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Mark are you sure those Hall crank & cam sensors are producing useful signals at that cranking speed?

One of my guiding principles in running a newly built engine on the dyno with a newly programmed ECU, and all new sensors, wiring, etc. is to NOT use all the new electronics, but to run it the first time with a very basic ignition system (Ford EDIS type) and carbs.

That way, if it doesn't start, I know I have issues within the engine, and I don't have to worry about sensors, wiring, programming, etc. Once I have it running with the EDIS & carbs, then I replace the EDIS with the target ECU and the COP ignition, and if everything is still good, then I get rid of the carbs and use the ECU's EFI. Step by step, changing only one thing or system at a time.

Right now, everything in/on your engine is unproven and you probably have multiple issues keeping it from starting, which makes is much more difficult to diagnose. Is there any way you can pare the system down to the bare minimum that you need to make it run, so you can get the troubleshooting to a manageable level? Maybe even temporarily replacing the AEM with another ECU that is already programmed for a six cylinder engine, and try to run yours on one bank first, then switch it to the other bank so you can confirm your wiring, sensors, ignition are all working OK?

Convert your welder to a 14V DC power supply so your play time isn't limited by your battery?
Pull all the plugs (and injector fuses) and log data (like RPM on all triggers and ignition/injection timing) while cranking for a while to make sure everything there is working?

I never thought about converting the welder....but I don't want to overheat the starter either.....and there is a limit to my time in the evening anyway.....plus I use the recharge time to review the log data in detail.

I keep adding things to the log but all the senor data and all the crank/cam diagnostics are on every log and I look at that stuff every time. Those logs are way I replaced the crank/cam sensors last weekend and everything looks good now.....and it did start and run with the settings I had come to using the old sensors, and now it syncs up correctly every time not just usually. I think this part in in good shape now.

I think at the heart of the starting issues are the HUGE injectors and cams....they just make it hard. It gets liquid fuel sort of dripping in and then loses part of it out the exhaust. I've seen preheating setups on dynos to get everything good and warm to help separate starting from running but that is hard in the car.

I think fresh plugs, original fuel settings, new timing and throttle settings and it will start and run long enough for me to get real fuel setting figured out so it runs properly ....i think.

Another option on the way I've been pondering is loading the AEM firmware and model instead of mine so I know everything is functional. That might be the next step if I'm still stuck a week from now.

I should add this. Technically it did "start" the last 2 nights hitting 800 or 1000 rpm most times before dying. It did hit 2k at least once both nights. It's close, but it seems to want a lot of fuel when it's cold which makes it really prone to fouling plugs....i need to find the balance between fire and fouled.

Problem solved. The O2 sensors were showing it WAY too lean....because it was WAY too lean. Why exactly I'm not sure but adding a 100% correction got it fired right up and dropping the correct to 80% once the engine was up to 70C got me what sound like 12 cylinder running and both lambdas showing a steady 1.0 (ish)

My first heat cycle...YAY!!!!!!

I'm drinking now BTW.

I'll try to get a new video tomorrow

Fantastic , must be a good feeling .

It was last night!

A little less so today now that I've had a chnce to look through the logs.

For sure cylinder 6 is acting a bit odd and cutting in and out....I know that because my NBO2 sensors in the collects do seem to be able to see individual cylinders, but I need to play with the settings a bit more. I confirmed it qucikly this morning by looking at the plugs in the rear bank....5 black and 1 that looks wet with oil maybe??? Yuck.

I see general weirdness in the O2 reading from the front bank...I'll need to pull those plugs tonight.

I didn't put in clean plugs last night, I just dropped in my tuning edits and fired it up so I may very well have been dealing with agree plugs.

I needed to add a ton of fuel which was confusing me but think I understand now. I'm seeing the MAP sensor at 41-45kpa through most of the run....which is REALLY low for an engine with the cams I have and bizare when you add the ITBs. I would expect to see more like 65-70 somewhere in a plenum and maybe 75-80 when you consider its also ITB. I'm pretty sure the low reading is because I'm using 12 separate MAP sensors and the ECU reading the lowest so I'm effectively getting a minimum MAP, not an average MAP that you normal get from a plenum. This is great from a resolution point of view and the multiMAP is work much better than I expected but its also making the ECU think the air is very thin and deliver very little fuel when I guess values for the VE table that assume MAP is average MAP when its not. Gargabe in, garbage out at work. Last night I was using the coolant correction table as a trim table and was at 80% at 70C where it should be 0%, so I need to increase VE by about 72% because I know I had cylinders coming and going buggering my O2 reading so I looked at the lowest lambda which is .82 and I was set to 0.9....as righ by about 10% I think.

That should give me a pretty good VE value for low rpm, low power.....now I need to sort out cylinders coming and going. Also I heard somehting that sounded like the throttle controller oscillating, but I don't see anything in the log so that sound is a mystery that doesn't make me happy.

But the engine actually frikin runs and that makes me pretty happy.

Congratulations Mark, this is great progress!!! My experience includes having difficulty on first start due to a bad temperature sensor. A quick work-around proved the problem using a variable resistor.

You know, your engine build is somewhat similar to someone building a computer from a pile of sand. Thanks for making this build a spectator sport.

Seriously???? Its running???

CONGRATULATIONS! Absolutely awesome!!!