Found the problem.

The dealer came thru with a wiring diagram for an '88 civic wagon. Close
enough.
There are multiple fuses to ecu.
In the under dash fuse block, fuse 14 (I forget what it was labeled but it
wasnt obvious) was missing. I guess the previous owner had removed it and
didnt replace it.
It is control power for the main relay AND feeds injectors and fuel pump.
without main relay pulling in, no power was passed to ecu( from fuse 2 and
fuse 37).
replaced 15 amp fuse and got spark. for a few seconds anyway.
then fuse blew again.

Ended up being a shorted fuel pump

Thanks for all who responded.
Roy



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