B8 SOHC swap. No spark or fuel. Any ideas?

[the chariot]

Thanks to this forum I was successful at my previous swap project (B6 SOHC) and now I am attempting a B8 SOHC. With the B8 engine in the Festiva I can get the engine to crank, but there is no spark or fuel so it does not even try to start. I know those wire fuses under the hood tend to be a problem so I had those replaced with cartridges and sanded the contacts for a better connection so I think the problem is somewhere else. The distributor, ignition coil, ignition module, and supression capacitor were transplanted from a running Festiva so I doubt those are the problem. The inertia switch does not seem to be engaged. I thought maybe I got a bad computer, but swapping to my B6 computer yields no positive results. Any ideas on what else to check or what may be the problem?

[KingFish]

I would get a B8 Dist. Both the B3 and B8 dist use a optical pick up, however the arrangement of the sensor wheel inside is different between the two. So, odds are good you need to swap out that dist with a B8.

[FestYboy]

^ correct, B8 engine requires B8 dizzy and preferably the PCM as well

[the chariot]

Thanks. Could that issue alone (B3 distributor instead of B8) cause no spark and no fuel? I have to fetch a B8 distributor since my B8 engine did not come with one. Does PCM refer to the engine computer or something else? I have a B8 computer in there now after swapping back and forth between it and the B6 computer.

[FestYboy]

PCM is engine 'puter. if the PCM doesnt see or like what it sees from the dizzy, you won't see spark or injector pulse.

[sc72]

Thanks. Could that issue alone (B3 distributor instead of B8) cause no spark and no fuel? I have to fetch a B8 distributor since my B8 engine did not come with one. Does PCM refer to the engine computer or something else? I have a B8 computer in there now after swapping back and forth between it and the B6 computer.

Yup what Festyboy said and Yes having a B3 dizzy in a B8 will cause it to not fire, so when you change the dizzy the car will fire up, and yes you will need the B8 computor in the car. good luck.

[Tommychu]

Yup what Festyboy said and Yes having a B3 dizzy in a B8 will cause it to not fire, so when you change the dizzy the car will fire up, and yes you will need the B8 computor in the car. good luck.

I'm still running a B3 Dizzy, and it's the "wrong" B3 dizzy to boot. Fires pretty good.
The reason you shouldn't run the B3 dizzy is that the key that holds it in time with the cam was placed differently between at least some of the various revisions of the SOHC B motors. So you have a roughly 40% chance that the engine won't time correctly without modifying the dizzy, even if it came out of a SOHC B6 or another B8 (which is why I always recommend you just run whatever dizzy was in your B8 to begin with). But in all the above cases you should still *see* a spark even if it won't run.

I might still try a different dizzy, but be certain it's off the same year engine as your B8 or you'll still be stuck cutting the mounting slots out to time it.

[the chariot]

Thanks everyone for the information and advice. Swapping the B3 distributor for an appropriate B8 is my next order of business. Just to get it running would be a major step in the right direction!

[the chariot]

UPDATE... PROBLEM SOLVED! As recommended, I got ahold of a B8 distributor and put in, but STILL no spark or fuel. I swapped the whole set-up into another Festiva which I previously had on the road and STILL nothing changed. I decided to swap the wiring harness (the one with the main fuses) and then it fired up! The harness looked fine with reasonably clean contacts and I was using cartridge fuses, but for whatever reason that harness was no good. So then I swapped the whole set-up back to the previous Festiva and I was getting spark, but no fuel. That turned out to be a bad fuel pump which was an easy fix. So, now I am FINALLY getting somewhere!

[Movin]

Holy Toledo!! Its hard enough transplanting one to another but to throw in diagnostics?!

Congratulations!