the head did look in very good order to be honest, and the surface was hardly dirty in the first place. the head came off a car that was broken due to it being worth more in parts, not because it had any running issues.

so yeah i suspect its cam timing as i dont know entirely what it should be set on, only what it came off the other car on.

the taking ages to start i believe is probably a duff cold start sensor becuase ive always had to pump the pedal to start it.