04 Aveo replaced head and won't start.

[crash2458]

After a timing belt failure the head was checked, valves fixed and milled. Everything was put back together and appears to be correct. Timing was placed at the marks and rotated twice and everything lines back up. When I attempt to start the car it cranks but never attempts to fire. There is pressure on the fuel rail and it will backfire through the throttle body if I spray a small amount of starting fluid. At this point I am at a loss. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[avguy]

Plug wires mixed up on the coil? If not, it would seem like something must be wrong with the timing. Have you done a compression test after the repair?

[crash2458]

So I tore back in to the timing assembly and after comparing to other images of timing gears it became apparent that the exhaust cam was 180 degrees out! I used the wrong mark on the Exhaust sprocket which seems easy to do. Anyways I put it all back together and it fired right up.

[avguy]

So it must be that being 180 degrees out-of-phase must be a movement pattern which keeps the valves safely away from the pistons.

With luck like that, it might be a good time to buy a bunch of lottery tickets