Well, new starter and battery are good. But what about the battery cables and the ground from the bellhousing to the firewall? If you want her to really crank over fast and start quick, replace all these with some larger diameter cables. If you've got a NAPA auto parts store in town, they typically have a large selection of premade Beldon cables in diameters down to "2" and "0" gauge. Those big cables make a nice difference!

I would certainly do a compression test on this engine hot, all injectors removed, throttle plates wide open, crank until the compression test gauge needle stops rising. If it's not within spec, adjust the valves and try again. If it's still not within spec you can do a leak down test to find out if you're loosing compression past the valves or past the rings.

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