changed headgasket, now sr wont start

[Tartan]

Hi, I have a 92 sr20det redtop and have just changed the headgasket to a cometic and added arp headstuds. Now Im not making compression. The cam timing should be right. When I first put things together I forgot to bleed the hydraulic lash adusters. I have bled them twice as per the fsm and it got a little better. Its still not making compression on any cylinder. I turn the crank by hand feel a little resistance and I hear air leaking out the valve cover breather filter. I got some of the valve spring shims mixed up and not certain if that is the only problem. I dont think I bent a valve. Could it be the valve oil seal? I really dont want to pull my head back off but if I do could I reuse the head gasket or will I have to buy a new one? How can I measure and find out if the shim is appropriate for the valve? If anyone could shed some light on my problem it would be most appreciated. Thanks.

[compression]

Triple check your cam timing. The pictures below show the cam gears at TDC of the compression stroke for the #1 cylinder. Make sure your cam gears look exactly the same at TDC.Look very carefully and compare with your engine.

[spider_slayer]

looks like your timing chain is pretty lose.... if that picture is of your engine.

[NoStickers]

I don't know why you are showing him those pictures.

When you put your chain on or off you want to line up the match marks on the cams (little dots) with the different colored links (normally silver for cams, gold for crank) to make sure it goes back on the way it came off and at those points you should be at TDC. If you didn't hold the chain up perfect the chain can fall down and skip a link on the crankshaft sprocket.

Mixed up shims should not make it so you don't get any compression.

So air isn't forced out through the intake or exhaust on the compression stroke? Just the valve cover?

Supposedly you can reuse cometic head gaskets after torquing them down.

[Tartan]

ok, today I got up and checked on my car and now it makes compression. I'm not sure what exactly happened but its running. Thanks to you guys for responding. To those who had the same problem maybe you should give it a few hours :-p...prolly the HVLA I'm guessing finally set itself.