HELP! Car won't idle after Valve Stem Seal job

[TorqueEffect]

Older brother came over to help with the valve Stem seal job, but he had to leave early to pick up his son from school.
He had already put the upper intake back on before he left, so I hooked all the tubing and electrics back up.

Now it runs like complete $#!%, and doesn't idle, it lopes when given throttle.

When it does idle, it does for about 30 seconds (poorly) before the idle gets too rough and I shut the engine off.
I hold the gas steady and it will lope, classic sign of a vacuum leak.

We put the gasket for the upper intake back on, fasten down all the intake bolts and tubes so they shouldn't be leaking.

Now we did have to torque the rocker arm shafts down by feel, but we knew it was 21 ft-lb, but I don't see why that would cause it.

[TorqueEffect]

It will run and drive, but will stall at nearly every light, and when coasting, you can feel it jerking.

the CE light did come on when I was driving it, but when I got back to pull the code, it gave me code 27, which doesn't exist. I cleared it, tried driving around some more, but can't seem to trip it again. Only thing close to that number in the haynes manual was the Solenoid valve, whatever that is.

I also looked at all the hoses, I don't see any broken or torn hoses. I am stumped, everything was working perfectly before we changed the seals. All the electrical connections I could fine were still hooked up, nothing got knocked loose.

Any Input would be nice.

[TorqueEffect]

Nothing?

I even triple checked the hoses, I see nothing wrong. Though it is acting like there is a hose not connected.

[TorqueEffect]

Now when I drive it, whenever I push on the clutch pedal as the engine is decelerating, it makes a grinding sound exactly like if I was trying to start it with the engine already started.

I am so close to bashing my head into a wall it isn't even funny. Try to do something good for the car, and it's giving me terrible temper tantrums.

[TorqueEffect]

Nothing at all? Well looks like I am royally &#$&#% if my bro can't figure out what is wrong.

[shadetree]

Did you pull the head off ?
Try some starting fluid around intake to see idle raises , shows leaks !
check timing again if you pulled the head ! Is this carb or FI ?
Grinding noise isn't good , are all the keepers on the valves ?

[shadetree]

Okay read again FI. Ck for leaks on the air tube from vaf to throttle body ! Make sure all those clamps are tight and be sure vaf plug is tight ! Ck for loose coil wire ! Can't count how many times I've knocked mine loose

[Movin]

work the blind areas with carb cleaner or starting fluid to look for leaks. same for the plastic intake. Make sure you didn't criss cross a vacuum hose somewhere. Injector seals seated? Look at the things you each could have thought the other did.

[bravekozak]

Did you pull the distributor out? Did you remove and replace the distributor wires in the wrong order?

[TorqueEffect]

Okay read again FI. Ck for leaks on the air tube from vaf to throttle body ! Make sure all those clamps are tight and be sure vaf plug is tight ! Ck for loose coil wire ! Can't count how many times I've knocked mine loose

We didn't pull the head, so I don't think the timing is off.

Yes, I have checked the coil wires as well.

The grinding didn't start happening until after I had used the starter many times in a short period, and did grind the starter a couple times when trying to start the engine before it completely conked out. I have had issues with the starter in the past, where I would need to tap the solenoid to get it to start, but haven't have to do that for months, and I drive it everyday.

work the blind areas with carb cleaner or starting fluid to look for leaks. same for the plastic intake. Make sure you didn't criss cross a vacuum hose somewhere. Injector seals seated? Look at the things you each could have thought the other did.

Didn't unhook any vacuum hoses from the upper intake, only hoses in front of the throttle body leading down to the airbox.
Injectors are all seated properly, but I never touched those to begin with.

My bro is coming back over in the morning to look it over, he may have done something I am not aware of, and probably something he isn't aware of.

We will try the starting fluid trick, that is if we can keep the idle steady enough to find it.

Did you pull the distributor out? Did you remove and replace the distributor wires in the wrong order?

Wires are in the right order, never removed from distributor.
Didn't touch the distributor, so no I didn't pull it out.

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EDIT:

The grinding happens whether the clutch is engaged or not. I am guess the solenoid is not retracting on the starter.

Also I was able to pull another code, but it was just the O2 Sensor saying the car is running extremely rich.

[TorqueEffect]

Re-tightened one of the upper intake bolts, now it idles. But there is still a misfire, so there must still be a leak, or the plugs got dirty.

I will pull the plugs, because with how dirty it is around those plug holes, I wouldn't doubt my bro got gunk all over one of them.

[TorqueEffect]

It's all fixed, the starter grinding went away, and the upper intake is all back together properly, now purrs like a kitten.

[FestYboy]

woot!

[muleskinner]

It's all fixed, the starter grinding went away, and the upper intake is all back together properly, now purrs like a kitten.

banana time