Engine does not want to start after rebuild-ideas

I am in search of ideas. For some of you this should be highly entertaining.

I have a 1980 928S Euro. I have had this car since 1990 and love it. The head gaskets decidedly not to join and went bad last November. I tore down the motor - m28/11 - and decided to do the full cleanup and rebuild. I have a background in normal engines and honed the linings incorrectly and decided not to use the block. Major screwup on my part. Talked to Carl @ 928 motorsports and we decided it was a 50/50 shot the rings would seat. So phase 2 began.

I found a 1984 m28/22 euro motor with 31,000 miles. Took the motor apart leaving the lower end completely intact. Put the motor back together with the 84 short block with the 80 heads and CIS fuel system. Dring the process I put on the following new parts, timing belt, all gaskets, high torque starter, new wiring harness from 928motorsports, high output alternator, new fuel injectors, cap, rotor, wires, coil, distrubuter wire. I also put the 1980 timing belt gear and the oil pump gear to make sure that I had all square tooth gars for the timing belt. Everything went together quite well and fit like a champ.

Now the problem - I cannot get it started. There is fuel pressure and fuel at the injectors. Checked the return fuel flow and looked good. Checked coil and distrubuter and all checked out. Have set the distrubuter rotor with TDC about 50 times and lining with the proportion hash. Checked the spark plug to ensure spark - had spark. Have checked for compression - all cylinders are between 145-155. Which I might add is 20-30 higher than the 1980 before the head gaskets died.

After trying to start it for two weeks I now see that I have fuel coming out of the exhaust gaskets where the manofold meets the exhaust pipe. Looks like I have a lot of fuel.

Engine turns over very nicely but doesn't even give a hint to start. Also double checked the timing let and it lines up correctly. I would suspect that if it was of I would not get the compression I am getting.

Anyway - I am throughtly out of ideas and thing fresh ideas would be a great help. If anything else suggestions on a mechanic in the virginia beach, virginia area would also be helpful.

Thanks for reading the story - you can now tell everyone you know of a Frankenstein motor and it's brain and doctor is nuts also.

Harmonic balancer on correctly?

Thanks John, I put the 84 balancer on and triple checked that it was a direct match to the 80 but I used the 84 as it was setup for a little more horsepower. I have also validated that TDC is correct with physically looking at the cylinder position. They seem to be on the money. I will check again tomorrow night.

If you have fuel at the exhaust gaskets the engine is flooding and as you confirmed spark its probably not in time.

Confirm ignition components and timing are correct.

What model year was the harness built for?

The harness was built for the 1980 CIS injection which is what I installed. The entire top end is the 1980 Heads, Cams and Fuel. it looks like I am going to have to pull the front down to the timing belt and Balancer and check since everything else seems to be working.

I wonder if the timing belt is not correct would I be getting the compressions I have?

Thanks again for the advice.

Well, changed out to the 1980 harmonic balancer, validated setting of timing belt and cams. Set distributor to hash mark. Still will not start.