I posted earlier with no replies, so i figured id change the title for more luck. I have a 91 vert and my boy blew some seals. So out came the engine and the guy we bought it from had an 88 vert. The engine caught fire but it was small, mainly intake tube and wiring. It was a manual and we decided to swap the entire drivetrain and get rid of that automatic that needed overhaul. Since it was a S4 going in a S5, i swapped tue oil pan, front cover, intake with block- off plate. New oil metering lines and rats nest vaccuum lines, new intake gaskets...blah blah blah. All a/c components were removed, electric fan removed as well. Lets get to wiring, shall we? I cut the white clip to the auto harness close to the tranny for extra wire, connected it and wired the two thick wires together per rxclub writeup and the small wire left to one red wire on manual tranny. I took the six pin clip and ran the bottom middle wire to the other red wire. Reverse lights work great. Everything works, except the radio and starter wont crank. Reading further i disconnected the starter kill relay and ran a jumper wire from black/green to black/blue wire and nothing. I also tried to cut the light green/yellow wire on same relay and tried that with the jumper wire stated above and with the two wires on the white clip connected and not. I have pulled the starter and had it checked. The ground is also strapped to the long starter bolt. I have checked fuses, i have pulled hair, and cursed...i think i even tried to get it to turn over while jumping a wire from battery to jumped wires on the starter kill. What on Earth is up with this car? The ignition worked before the swap, and i have no idea where to start troubleshooting. I have cleaned parts with a wire brush and new stuff everywhere on this beautiful 91k miled car. The fact that i cant even turn it over is puzzling. Im not the first to attempt this swap, yet i follow directions and have this similar issue other people run into. I read all the jumbo on this site and others but have a difficult time following some info because this is my first rotary. Honestly i hope this problem lasts till the end of the week, one because im lookin at a ford probe for my son to drive besides the rx7, two because i know of an entire turboII setup that im getting really soon and id rather drive a turbocharged rx than my boy please....somebody out there..... help this guy out before he parts out two rx7s

 

No sure if you have this, but you will need the clutch pedal starter switch. Without it your starter will not get a signal, my clutch pedal starter swicth is acting up and when I push the cutch pedal sometimes no signal is sent to the starter soleniod and the starter does nothing. So without this switch the starter will not get any electrical current.

 

Im using an auto trans wiring harnes/cpu, i have no connections for any switch that may involve the clutch pedal.

 

I believe you may need to swap out the auto transmission parts and use the manual transmission cpu and wirring harness. Also try grounding the starter wire in the engine block side instead of the tranmission side. If you are using a manual transmission you will need all the wire harnesses and maybe the ecu as well.

Try this link and do some comparisons with the auto tranmission and manual tranmission starting and charging systems. There are some differences, I am not an expert, I am only speaking from my own personal experiences.

http://www.rotaryheads.com/PDF/2nd_g...ng_diagram.pdf

 

Guess it was smart to keep the donor car for a bit, im sure the ecu for the trans. Is still in the car, which i didnt think a manual would need an ecu, but if it comes thru the pass. Side of the car the harness is toast. The donor car caught fire and wiring is fried on that side. I know that switch on the clutch pedal can be eliminated, theres a thread somewhere that says you can use the auto harness. Im in the process of checking voltage, if i get to it today, i have my kids all weekend... thanks...

 

Ok, keep us posted, I hope you get it started.