EFI starting issue

I had a head gasket that was seeping so I just replaced it this week. I put the engine back together and now it won't start. I never removed the distributor so the timing should be good. The only thing I did to the distributor was twist it a little to make room for the water neck to be removed. I marked its location with a sharpie and set it back to the same location.

The engine seems to have fuel since the fuel pressure regulator reads 41 lbs. It seems to want to start because it will stumble but never really fire.

I noticed the volt meter only read 11 volts when I was cranking it over and wonder if that could be the problem. Does the computer need a minimum amounts of volts to run? I put my battery charger on it to see if that will help.

Any other ideas? All the wiring connectors seem to be connected. I am at a bit of a loss and any help will be appreciated. I am supposed to take it back to the tuner on Monday for a final adjustment so if I can't figure it out by then I will ask them to help. I just didn't want to pay them $100 per hour to help me start it.

I have pedestal rockers so I really don't have a valve adjustment do I? Would that be more for stud rockers? Thanks for a list to start with.

Darreld

Well the items you listed above seem to be in good shape. I will try to bump the timing in the morning (maybe I messed it up somehow) and see what happens. If that doesn't work I will try to borrow a compression tester from a neighbor. If he doesn't have one it looks like a trip to harbor freight or Sears to buy one.

Thanks for the offer Tony but I went and got one yesterday. Here is an update to what I have done. I did the compression check and came up with a low of 135 and most about 150. Good right?

I verified that I have spark by taking out a plug and then holding it against the intake. Sparked just fine. Good right?

There was fuel in all the cylinders when I did a compression check but I noticed the fuel in a couple cylinders looked kind of black. I think this must be because it runs very rich right now. All the plugs were black with no signs for gray or white. Bad right? I thought maybe they were the problem so I went over and got some new ones today. Gapped them to 27 and gave it another try. It seemed to start and run for less than a second and then died. Would not start again. I bumped the timing slightly by rotating the dizzy clockwise just past the mark I made before I took the engine apart.

The ground on the engine is connected on the last bolt on the intake. That is the same place I had it connected when the car ran before. I wouldn't think it was a fuse since it started up for a second but as you can tell I don't know what the heck I am doing. The fuel pump comes on for the normal second or so then stops when I turn the key on.

I am out of ideas at this point. Any other things I should be looking at or just take the thing to someone who knows what they are doing. I would love to learn to trouble shoot but it is starting to get a little frustrating. I feel like a blind man playing golf. I just hit my first shot and now I have to find the ball.

Update on what was the problem. It turns out that the problem was pretty simple but hard to find. It looks like when I was removing the blower bracket that also holds the alternator I must have hit the MAF meter. I knocked on of the wires so that the wire came out of the pin but not out of the connector. Put it back in an vroom. I wish I could take the praise but it was the guys over at Fast Specialties here in Vancouver, WA that found it. I would still be looking for it.

Good idea. I will look into that.