the diagnosis?

Re-surfacing the flywheel makes it thinner. It is just possible that resulted in the bolts being too long. That might explain why tightening down the starter causes a problem.

[Andy348]

Would that made a difference with/without compression?

I'm just very reluctant to start dropping the exhaust/driveshaft/shields/tranny again...