That is why I asked about alignment bolts, yes it is painful, but I think you nocked a rocker out of place and that is your bind, so you will have to pull in back apart. I have the VM alignment pins for the intake. You may just have the timing off, but if you can get the crank locked and see if you can turn the cams it would be a good test. But I am betting 10 to 1 you knocked a rocker out of place. All you need is 2 bolts the same size as the ones that bolt on the intake and cut the hex off so you can put the in the center for alignment.

Well...thanks...I so hope it is a rocker that I knocked off and not my 8mmin the cylinder! I checked the timing after calling Geordi and I moved it one tooth in each direction to no avail. Still have a hard stop. I will pull the valve cover off again and turn the crank and hope to not have a hard stop. If I can turn the crank Freely I will go to 90 ATDC and reinstall the valve cover that has the locking pins installed. What a pain!

Okay...putting the valve cover back on is a pain in the rear!!!! It took me forever to avoid any of the rockers even after sticking them down with a little grease. I sure hope I got a clear install.

Was installing the fuel system and broke the plastic tip where the injector return fuel line goes into the "block"/manifold to go back to the tank. It is a little plastic block that returns the fuel pump, fuel rail, and injector fuel to the tank. Anyway. the stealership does not have it and has to order it but can get it online for a third the price. Meanwhile I am trying to JB weld the parts to get me by as want to get this job done and behind me.

Will try to start without tuning the fuel pump by hand or with a drill. I assume others have restarted with the starter alone and not used any form of filling the rail by turning the pump manually?

Doing all four jobs at once is not for the faint of heart but at this point I can say that the TB change alone is not a big deal. The ARP studs are a larger job. The WEEKS Kit is not that bad and I highly recommend getting rid of all the components. I am using a piece of half inch copper pipe with a cap soldered on to plug the line at the block and the thermostat. But have logs of room now to install a bypass oil filter system...woohoo!!

More later...hope I can get this thing running and that none of the rockers are off.

You can replace that fuel return block with a brass one per an old email to me from fxjr73. Here's that photo of my brass return block. I did run into one issue with this. The largest diameter fuel line had a plastic inner lining which was molded to the fuel return outlet/inlet. I couldn't pull it off, so I had to bend and break the lining. I clamped the remnant of the hose tightly around the brass outlet/inlet, but I'm going to replace that fuel line. In fact, I may just replace all of them.