Samuw

So it’s a 1995 LS400, i just finished installing Kelford cams in it but now it’s not starting

After the cams were installed, i turned the engine by hand a few times and then tried starting the car. The starter and engine just kept spinning and spinning and sounded like it got no compression (didnt start).
So i started checking the obvious:
Checked the voltage of battery, was good. Put it on a charger.
Checked if the engine got spark, it did. I checked with a spark light, the one you put on the wires, got spark. Pulled a plug out and while my brother held the plug, i turned the key and we got spark.
Checked if it got fuel, well the spark plugs were wet of fuel, and when starting the car, you can smell fuel. Also tried giving it some brake cleaner and starter spray in the intake, no difference, not starting.
Also when trying to start the car, it first makes one or two ’booms’ from the exhaust, then maybe one or two after a few seconds
So i taught it could be the ignition timing, so i checked it with the light and it is perfect.
So maybe it could be the timing of the engine.. checked all marks on the gears, all line up perfectly, also the cam gear marks.
Then i read the flash codes, nothing.
Ok so then i start thinking about the ’no compression’ sound. Checked the valve clearances, all are within safe limits (intake 0.25-0.30mm) (exhaust 0.30-0.40mm) says that intake should be 0.25 and exhaust 0.30
Ok so since the timing is good and valve clearances are good, i checked the compression:
Pulled a plug out and put the tester thing in, got 2.5bar (36psi).. ok maybe the engine just spins too slow.. so i put 6 bars in through the spark plug hole, the pressure stays in fairly good, doesn’t seem bad IMO, so i tried -1bar, took a second or two to go back to 0. Doesn’t seem to be that the piston rings or valves are leaking
so after i checked all of this, i tried starting again, with another car giving it 14V, but nothing.. what am i missing here?
It got fuel, spark at the right time, air (i suppose),but compression i’m not sure.. though i can’t think of why it doesn’t have compression, i didn’t remove the heads or anything, it ran just perfect before the cams..

Samuw

Changed the spark plugs to new ones, cause saw someone else have the same problem but got it fixed with new plugs
Still no start

So i checked the compression. When my brother turned the key, we calculated that the engine speed with the starter was about 180rpm with only 4 spark plugs in. The compression pressure was 0 bar, 0psi. But when turned the engine by hand, got it to 4 bars (60psi). Then again turned the engine with starter, got 0 bar, then got 2 bar (30psi), and then got 0 bar (0psi)

Seems like we get more pressure by hand than with starter. Tried with an analog and a digital compression tester..

Samuw

Ok got it figured out, so i put a camera in the spark plug hole and it looked good, piston was up and going down, intake valve was opening like it should.. but then half way down the exhaust valve started opening..
Checked the cams and it appears that the exhaust cams were 180° off.. so the slots for the gears, maybe by accident, maybe intentionally, were the wrong way from factory..
now it’s running and all good

BNastee

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