1990 2.2 5sp

[taco85]

i just bought the car and i am to understand that the motor was rebuilt somewhere in the last month or two. the previous owner told me that he drove it for two weeks without a problem after the rebuild and then after two weeks of driving the radiator blew out. so the radiator was replaced thsi morning when i bought the car and then i had to replace the thermostat (after i handed over my hard earned cash) just to get it home. after the thermo was replaced it was fine. was smoking a bit and what not. at a stop but ran like beast down the interstate on the way home. i stopped for fuel and then it wouldn't start again. come to find out that the head wasnt fully tightened or something as its pumping some water out through a couple of the front bolts. there is a chance i might have been burning trace amounts of coolant with the fuel. in the morning i am going to go get the car, replace the plugs and tighten the heads a little bit and hopefully it starts and gets me home.

has anyone had any kind of similar problems with the 2.2 not wanting to start? i just bought the car and it is in decent enough shape to warrant keeping, and eventually i might wanna go the performance route with it, but for now i need to make it reliable. i was surprised to pull the air cleaner and find a tbi system. any mods to gain a little more power or economy once its running again?