I admire your tenacity for attempting this transplant, and persevering.
As in a previous reply, make sure all the pipes are connected, the small one is part of the fuel vapour recovery system, and omitting the large one will leave a large hole in your inlet tract.
Is your MAF sensor connected; forgot mine last time I did major work. With the ignition on, you could check fuel pressure at the schrader valve on the injector rail.

 

Ok, been a few days since a post on this- any progress?

 

Hi Guys
Sorry for the lack of comunication - been busy swapping the engine :-(
DSnyder586 gave me a clue by saying "if you have compression then we will get it running" So I checked the compression looking for bore washing but found something much worse.
Front pair 120psi (average)
2nd pair 95psi
3rd pair 45psi
4th pair 70psi
The worst individual cylinder was Bank B No3 at a pathetic 35psi
I injected some oil and tested again, slightly better at 40psi but still to bad.
It looks like the back four bores were worn beyond redemption so I decided to remove the engine, rebuild it with it's original AJ26 parts and send it back for a refund. In the meantime I have bought another engine - this time a 2000 AJ27 identical to my original dead engine. This was in much better condition and had recently had all new tensioners and chains fitted. I opened it up to check everything was in order and it was so I have spent the last two days fitting this into the car. Whilst I was fitting this 3rd engine my darling wife amused herself by taking off all the new bits on the duff engine and restoring it to an AJ26 as delivered. This included swapping the cams, chains, tensioners and even the structural sump. She said it was quite easy because she had watched me do it a few times already!
Turned it over a few times with the fuel fuse (No7) out to prime the oil system and then with a deep breath and keeping everything crossed I muttered those imortal words to the gods of internal combustion
"GENTLEMEN - START YOUR ENGINES"
It fired up instantly on the 1st turn of the key and settled down to a delightfully smooth idle - PURRING
I let it run for about 15mins monitoring fluids and temps, checking for leaks etc.......... nothing to do..........all perfect.
Just taken it out for it's 1st drive and it is smooth, quiet and responsive. I have one small issue still to deal with though - I've got an amber warning and restricted performance notification.
I'll report back when I've got this sorted but in the meantime I would just like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the members who have been following my plight and especially to those who gave me invaluable help and advice and even to those who just gave me simple words of encouragement.

 

NICELY DONE!

Your wife HELPED you? She's a keeper. I'll be picking up my next adventure this month so stay tuned.

 

Great news Stuart, wasn't the 26 engine supposed to be a warranty replacement? I assumed they were all steel liner engines....some skullduggery from the seller?

 

Skullduggery indeed - Full refund obtained from seller - CAVEAT EMPTOR