[Shotimes] Car will not start after valve lash adjustment (long)

[Ken Johnson]

This is not the first time I have pulled the SHO engine apart enough to get
the valve shims but this is the first time that I have actually removed and
replaced shims.  The previous time I pulled the valve covers was because there
was oil in the plug wells of my '91 but at that time I was not interested in
the valve lash.

Here is what I did to get my car not to start. Did all the obvious things you
got to do to get to the cams, pulled the hood, intake and valve covers.  I
used my Helm service manual and the Stage II cam installation video as
reference.  I got the tappet depressor and holder from the SHO Shop.

Notables
1) The only deviation from the video that I did not think was a big deal but
maybe it was.....in order to measure all the gaps I was bumping the starter to
turn the cams in the video they put a wrench on the fly wheel but since I was
not doing a timing belt I was not interested in pulling that side of the car
apart.
2) When I measured the gaps two weeks ago prior to ordering the shims I got
about .002" larger gaps than I got when I got back into the car after
recieving the shims I thought I needed to bring everything back into spec. So
an exhaust that was .016" needing to be replaced was now coming up .013-.014
with the original shim.  I found this out because as I was installing the new
shims the resulting gap was much smaller than I had orginally calculated.  The
only thing I can think of is engine temperature, Ii believe I drove the car
from the street into my driveway the morning of the initial measurements so if
anything the motor was warmer the day of the intial measurements and unless
there are dissimilar materials in the valve train I can not see why I would
get a smaller gap 2 weeks later with the same shim with a colder engine.
Anyway I ended up only replacing 2 exhaust shims when originally I had planned
on replacing about 5 total shims.  I just could not put the motor back
together with an intake gap at .004".
3) New plugs and new wires installed (checked the firing order already and it
is OK)
4) Put small amount of dielectric grease on both ends of the plug wire prior
to installation (have not done this during previous R&R of plugs and wires but
heard this was a good thing to do, yes?)
5) New gasket for the valve covers, RTV'd the plug well seals.
6) New gasket for the intake manifold.
7) cleaned the intake manifold by hand with carb cleaner
8) cleaned IAB valve per instructions on FAQ
9) cleaned intak on cylinder head with carb cleaner - basically a lot of carb
cleaner all around.

Put everything back together (as far as I know).  On the intial key turn the
engine starts quickly and dies just as all the other SHOs I have used carb
cleaner to clean the intake.  Turn the key again and engine just turns but
sounds pretty normal.  Turn the key the third time and the engine spins. I say
spin because it sounds more like someone pulled all the plugs out before I
turned the key this last time.  Engine seems to be turnning faster now and
with less resistance as if there is not much compression going on in the
engine.

Pulled the KOEO codes since that is all the car will do now and all I get is
111 (system pass) and 542 (fuel pump secondary circuit failure).  The second
code shows some promise but when I turn the key I can hear the fuel pump
charging so I believe the pump is working.  Need to get my hands on a
compression gauge.

HELP   !!
Ken Johnson
'95 Blue MTX will not start
'91 Mocha Mocha runs fine