Engine stalled; rotates but didn't start; started again

[speed freak]

Thanks again for the help speedfreak

No worries, glad to have been some sort of assistance

Glad you found the problem!

[vincevince]

Anyone know how long a whole loom swap would take and cost for loom itself?

[greenMachine]

You are not going to want to swap the whole loom are you? Although that would be one way of settling the issue, one way or the other. If you can trust the loom you get that is ...

One thing would be to get a loom, it might be quite another to get one that matches your car. Manufacturers make running changes, and you would need to ensure that it came out of a same-market car, ideally with a VIN as close as possible to yours.

Swapping the loom is quite doable, but no simple/easy job. My guess is that you would want to gut the cabin (at least the seats, carpet, dash - you might want to think about what else you could do then - heater core for example) and as long as you do not want to replace every single piece of wire in the car replace the main loom components. If you have a look around here or the big board and do some searches you will find info/photos of people who have pulled looms out of racecars, which might give you some ideas. It sounds like you would not need to do anything further south than the fuel pump anyway.

Good luck!

[93_Clubman]

7. Couldn't check for spark as I didn't have a helper

10. Fiddled with the underhood fuse box and tucked it back into it's original spot (wiring was tucked and thus fuse box isn't on original mounting)

11. Voila! . Cranks, fires, brum bruuum.

12. Whilst it was running, I thought that maybe it's the fuse box and the wiring being loose. - Moved the fuse box around by twisting it a bit, pushing it down, pinching the wires under it, pulled it up, etc.
Initially, when I put it up against the corner of the firewall and fender, the engine would begin to stall and splutter. Eventually it died. Tried to crank, but no fire.

Checking for spark can be done by one person by looking through the gap between the back of the bonnet & top of the scuttle.

This isn't all that uncommon - just individually check tightness of connections & remount the fuse & relay box in its original position or another nearby position that doesn't stress the connections.

Anyone know how long a whole loom swap would take and cost for loom itself?

No need to swap looms - see above.