Here's the thread I made on tbricks for the whole back story:
http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=170595
Jason, when I bought the car it started up fairly easily but then became increasingly more difficult to start until finally it wouldn't start at all one morning.
I called the shop this morning and now they tell me it's not the timing after all. They now suspect low compression is the issue. The head technician said something about checking through the intake. Maybe they're going to try the oil method heavyequipment mentioned?
I will be posting updates exclusively in this thread from now on.