"KWW" <kwalker@nospamaircooled.net> wrote
> Put in a replacement engine in a car.

Can you please verifiy here that the old and new engines
have the same # stamped on them?

Is the car fully warmed up (fan comes on TWICE, then you
check) when you try to adjust the timing (with service check
connector shorted)?

> When I went to adjust the timing, the
> 15 degree BTDC mark was way up so that I had to look up in
the timing hole
> to see it (could not look straight in and see it). I
estimated roughly that
> it was another 15 to 20 degrees out. The check engine
light is ON. The
> engine ran very smoothly.

> Triple checked timing marks for timing belt (3rd time
after running it for a
> little).
> Absolutely certain that the distributor is correctly set
in the motor.

What does the above mean?

You did loosen the distributor housing hold-down bolts and
attempt to get the timing right by rotating the housing,
didn't you?

> Per the Hayes manual I did put a jumper in the blue
connector in the
> passenger compartment to perform the timing check.
>
> That is when I took off the valve cover and top timing
belt cover and used a
> straight-edge to triple-check that the timing belt was not
off by a tooth.
> It was dead on with the top of the head.

I know you said you checked it thrice, but IIRC, being
unable to get anywhere in the neighborhood of the three, red
BTDC marks and being 15-20 degrees off still suggests being
off by a tooth. That's maybe not what you want to hear, but
sometimes a systematic approach, when repeated enough,
causes one to overlook simple things...