I don’t know what the problem is. I was a couple weekends away from getting it painted and now I’m stuck. I got the car from my grandpa a few months ago. I did everything you would expect someone to do if they want to start a car that has been sitting for 12 years only started once a year. I changed the oil, got a new battery, drained the old gas. There was nothing wrong with the car. It started just fine and ran for about 2 months. It had some trouble idling when you first start it but if you ran it for a few minutes, turned it off, came back and started it again it would idle straight off of start. I also want to mention the alternator isn’t hooked up electronically to anything yet.

Anyways it started to become very difficult to start and I needed a jump just to turn it over. There would be just one loud click from the solenoid. I thought it was the solenoid so bought a new one. I tried three different battery’s all about 610 cold cranking amps. I tested them with a multimeter to make sure they were high in the 12 volt range. Eventually I took off the starter and tried it with jumper cables on a battery and it wouldn’t even engage so I bought a new starter. I put the new starter in and now it turns over but it doesn’t fire. I can see the fan move about 1/2 a rotation and then it stops. The engine can be spun manually completely fine too.

Before when it ran the fuel pump was very loud because the fuel tank is an aluminum one from a boat and it wasn’t made for a car fuel pump i think is why it was so loud. So the fuel pump would be loud when you turn the key without starting it. It stopped making any sound shortly after I went to take off my gas gap and it fell apart, the part that twists in the car to hold it in place just fell in my gas tank(it’s loose in there if you shake the car you can hear it slide around) I took the fuel pump off and tested it with jumper cables and a battery and it sounded like what I think a fuel pump would sound like.

There’s a wire that runs to the starter solenoid that says “neutral safety switch” but the car is a manual and there is no neutral safety switch. The wire runs to the fuse box only, with it disconnected nothing will happen to cranking no fuel pump. I went through I think every single ground or place where a wire connects involving the ignition area to make sure things were tight.

I have no idea what the problem is other than somehow the starter isn’t getting enough juice. It ran fine. I backed it into my garage. I stalled it a couple times trying to get up over the ledge (this is my first manual transmission car) it started right up rate into an idle. The next day I changed the transmission fluid because I had no idea if there was any in there and then it just wouldn’t start. It’s so weird to me that it ran fine and then didn’t with no signs.