The feeling is... I can actually bloody do this, followed by relief I think

Originally tried starting the engine last saturday, went through everything during the week.

Battery issue
starter issue
Injector duty to weak
Fuel pump check
Earthing check
ECU power check
Ignition check

I eventually took the cam cover off to find the cams so far out it was never going to start 6 teeth anticlockwise for inlet and 6/ 7 teeth clockwise for the exhaust...worst part id got that done at a garage.

So on Saturday morning I learnt how to set up a timing belt, put the whole thing back together and fired straight into life.

Starts everytime now with less then two turn overs.... only issue is no exhaust all so slightly loud for the neighbours

[Edited on 16/2/14 by killerferret666]

Congratulations and well done its a great feeling. Well done on the timing front, looks a bit daunting untill you've mastered it. I practised on flat 4 scooby engines which are quite interesting to do.

It is a great feeling eh?

Hope you've told the garage! They owe you some hassle-free MOTs or some free fettling at a later stage (then again if they can't set the timing properly would you want them to start fettling)? At the very least they should know they don't know what they're doing....

The garage will be told, its plain sloppy as they had the engine for a long period of time just to fit it in when they could as i was in no rush!

On plus side I have had the car (chassis and shell) 3 1/2 months and actually fired the engine up, which was 1/2 month quicker then i had scheduled. I'm making good progress but more importantly I'm very happy with the quality of my work, so much better then I thought it would be!

My girlfriend isn't happy with the number of hours....205hrs now but I guess its what needed to progress well