urnot2brightru

so I recently got a 88 civic lx with a b20 swap. not sure of the year of the b20 but it has a knock sensor. it's got a p75 intake manifold. pr4 ecu. it's running obd0 still but doubt that has anything to do with it. the swap doesn't look like a hack job it actually look's legit. was told vip performance in Portland Oregon did the swap. car just runs like ****. it's gotten worse since I have got it. it idles really low like 4-500 rpms. it spits and sputters really badly over 3k rpm's and the tach jump's all over the place while it's doing this. it also sound's like it constantly is missing. done a compression check and it was 182,178,178,182. checked the timing 3 times with 3 different people and all said it was spot on. while it's idling so low if you barely press on the gas slowly it will back fire through the intake. ignition timing maybe? I've tried a different pr4 ecu, a different dizzy out of a working 90 integra. replaced the fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. possibly the fuel pump? I haven't done a fuel pressure test yet. the car starts right up and drives fine until it starts spitting and sputtering. still average 25 mpg's. doesn't smoke at all. feel's like it has good power until it spits and sputters and you can't even accelerate while it's doing that. almost feel's like fuel cut in a way. car has a short ram intake and a cheap as fart can muffler. not sure what's wrong and it's really annoying. sometimes when I start the car up it will run for a second then throw a check engine like and die instantly. the light doesn't stay on though when you restart it. sometimes the car will run better, sometimes worse.

my cousin has a Nissan pick up and when the fuel pump was going out it would spit and sputter really badly just like my car does especially when it was under any type of load. so i'm thinking the fuel pump but don't wanna buy a new one if it's clearly not that. going to get a fuel pressure tester in a few day's and see how it turns out.

any one have any suggestions? would be greatly appreciated thank's.

F22Master

Sounds like an ignition problem. It could possibly be the fuel pump too. Is there a fuel pressure gauge in the car? Is there an adjustable fuel pressure regulator on the fuel rail?

urnot2brightru

Negative on both. No fuel pressure guage and the stock p75 ( I would assume it's a p75 ) fpr.


It does kinda seem like ignition but not sure what else to try as far as ignition goes.

F22Master

Are you still OBD-0? If so, finding another distributor to try shouldnt be that hard. Any OBD-0 LS (B18A1) distributor should work.

urnot2brightru

yeah, it's still obd0. I tried the dizzy and ecu out of my buddies working 90 integra. no change.

alex14

make sure the mechanical timing (timing belt/crank/cams) is correct. if it is then i would test the fuel pressure.

urnot2brightru

checked by 3 different people and all agree it's on. timing belt need's replaced anyways so i'll have it re timed soon.

jdmjunkieXL

Inspect tps adjustment tps maybe faulty