Well here goes the story.

I have changed the timing belt and water pump all by my 17 year old self really not knowing what to do just going by the book. well the cams got out of time with the crank so i have been battleing the that fact that the engine runs almost prefect but just not right. well when i start her up in 90 degree weather it takes one or two revs to get it back to where it should run well it never went back. there is no power in the engine any more. on a 10 degree or 20 degree hill i had to almost have first gear pined just to go up it from a stop. the only thing that is different that i can hear is this weird ping and i let of the gas and the revs fall all by them selfs. i really have not tried to fix anything i played with the wires and the plugs but that is about it. it is hard to tell you guys what id going not but it sounds like it misses alot and idles really really bad. so if there is something that i am missing that i just can not hear please help. but i am thinking right now that the engine is gone

 

yah your timing is way off if you hear pining, didnt you mark where the cams were set at first so you know where they go back to? like you said you gotta battle with the timing of the belt.

 

yes i did mark the cams and all of that stuff but they still got just a little out of alignment so that the engine run rich at idle so it would idle bad but not that bad. i did not hear any pinging untell yesterday ( FIY i changed the water pump and the timing belt in Oct. 2002 so i have put like 2000 miles on it like this) i have worked on alot of cars for friends in the past monthes but i have not heard anything like this come out of this engine before. i am about ready to go try it again today to see if it was just the fact that it was really hot out and that is why or the engine has put out its last rev.

 

What you describe as lousy driveability (no power pulling away, rough idle) could be an air leak as well - letting the engine run lean. Check for that unless you're absolutely sure it's the valve timing. You can double check your cam timing by rotating the engine (by hand, or use a socket wrench on the crankshaft pulley nut) to top dead center and then pulling the top timing belt cover off and checking the cam sprocket location.