First off I wanted to say hey, I'm new to working on cars so if I seem to have made any huge mistakes don't hesitate to point them out.

For the last week, I've been working on a 1994 Galant that broke down going down the highway and my dad didn't want to fix. He got a new car and I'm fixing this one. Turns out the timing belt broke, so I went and snagged up a new one, and a new valve cover gasket since the one that was on there was pretty old, probably original (104K miles). I got some of my mechanic friends together and we determined the valves were bent with a compression tester and a visual confirmation, so I went out to a salvage yard and got a new head, checked it, and bought it. Got new gaskets for everything I took off and new spark plugs (those had like 20k miles on em) and I've got it mostly put back together. I put the new silent shaft belt on, but the Chilton manual warns that the alignment could be 180 degress off with the timing marks aligned, so, I want to make sure it isn't. It mentions a plug somewhere but for the life of me I can't find it, I'm calling a dealer tomorrow but if anyone here can help I'd love it, especially if you have pics. I also wouldn't mind pics of the proper alignment for everything, I'm pretty sure i have it down but I don't want to get it off and need another new head... I've looked online at a few manuals and such but it's all very vague. I also wanted to make sure that all the maintenance I have planned for it once I get it running is good, or if I need anything else before my trip in November which will be about 2200 miles long, as well as any essential spare parts you think would be good for roadside repairs.

All new belts, spark plugs, thermostat gaskets, coolant gasket, head gasket, valve cover gasket, spark plug gaskets
New windshield, tires, wipers
Fluid change (Oil, coolant, transmission, brakes, steering, etc)
Air filter, oil filter, fuel filter

i never use the plug....

i do the balance shaft by feel...cant teach u that on a post tho....

Ok, so, I got the shaft aligned correctly, and I see what you mean by doing it by feel, once I knew which way was aligned correctly I doubt I'll ever need that cursed plug again. Anyways, timing belt is on, everything is aligned... but, I lost the bolts for my crankshaft pulley somehow. Anyways, does anyone know what the specs for them are so I can go buy some new ones? Thx

How did yu loose those? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blush-anim-cl.gif) they are M12 bolts think, or M8 , anyway they are 12MM

Well, I found the bolt's, got it all put together, started up, and she runs. Squealing belt I have to fix, and could be an exhaust leak, but it's prolly crap burning off the manifold from the repairs. I feel quite acomplished :3

awsum

Well, I got insurance, took it out and drove around for 200 miles just fine, despite my lack of ability on a manual transmission (What can I say, never had access to a standard, practice makes perfect) and just as I'm about to go give someone a ride I let my more experienced friend drive to the auto parts store so he can get a feel for it and see what needs adjusted, and just as we're leaving the car dies. I know it isn't the timing belt or timing, or it wouldn't have started to begin with and the belt is brand new. We tried a rolling start, there was a hill conveniently a short push away but we couldn't get it going, the engine was turning over and it wanted to start but the car wouldn't do it. The battery (and therefore the alternator) are fine, since we spent a god 30-45 minutes cranking it every 30 seconds (If the alternator was bad, the battery wouldn't be charged and we couldn't have done that). We've gotten it down to something in the ignition system, we're thinking it's the distributor but I've got to check everything in line to it as well because the distributor is frickin $200. Do Galant's have a history of this? It's a pain in the ass to find anything for these online.

Can be the distributor , but in many chances it could be the ECM.