puma 1.4 wont start

I've been converting my 1.4 for rallying. I've stripped the interior and had a rollcage fitted. I've now got the car back and replaced the fuel lines with aeroquip lines. I've put fuel back in the car and tried to start the car. The fuel pump is priming and the engine is turning but it won't fire and the dials are going to full then back again.

You should also know that the airbag is disconnected at the wheel. The welder removed the ecu, ecu bracket, fuel cutoff button, data reader and they are all hanging loose, should these be earthed? There was 3 loose wires near the ecu which I presumed were earth wires so I have earthed these. Should one of these be connected to the Ecu?

The welder also damaged the brake lines so I stripped all these out and also unplugged the abs unit. Could this be it ?

Also all the connections to the dash are disconnected except for the dials - ie heater, radio etc are disconnected.

Do I need to reconnect everything to make it start?

Or can anyone point me in the right direction?

Sound like its going to be a good project! Anyway usually when the dials sweep up and back down again means that the battery is about dead have you tried jump starting it?

I'm no machanic so some one else might be able to help further.

Thanks for the reply.

The battery is good but it was out of the car connected via jump leads. I'm planning on relocating the battery out of the engine bay.

Still won't start. I can smell fuel in the exhaust after turning the engine over

Where abouts are you based johnny h?

Hi Tom, I'm in Bury, up north.