Beretta.net

Well I was just thinking if the polarity to the starter was backwards then maybe it would attempt to spin backwards, but I don't even think a starter will snap out the gear if its going in the wrong direction.

Sounds like you may have something amiss with the valve train... Time to take off a valve cover and see if any valves are stuck open.

IT LIVES!! MWAHAHAHAHA! /insanity

anyways, got it to run, the timing was so stupidly off that it actually threw air out the intake. Yes, we sprayed some carb cleaner into the intake, cranked it and it spit it back out. Actually, it was quite amusing to see if you were there to see it. A VERY "WTF!!?!?" moment. No bent valves, no busted pistons, no horribly mangled drivetrain, thank GOD! so all ended well. So we redid the timing chain, got it aligned correctly and now it runs. It's a little rough on the idle right now, we're getting to that but it revs quite nicely. At least it runs now and that's a MASSIVE step forward.

I STILL don't understand how I got that timing chain wrong. I followed the manual and all I've learned from school to work on this motor and I could have sworn 5 times that it was perfect. Wierd.

Congrats on getting it started!!

AWESOME!!! I'm actually jealous!!!