Problem solved! Tore into the engine again, this time while in the car (lucky that the No. 3 cyl. is facing towards the back...). Took off the upper intake and just unscrewed the middle intake and the fuel rail enough to get the rocket arm cover out. Loosened the No. 3 exhaust valve a bit, then checked for compression - voila I had compression!

Pur everything back together and it works like a charm.

Nice side benefit: I unplugged the tach filter connector in the process and now my tach, which was going wild all over the place, world perfectly again!

One happy Fiero driver!

Hydraulic lifters are pretty forgiving but it makes me wonder. If you had that one tight enough to cause the valve to stay open, what are the rest like?

the rest are ok, he did a compression test. No ticking on startup, he sounds like he did a good job.

Congrats.

p8ntman442 is right, if they're not too tight, or too loose, then it will be fine. I'm glad you got it running well. I know how happy I was when I finally got all the bugs worked out of mine.

quote Originally posted by shawnkfl: in my handy dandy "how to rebuild your GM 60* V6" book, it says to tighten the nut while turning the pushrod. tighten just until the pushrod slips through you fingers, then tighten the nut 1.5 turns more. although, my grip and your grip and someone elses grip on the pushrod will all be different, so it seems that's not a really good method. i did mine by tightening until i juuuust, took up the slack play in the pushrod, then went 1.5 turns more. we'll see how that worked out later down the road. good luck anyway, hope this helps some.

Could you look at the book and tell me what the ISBN number on the book would be? I'd love to get a copy of that.

What is the compression for the 2.8 supposed to be? I get 12-14 bar on each cylinder and the engine runs, feels and pulls fine.

[This message has been edited by yellowstone (edited 11-17-2006).]

quote Originally posted by timgray: Could you look at the book and tell me what the ISBN number on the book would be? I'd love to get a copy of that.

These books are getting harder and harder to find and costing more, every time I look.
http://www.amazon.com/Rebuild-Degree-Motorbooks-International-Powerpro/dp/0879388412/sr=11-1/qid=1163768886/ref=sr_11_1/102-0770614-3099306

quote Originally posted by yellowstone: What is the compression for the 2.8 supposed to be? I get 12-14 bar on each cylinder and the engine runs, feels and pulls fine.

The actual number isn't as important as that the cylinders are all within 5-10% of each other.

Obviously you want a relatively high number; your measure of about 174-203 PSI ought to be okay. As long as all the cylinders are pretty close to that, you're fine.

Ed

A compression test will tell you if your engine has good compression. An engine is essentially a self-powered air pump, so it needs good compression to run efficiently, cleanly and to start easily.

As a rule, most engines should have 140 to 160 lbs. Of cranking compression with no more than 10% difference between any of the cylinders.

your compression will change alot during break in. recheck the numbers after 1000 miles.
seems you have a tad more than 10% variation there, but that machange as rings and valves don;t always seat at the same rate.
also, when checking your compression, be sure you are not injecting any fuel, the motor is warm, and the tb is wide open.
I would pull the injector fuses, pull all the plugs, and then do the test on a warm motor. Again, you need to run it a while, and things should balance out nicely.