fickle starting/running? please help me

[eastcoastchaos]

cars been out of comission fo over a mounth now and i'm loosin my mind. i just rebuilt the head, took off the timing chain guides and put in new gaskets. i had it running for a little while but everytime i would let off the gas it would violantly jolt, and the idle was still a little rough. it progressivly ran worse until it stalled while i was messin with it in my drive way, and now it won't start at all. after lots of cranking it has spuddered a few times and when i screw with timing it eventually backfires really loud. compression is 180-184 on all cylenders which is awesome, i've pulled all the plugs and there all getting spark ecu's reading 55. i also pulled the whole fuel rail and soaked the tips of the injectors in injector cleaner. after trying to start it the exhaust smells of gas. all the grounds look good. i just don't know what to do? please help. peace~ben

[benemorius]

I know it's simple, but someone has to say it...

Fuel and air both have decent alibis. Can you confirm that it's getting enough air? Could be as dumb as a clogged intake...

Of course it could be getting too much fuel, and if it hadn't run before I'd have said to make sure the timing isn't way off, but....

Exactly how did you confirm the spark?

If all else fails, checking the fuel pressure and confirming that all four injectors are operating properly (and not leaking) would be a good idea. Honestly... I can't think of any other way to keep a KA from starting.

Last thing: KAE or KADE? (or neither...)

[eastcoastchaos]

intake is clear and has a little rice boy cone filter, i've ran it w/ and without the filter, not any noticable differance. to check the spark i pulled the plugs one at a time and set it on the head, grounded to the best of my knoledge, then i cranked her over a few times and had a friend confirm little blue spark. it's a 92 DE, actually a 95+ head frome the previos owner i assume. and it seams to have plenty of fuel pressure, i squeezed the hose after the fuel filter then had buddy turn it to on position and it was solid. how could i know if it were too much fuel?

[benemorius]

Leaky injectors can cause too much fuel. According to NISTECH, holding down the gas pedal disables the fuel pump while the key is turned to start. (I have yet to confirm that for myself...) Give that a try. If it tries to start when you do that, then I'd say the cylinders are getting flooded with fuel.

[eastcoastchaos]

it does start to putter a little w/ the fuse pulled and w/ the pedal down, but no actual starting. maybe all that injector cleaner screwed something up. i guess it's about time to spring for some injectors.

[eastcoastchaos]

why does it backfire every now and then. it's fu$#@ loud as ****. it sounds like a shotgun.

[petesleaf]

A lot of posts on timing mistakes when replacing timing chains, head gskts and removing cams. Go over everything you did twice until u are convinced u didn't get your timing off one or two notches on the chain or reverse the cam colors or install the distrib incorrectly.

[eastcoastchaos]

it ran pretty decent for a little while and the compression is really good so i think everything timing related internally is correct, i've probably got the distributor a few degrees off cause it wont start anymore so i can't use my timing light but it should be running