So I checked the vaccum through the port next to the maf sensor, the idle fluctuates and vaccum read 11hg amd dropped down to 5 or so and went back to 11 along with the idle. Does this indicate a vaccum leak?

 

11 inHg is 38kpa of vacuum (62 kpa Absolute) which I wouldn't consider great, but functional. 5 inHg is 17 kpa of vacuum (83 kpa Absolute) which is equivalent to 3/4 throttle under medium load.

So yea, i'd say there's probably a vacuum leak, or the IAC counts are off by a mile, or the fuel sync is way, way off. With the plugs being fouled rich, I'm thinking there might be a timing issue as well.

210 psi of compression makes me seriously question your gauge and/or the valvetrain. That's close to 14:1 compression BEFORE cam overlap bleed. 135-150 psi would be the high end of anticipated. For a 2001 junkyard type engine, I would be happy with anything over 100 psi.

The dead stop while starting combined with the intake backfire makes me think you have the fuel sync 180 out. If you look at the cam sensor, it has a little notch labeled "TDC". With the #1 cylinder at TDC on the compression stroke, the cam gear should be pointed at the intake bolt on the very front of the engine on driver side, the rotor should be over the TDC notch, and the cam pickup wires almost directly centered over the bellhousing.

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Would a vaccum leak cause it to run rich? I would think it would run lean

 

Vacuum leak would lean it out. Yep. You have more than one problem there.

 

How would i go about checking the valve timing? Do i have to pull the cover?

 

Welcome to Speed Density tuning.

Both of you are thinking in terms of Mass Airflow tuning, Which is from the carburetor and MAF systems. For both of those systems, the computer thinks it knows how much air is going in the engine, and meters the appropriate amount of fuel for that amount of air. A vacuum leak makes it go lean.

Speed Density tuning is a wild animal. It knows two things: The pressure inside the air intake (MAP sensor) and the temperature of that air (IAT sensor). Using that data, the computer calculates the density of the air and meters the appropriate amount of fuel for that amount of air.

When there is a vacuum leak, the pressure in the manifold drops. In "dumb" mode (affectionately, open loop), the computer sees that pressure drop, and assumes the throttle has been opened - time to add more fuel. Bigger vacuum leak, less vacuum, more fuel.

However, 5 inHG of manifold pressure due to a leak and 5inHG of manifold pressure due to the throttle blades opened, is a very different amount of CFM of air. So it is in-fact possible for a vacuum leak to cause a rich condition. I think that is a contributor to the issue here.

In "smart" mode (closed loop), the computer sees the TPS closed and detects a rich condition on the O2 sensors, cutting back fueling using STFT until the O2 sensors are happy. And probably throwing a "Hey, look at me" code and lamp at you.

 

I pulled the timing cover, both marks are straight up and distributor rotor is on cylinder one so that rules out timing, any other ideas?

 

Replaced the coolant temp and it helped a bit

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