twizted-myatt

ok i'm kind of new to civics and jus picked me up a 97 with a y7 block and y8 head, 5speed. some motor mods,exhaust,intake,headers,cam gear, no ac or ps. now here's my question. it sputters between 2k and 3k rpm's. no matter what gear. anytime b4 2k or after 3k it gets up and goes jus like it should. what do u guys think it may be? any helpful info would be great. thanks!

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Timing.

twizted-myatt

well tha timing was advanced a lil and my buddy put it back to tha normal timing and he also came up this, its a d16y7 block with a y8 head. that it was put on with vtec dis engaged so it sputters when vtec should b engaging and when it gets outa vtec is when it runs fine. he said that i have a non vtec distrubuter. when we put a hot wire to vtec tha rocker arms hit tha valve cover so he said all i needa do is get tha valves and rocker arms adjusted, and run vtec to a toggle or get a new distrubuter. and i have a computer programmed for vtec. any of this make sense to u guys?

vartok

sounds liek someone "rigged" up vtec. To my knowlage, vtec has nothing to do with the distributer. I also didnt think it was possible for and part of the valve train to hit the cover...

vetc is suppost to enguage ~5k RPM (i think it very between the motor/ECUs, but its always at high RMP) and if you force it to enguage lower, it will run like crap. Also, the ECU does more than just enguage the solenoid when it hits vtec, the fuel maps also change, so just a toggle switch wont really work well, so i wouldnt advise that.

Fallow the wires comming off the solenoid and see where they go. IF it was done correctly, one wire from the 2 wire plug should be grounded, the other 2 should go to the ECU. it looks factory, as in goes into a big wire harness, then i would bet its hooked up correctly.

You said you had a "computer programed for vtec" do you mean you have the right ECU for vtec or that you have a "vtec controller"

twizted-myatt

i believe its tha right ecu. its a p28

vartok

well, a p28 is an OBDI ECU (and yes is the correct one for vtec) and the y8 is OBDII... this is getting a bit over my head now... ill let someone else take over

twizted-myatt

lol yea its over my head as well

98civdx

Holly **** your posts are hard to understand! It's giving me a headache.

Your friend is an idiot! There is no way anything is hitting the valve cover.

Please for the love of god, don't let your friend touch the car. He is going to make it worse.

Is the crank/cam at tdc? Did you verify the ignition timing using a timing light?

Do you have any CEL's? Is the P28 chipped?

Sounds like you bought someones nightmare/project.

twizted-myatt

dude its def. a nightmare. my other friend adjusted tha valves 2night and now it runs even worse! b4 i could at least granny it around just fine. now i'm lucky to get 10feet! not sure if tha crank/cam is at tdc and no he did not verify ignition timing with a timing light. it didn't through any codes when i took it to autozone tha other day. and again not sure if the p28 if chipped or not. i believe another friend looked at it tha other day and said it wasn't. i might need to add that when i got it, it had a aftermarket ecu in that didn't say anything on it but "for off road use" and when we hooked tha stock one back up it drove tha exact same.

98civdx

Did he at least set each cylinder at tdc when he adjusted the valves?

With the valve cover/upper timing cover off rotate the cam pulley until the "up" mark is pointed up.( Using the crank pulley, Should be 17mm bolt, ROTATE ENGINE COUNTERCLOCKWISE!! I cannot stress that enough, it must go counter clockwise.)

Doing that sets the cam at TDC. Now look down at the lower timing cover. The is a little mark like /\ on it. There should be a 2 white lines on the crank pulley, which should be lined up with the mark on the timing cover. That sets the crank at TDC. Hopefulley, both will be a TDC when that is done.

You cannot set the ignition timing without a timing light.

Al ot of times ECU's wont say for offraod use only. Several of my friends ECU's don't. Ive only seen one that does.

redline1219

Your "friend" probably over tightened the valves and they dont close all the way so compression leaks. Run it like this and you will burn valves and it will be a worse nightmare (if it hasnt already).

First off, take it to a real mechanic who can actually diagnose these problems properly. Your next step needs to be putting stuff back to stock or done correctly with known good parts.

twizted-myatt

i'll check all that in tha morning. i trust tha guy who adjusted my valves, i've had him do work for me b4 as well helped him with stuff so i know he at least knows what he's doing. i did see him rotating the cam pulley when adjusting them. i hope i can get it where i can at least granny it around bc right now its running like crap. got to rev it up like crazy in neutral then put it in 1st and dump tha clutch and half tha time it wont even really rev up and it'll jus back fire

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

So exactly WHY are we running a P28 on an OBD2 setup?

redline1219

timing is probably off on top of running a single cam ecu for a gsr, not smart dude

98civdx

He would have CEL's.

This is also why I asked if it was chipped.

Marc-- runing the ecu on his setup is perfectly fine, assuming it was actualy chipped and has atleast a base map for the Y8.

If it does not, then that can cause some problems.

The OBD1 ecu is the only way to tune the car, without runing some sort of piggy back setup.

eddie422

i have a y8 running a p28 and the only thing different is the knock sensor is gone although i am running a z6 harness weather this helps or not idk just putting my 2 sense into it

twizted-myatt

so what ecu should i be running? sorry remember i'm new to honda's

twizted-myatt

o and i jus put a new fuel filter on. still runs like crap but if i ride tha clutch it drives but at ideal it wants to die sometimes and if i rev it up to fast it sputters and backfires but if i barely rev it up tha rpm's go up jus fine. i'm so lost with this car

Former User

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twizted-myatt

ah my bad. thanks tho

98civdx

You shouldn't even be driving the car! You could be causing major damage to the engine.

twizted-myatt

i know man. like b4 he adjusted the valves it ran and drove just fine if u drove it like a grandma but now u can barely go 10feet and its my only car

98civdx

How did he adjust them? Did he use a feeler guage?

twizted-myatt

yea. and adjusted them too .007 intake and .009 exhaust

98civdx

Check mechanical timing yet?