Well, I guess no matter how good of a job you think you did, there are bound to be issues with things such as an EDIS install...
I got the urge to work in the garage around 10pm last night. I was overjoyed upon realizing that my EDIS, VR and coil pack harnesses had enough wire to hook most of them up without additional wire in between. It helps that all the EDIS hardware is clustered together. Luckily enough, I didn't design it this way, it just happened!
I connected the VR and coil pack to EDIS and ran power and ground wires. This is all that is necessary to have EDIS run an engine. It should go into "limp-home" mode and default to 10deg BTDC without the presence of PIP/SAW signals.
1st attempt: Re-connected the battery. Turned the key, heard the accessory relay click and saw the brake light flash on in the speedo, turn to START and nothing. Couple more tries. Nada. I had to think for a second, but then realized my mistake.
To trigger the new fusebox relay, I needed a switched +12V source. After reviewing the wiring diagram, I went with the Neutral Safety Switch (see snippet of diagram below). It gets power at ON and START and is located right by all the EDIS stuff! I used the BW wire for the relay signal but what I forgot to do was send +12V through to the BY wire. Therefore, the car was acting as if the NSS was open and not letting me crank it over. Connected the BY to switched +12V at the (new) fusebox and boom, done.
2nd attempt: Re-connected the battery. Turned the key, got accessories, turned to START and she cranks. And cranks and cranks and cranks... damnit. Hook up the timing gun, crank, no flashie. Damnit.
From reading many threads and articles on the topic of EDIS, the first thing I think is incorrect VR sensor polarity. I connected Blue-to-Blue and Grey-to-Grey, but what the hell, let's switch them around. It was probably around 1230am by then, and I was making more mistakes. I decided to put spade connectors on the VR sensor wire so I can switch them around more easily. Should have done this in the first place, but what's done is done. I then go on to put a male and female on one end of the VR sensor wire. CRAP, you idiot, you still wouldn't be able to switch them around wired that way...
3rd attempt (3rd try's a charm right?): Got the VR sensor rewired. Connect battery. Turn key. Crank. Check the timing gun. The light blinks!!! Praise the gods, we are making fire! Not quite.
I confirmed spark with the gun, but the engine still cranks and cranks with no signs of life.
What else could be wrong? Only thing I thought of was firing order/timing. I went to work moving plug wires around on the coil pack.
4th, 5th, 6th... attempt: When using wasted-spark, two plugs fire at once. One on the compression stroke and the other on the exhaust. That means that on the coil, you pair up 1-6, 2-5, and 3-4. It was past 1am by that point, and I tried all 3 combos (I think, things are getting fuzzy at this point). Hell, I'm pretty sure I tried more than 3 combos, but nothing worked. No signs of life.
At this point, I'm thinking that I set up the wheel wrong. However, in reviewing my wheel install photos, I'm pretty sure it should be close enough to start the car. Maybe not...
At 2am, I finally gave up and went to bed. Gotta be positive, at least I have spark!
This morning, I decided to start it on the dizzy and check where the timing mark was at. Started, ran it for a minute and shut it down to switch over to the EDIS plug wires. As a side-note, I'm going to love having a completely independent backup ignition system! After switching wires back to EDIS, I decided to crank her over since the engine was a bit warmed up.
Crank, crank, pop, crank, pop.
Alright, making progress! We're popping out the carbs. Looks like the spark just isn't at the right place at the right time.
Unfortunately, I had to go to work and didn't have much time to do more troubleshooting. Hopefully, I'll have some time this evening to hook up the timing gun and get some readings.
To be continued...