First engine start

The time had come for a proper engine start...

The first thing to do was to confirm oil pressure. I checked the engine oil level and connected the remote oil filter/lines and an oil pressure gauge.

After repeatedly cranking the starter (with no ECU connected) I confirmed 52 psi.

Then onto actually starting the engine. For this test, I jerry-rigged the petrol tank to the feed/return fuel rails and connected the fuel pump power.

All ignition parts were connected and mounted (some items like the ignitor need to be grounded to the body), and all sensors and ECU connected. I let the fuel system prime, held my breath and started the engine. It fired up first go!

This was a massive milestone for the build as it was the first time the engine has been started since I purchased the Toyota Starlet GT front cut 12 years ago! To say that I was happy that the engine started was a understatement :D 

I briefly ran the engine again but it was repeatedly surging revs. It realised that I hadn't blocked off a couple of the ports in the intake manifold and throttle body, which caused some massive vacuum leaks.

The last step was to get the engine to operating temperature. For this test I made some plastic blanking pieces on the lathe to block off the cabin heater core hoses.

With the radiator/hoses fitted and filled with coolant I let the engine idle, topping up the coolant when necessary.  

At this time I confirmed that the radiator thermofan turned on/off, and that the tacho and coolant temperature gauge in the instrument cluster worked. I also used my Mityvac vaccuum/pressure pump to test the in-dash boost gauge. I'll be installing a separate boost gauge however I thought I'd leave this one factory gauge intact and working - despite only indicating up to 9 PSI. In the pic below, it was indicating 6 PSI.

I now have a few issues to resolve including a very high idle (2000rpm), several oil leaks and the alternator belt which was not properly aligned.