Hello everyone. To start I have a question that I can't seem to find the answer to. Is timing the injection pump so critical that a slightly out of time pump will prevent starting/idling?

If you have the time please read the following.

My 1982 300D turbo diesel starting making a bad rattling noise a few months ago. I found that it was coming from the vacuum pump area, and when pulling the pump discovered that all the bearings were gone from the roller and it and the cam plate on the front of the timing device were destroyed. I started sourcing all the parts I needed. I planned to do the timing chain and all the guides. I also decided to replace the radiator, oil cooler lines, and trans cooler lines as they were all showing wetness to varying degrees.

In working through this project I came to find that the timing chain only showed 2 to 3 degrees of stretch with the markings on the cam and cam tower lined up. I decided to not change the chain, but did all the chain guides as I was that far in to the project. I can always roll in the new chain I ordered when it becomes time.

After getting everything back together, I found that I couldn't start the engine. Before this tear down I never had any issues with starting, and typically it would start nearly instantly when hitting the key. At this point I starting thinking that something with the injection pump timing must have changed, as I had the timing device off to change the bushing behind it and the cam plate on its face.

I tried rotating the engine over little by little and checking my drip tube on the first injection pump port. I discovered that I was starting to get fuel about 10 degrees AFTER TDC. I removed the pump (and oil filter housing) in this position when it was showing some drops of fuel without moving the crank rotation. With the pump off, I brought the engine around to 24 BTDC with cylinder 1 on the compression stroke. The two front cam lobes look like they're at 11 and 2 when in this position.

At this point I put the pump back on and timed it by the drip method to the best of my ability. In this position, through the injection pump's rotation I can move it from getting full flow to nothing at all. From what I understand, I should be able to time the pump as it is with its adjustment. The most I have been able to get from the engine is rough firing, one rush of the engine reving with a lot of smoke. The engine dies and will not idle. I do not know what to look at next.

I checked the glow plugs and they seem to ohm out fine. I have been making sure that I bleed the hard lines to the injectors as well, and I am getting fuel to each injector. The other side of this is compression, but I don't see how I could have an issue with it as the engine ran fine before this. Before I put the valve cover back on, I rolled the engine over a few times and the timing marks on the crank and cam tower always came back around. To repeat my question, will an injection pump even just a little off time prevent an OM617 from starting? Is there anything else I should check? Thank you for your time reading this. I appreciate any advice you can give.