74 Challenger with twins

[RUNCHARGER]

That's coming together quite nice.

[YellowThumper]

Fathers day relaxing for me is to accomplish something.
This allows for relaxing my brain.
As previously noted, all outside cabin connections are complete. Have now completed the main power cable install. Spliced in and mounted is a mega fuse. Another of the "I have a plan" items is mounting of fuse/relay block, continuous relay and resetable breakers. Their mount will be up sideways mounted to side of trunk hinge frame. Will try to have it setup so it slides in and out for access.

Went to junkyard and grabbed Ford and GM idle air sensors and their pigtails. Will see which version is the simplest to adapt. GM version is preferred due to size but adapting appears it will be more difficult.

Started on what will eventually be the center console. Not anything like what will be finished product. Just the absolute basic for now to house electronics. With electronics in position I can/will finally pare down all the inside wiring and get it routed properly as well. Console will end up full length with cup holders.
Again startup and confirmation of function first.
Basically I have about a 20 connections in cabin. Then coil test fire. Leading to the actual real startup.
Getting closer...

[YellowThumper]

Pic is just because.
It is an earlier one where wiring looks semi organized.
Much uglier now but all related to ECU is now connected complete.
Only wiring items remaining are GPS and Lambda.

Then on to reconnecting the exhaust pipes.

Starting to taste it now.

[YellowThumper]

Finished all the wiring connections required for ECU and related sensors.
Sorted fuses and connected one at a time to test. Happy to say no miscues. Even learned blinkers work. Must have bumped the lever. No engine start yet but did power everything up and all linked up to computer as necessary.
It still remains possible to return to factory ignition if it ends up being necessary.  After all this I really don't want to.

Exhaust buttoned up again. While under there I decided to add some trans fluid. Thing took the entire bottle. Did not look but IIRC it is over a quart. This didn't even top it off.  Time to hit the store for more.

Also made a top cover to house switches and power plug for the partial console. It is ABS with textured surface. I will paint it black to match.

[nsmall]

Thanks for sharing your progress.   Glad to see you back at it.  Will you be at the fall fling?  I am really hoping it happens.   

[YellowThumper]

Thanks for sharing your progress.   Glad to see you back at it.  Will you be at the fall fling?  I am really hoping it happens.   

Thanks and yes my intention is to be there.
As with everything on this, I have not erased the ability to go back to normal. Hence the reason for the full addon fusing block. Rendering old system obsolete. Unless of course I fail at this again... pull new fusing and go back to old.

[YellowThumper]

Well... unfortunately I have now repeated the same roadblock that stalled this a couple years ago.
No spark from coils. All wiring is exacting to what is recommended and necessary now.
On with the MS forum for some guidance and researching.

[RUNCHARGER]

Ack! You'll get it.

[YellowThumper]

Tested an IO path that was suggested last night for both power and signal power.
Both powered up as they should have.
This tells me issue is internal to the unit. Basically already knew because I have tested all wiring along the way confirming all is proper. Coils, injectors and fuel pump are relayed with the trigger grounding signal controlled by ECU for safety.
Temporarily bypassed this and the coil plugs powered properly. Reconnect and get nothing.
Hopefully the "helper" replies soon for the next step.

[YellowThumper]

Wife brought home the woodgrain for dash and redoing door inserts. It is leftover from a job her company had.

  what woodgrain side panels would look like? Maybe even woodgrain hockey sticks?
Woodgrain butt stripe?

National Lampoon Challenger....  

[YellowThumper]

Reading up on the bazillion iterations for programming of this setup. I learned that the test firing does not work on all coils when setup for wasted spark COP.  Switched settings to full sequential. Nothing....
Another many mentioned items is fuel pump, coils and injector relay. There is a grounding wire for their relay trigger that feeds into ECU. Years ago I did not have them tied in to system. Part of my tedious rewiring this time was to set everything up as manual described. On a whim I turned on the fuel pump within the test page (actual fuse to pump remains pulled). Happy to note that after 4 years (on and off) the coils fired during their test. Turn off fuel pump and nothing. Turn bump back on and coils spark.
Massive sigh of relief. Finally... 
When they are firing they can be heard. Except by me... unfortunately my hearing is toast. So I am using g a test light to see.  Something is still not right because randomly the light was not flashing until I messed around the coil wire.
Test light is 30+ years old and could possibly not be picking up signal correctly. Going to purchase a new one with adjustable advance. Good excuse to upgrade.

Cautiously optimistic at this moment as this is further than I have gone.

[YellowThumper]

New timing light came in and confirmed my suspicion. Old one was good for a few rounds then would blink out. 30+ years was a good run.
Second was I wrote up a reference tag to match firing order to the controller letter designation. And promptly mixed up a few.   
Corrected that dubass mistake and all 8 coils tested out properly.
Reswitched settings to COP wasted spark and semi sequential. They all tested correctly still.
Will run wasted spark until I get proper signal from cam trigger. Then switch settings back to full sequential.
Along the way I will start configuring all the sensors.

Exciting times at the moment. This success writing has been over 3 years in the making.

[RUNCHARGER]

Great news. Logic and time create magic.

[nsmall]

Congratulations.  Getting closer.

[YellowThumper]

Challenger is officially (finally)  running on spark distributorless with the LS coils.
Again not without a bit of stupidity...
Tried to start it and would not fire. Cranked a bit until I could see carb was supplying fuel. Been sitting for awhile.
No fire...
In disgust I pulled the keys and tossed them onto passenger seat. Right next to the ECU box sitting there not plugged in...
I pulled it apart to make some adjustments for cam trigger and never plugged it back in.

When connected, it fired right up. 4 years since the start of this transition.
I had to sit, drink a beer and let success soak in.