well i just got done building the 383. so i went for the first start up....and the engine turns over pretty slow. slow enough that you cant even hear the compression and the engine isnt even moving. the pullies just turn slowly. and i have all the spark plugs in and all that. was wondering if its just a bad starter, but i thought if a starter went bad it just stopped working and wouldnt just half way work. any ideas wat all is wrong?

 

i bet its the starter. I know its not the same but on my blazer 4.3 the starter just started turning the engine over slower and slower until i replaced it then the truck started up just fine. the 4.3l starter and the 5.7 starter are almost identical

 

just put in the new starter..... still does the exact same thing[:@]

 

Have you tried spinning the engine by hand after you assembled it? You should feel the change in resistance as pistons go into the compression stroke and then turn with much less effort. If you have a constant heavy drag, it is a good indication that the engine was not assembled, or machined properly. If the hand turning is OK, and you have a new starter and solenoid, the starter may not be shimmed properly and binding, or the battery cables may be loose or damaged, and restricting the current to the starter

 

figured out that i just tightened my rockers too much and they were keeping the valves open which made it have no compression. so i got that straight, but also the fuel pump wasnt turning on after i installed a walbro 255. so i checked the relay and there isnt any power goin to the relay. but i took a wire and jumped it off of a fuse that was getting power and the pump worked. also the ignition isnt getting power in the wires off of the harness. could this just be a faulty computer?

 

wouldnt the fuse PCM BATT being bad cause this problem? doesnt it send power to the pcm and to the fuel pump relay? but the fuse isnt blown, so any ideas on how that fuse isnt getting power?

 

if it helps any, its a 96 firebird and i did a v6 to v8 conversion with a lt1 out of a 93 z28 with the camaro harness and computer.




well i just looked up the wire diagrams for the pigtails that go from the computer thru the firewall in the passenger kick panel, and the connectors are the same so i thought there wasnt a problem. but then the wire diagrams show different wires on the 96 then on the 93. one of them being the power feed from the PCM BATT fuse to the pcm. so im guessing this is my problem. so do i just need to buy a 96 lt1 harness and computer? and will it work on the 93 lt1, besides the addition of the maf sensor? or could i just swap the dash harness out of the 93 z28 or the sections i need? not sure if it'll match up the same with everything in the firebird.


the fuses on the fuse block on the side of the dash in the camaro looked diff from the firebirds, so i figured out the pcm on the camaro gets power thru the #5 fuse instead of the #3. and the power feeds for each are on diff pigtails of the three goin to the pcm. couldnt i just splice the wires to the diff pigtails to match the wires?