Guess what, more wiring...

 Well, the first bit of good news is that I got the fuel pump running. The key part was a missing ground wire. The main relay wasn't actually opening, and the output on the white red wire was 2 volts instead of 12. Given that anything that isn't 0 or 12 is bad (barring some sensors that need odd voltages), then 2 volts could only be something 'floating'. Lo and behold the black wire that I couldn't figure out what it was ended up being the ground end of the relay. Once it was earthed then the main relay switched on, which meant 12 volts going to the circuit opening relay. And when the other end of that connection goes to zero (which is the light green on the MAF) then the fuel pump kicks into life.

I was also able to check the spark, not with the spark plug tester though. That turned out to be a typical Chinese special that only served to pull the inner out of the spark plug lead! All I really needed to do was leave one of the wires off the plug and laid on the engine, that was enough to show a spark. 

So, spark good, fuel good (well, up to injectors at least) and compression... well, that's where I can't check anything just yet. 

Oh, a short diversion from electrics. I did my exhaust shield, and it worked really well. A combination of folds and rivets left it quite sturdy, in fact it was so sturdy I struggled to get it in the fender!

As expected it needed a little under two sheets, so rather than having one full sheet and one 'sliver', I joined them in one piece then cut them both so the seam ended up in the middle. The brackets worked well on a cut piece of exhaust too;

This left me with a decent amount of gap between the sheet and the cat;

And on installation (after a bit more fettling) there is a gap on the outside of the shield as well;

I also had a look at the gap between the downpipe and the cat, to see if the gasket will fit. Turns out it's not actually too bad, with the largest gap being on the bottom bolt which will hopefully tighten up on the gasket without putting too much load on the exhaust. Of course, there is still the absence of flexi pipe that could cause problems, but one step at a time!

Back to wiring. With everything connected I went to town with the wrapping. I had a real nightmare moving everything six inches to it's final destination, mainly because of the big thick ignition wires. But finally I was able to bolt in the two fuse boxes and route the wires in the right directions. The wires are now bound for all of the lighting and instrument wires, and partly bound for the sensors. There's a few tight wires that are dictating the routing, but overall it's not too bad, at least from a routing point of view. 

There's a few more things I need to do though;

1. Finish the wrapping. Not difficult, I just ran out of energy before I could finish it.
2. Create some metal brackets to mount the wiring round the cam cover bolts. It's a similar route to standard, but there's an extra bit across the front. Some simple aluminium stock will suffice. 
3. I need to 3D print some guides for the wiring. At certain points the wires go round sharp aluminium, that's a bad idea even before Mr IVA man has a chance to fail it! It'll basically be some half round tube, fixed to a certain radius so not to stretch the wire. Then it'll be tie wrapped to the wires, and fixed to the metal. Since the other wiring brackets are glued in place I might do the same for these. It's just to get the wires round the sharp bits.
4. Under dash fixings. The wires need to be tied in place under the dash, nothing clever but enough to stop it moving about. Binding the wires together usually makes them stiff enough to stay in place, I just need to make sure they don't chafe. 

What's next? Cooling system, fuel system, braking system, exhaust, transmission. Lots of nuts and bolts, but hopefully not much in the way of problem solving. Then it's the arches and paint. 

Then maybe a road test?

(Monday update) It occurred to me that the extra ground feed to get the fuel pump running was also connected to the gearbox switch. Well, that's what I thought, a quick Google suggests it's the other one. It's a pretty simple circuit, Black Yellow from the meter fuse goes to the switch, and red green from the switch goes to the backup light. The main issue (apart from it's awkward location) is that the terminals are some strange thing that won't release, so it's going to be hard to test it. Still, if it buzzes out to the meter fuse, and the other end is the light, there's not really much to check. I did have a go this morning but with only five minutes to spare it was a bit difficult. 

(Later that same Monday) Turns out the reverse issue was just a loose plug, I hadn't pushed it on properly when I was binding the wires! What a muppet, at least I didn't have to do anything complex.