Here's my sad embarassing story:

I replaced my valve cover gasket (passenger side), replaced the spark plugs, plug wires and PCV. In doing so I also used new gaskets for the throttle body and air intake.

I went to start the car up and it will start but smells like gas...it's horrendously strong and shakes like it's misfiring.

Can anyone give me advice on where to even begin to look?

 

did you plug in the coil packs? did you properly route the 3 spark plug wires? did you use the proper spark plugs? did you plug in the tps? Did you plug in the vacuum hose under the throttle body? etc... etc... etc...

 

I think you may have saved my bacon.

I routed from
cylinder 5 to 2
cylinder 3 to 4
cylinder 1 to 6

From the sounds of it, it should be routed from
cylinder 5 to 2
cylinder 3 to 6
cylinder 1 to 4

Does that sound correct? Would that cause the toxic gas smell?

 

Oh yeah. And option #2 is correct. There is always a difference of three between opposite cylinders on this motor. That's how I remember it.

 

That's a good way to remember!

For anyone in the future who is having the same issue, the cause was the spark plug wires. After making the corrections listed above the smell disappeared and the car ran great. Thanks for all the help everyone.