He had access to manuals and he said that he had read about the timing marks, but simply could not see them on the new gears (we retrieved the old gears and I pointed them out to him). He then enlisted the help of his uncle, who is a pretty fair mechanic, to help him get things straightned out, which led to the re-removal of the engine. (uncle discovered that he had not primed the oil pump, so another lesson learned). To play it safe, he then took the engine to the machine shop, and they inspected it, and told him they had never seen an engine rebuilt so well by an 18 year old on his first try. And it is running quite well.
I'll pass all your notes of encouragement along to him. By the way, he wants to go to college to learn autokmotive mechanics and open up his own shop some day.
