8v GTI won’t start after head gasket change

Hey all,

Cant get my 8v PB to run after doing a head gasket on it. Head was skimmed and rebuilt. Pretty sure it’s timed up right - line on back of cam pulley lined up with front of head (no valve cover) so valves 1 and 2 are closed. Crank lined up using the dot on the flywheel which also lines up with the pulley mark and lower case arrow. Rotor arm lined up with notch and HT lead for cylinder 1, although the intermediate shaft marking is way off when doing this.

Fuel squirts out the end of the injector rail but haven’t checked each injector yet.
Car turns over and catches but then dies. If I give it some revs it’s rough and misfires then still dies.

I can get it to start by adjusting the dizzy slightly but then the revs run away and immediately shoot up towards red line and I chicken out and switch off. Throttle cable is disconnected and butterflys are closed at this point.

So the car would possibly run if the high revving wasn’t an issue? Any help really appreciated!

 

180 degrees out bud

 

cant see how it’s 180 degrees out? All the marks line up? Checked piston with a screwdriver through spark plug hole and it’s at TDC

 

Fuel pipes on the wrong way round?
Does sound like timing though. I'd pull the rocker cover and check.

Have you a timing light?

 

Checked the fuel lines are correct. Have also pulled the rocker cover and checked. Lobes for cylinder 1 are both pointing up when crank is set to TDC.

I do have a timing light but can’t get the bastard thing to run to set it. It’s the runaway revs that are concerning me.

 

Pull out the plugs, put them into the leads and earth them off the engine, and it'll spin fast enough to check timing, and won't start..

 

Thanks all, got the car running lovely this morning.

I used new bolts for the inlet manifold but they were slightly too long so the manifold hadn’t totally sealed, sucking in too much air hence the runaway revs. Replaced these and the car fired straight up

 

Love it when it's a simple fix.

 

My 2 stroke yamaha dt175mx mx did that once and wouldn't turn off. Scary stuff!
Glad you got it sorted.