Dirtnasty

Hey everyone this is my first post so feel free to bash me! Anyways I have a 99 civic ex, and I just picked up a 95 civic with a b18c1 in it. I bought it pretty cheap cause the guy couldn't get it started. so I gambled and picked the whole car up $1000.

So I brought I home and jumped the starter to do a compression test and got 120psi across all four cylinders.. not to happy but all my buddies said to get it firing to see if the rings will expand and the valves will seat. The previous owner had it was sitting for awhile.

​​​​​​ I got it started and I let it warm up. everything sounded good so I shut it off and did the compression test again. roughly 135-140 psi on all four.

can the timing be off? should I do a leak down test? i feel at a loss and I don't know much about Hondas lol. I want to make sure this engine is good before I do the swap. oh I drove it and it was fun ha. couldn't stop smiling.

civic402lx

Check the timing. Use a timing light or pull the cover and put it to tdc and see if everything line up. Always good to get a leak test done to see what's going on.

Dirtnasty

fcm

Ditto the above^^^ leak down test and timing, I would also check fuel pressure and spark, [should be bright blue on all cylinders] only use an HEI spark tester to check spark.
Also as always check/redo the grounds, the main grounds, batt. batt. to chassis and chassis to engine also the thermostat grounds, DO NOT just eyeball them, disconnect/clean/reconnect. 94

Dirtnasty

Ok I will do a leak down and timing when I have the time. as far as the grounds go, I pulled the battery ground and sanded already so that's good. engine to chassis ground is sanded on the chassis side but he had it on top of the valve cover which is painted so I had moved it to the power steering bracket. that's ok right? I'm pretty sure that engine/chassis ground was bad because as soon as I switched it up I'm getting everything to light up on the dash.

now is timing hard to do? I check YouTube lol and if I don't feel comfortable I'll have a buddy do it. or I'll search on the forums I guess.

Dirtnasty

Ok I just looked into timing a little bit and what I meant to say was, is the timing off on my cams causing a low compression reading? but I just read that stock gsr cams don't have adjustable cam gears. maybe this car has adjustable cam gears. idk.. so at this point should I pull the timing belt cover and go from there or continue with the previous replies?

main objective is to make sure this car is healthy before I put the work into swapping it into the 99 civic. I'm in way over my head!

keep trying to post pix but they need to get approved?

94 Civic Si

Sounds great!

What year is the B18?

135 PSI is the bottom of the compression spec for that engine.

I am doing a freshen-up on my B18C1, along with other items on my '94 Civic: https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...ident-3276594/

Good luck!

halfakneegrow

Looks like the head has been changed to a B16 head

94 Civic Si

Is that a B16 intake manifold?

civic402lx

My 96 gsr comp test is at 210, 200, 200, 220.. Its well over 100k at the moment.
​​​​​​ If you are getting 135, boy something is not right.

Dirtnasty

yea I'm not to sure. pr3-3 but I've read that gsr had that stamp also. idk

Dirtnasty

yea I was hoping to be in the 200's. I'm trying to keep faith in it tho. they're even all across so I'm hoping that's a good sign. if something was bad I would think I would see it in just one cylinder but this engine troubleshooting is all new to me.

halfakneegrow

Only B17a1 gsr has a pr3 head stamp. All B18c1 engines have p72 codes on them.

94 Civic Si

I though JDM ITR B18C has PR3?

https://honda-tech.com/forums/hybrid.../#post51132731

94 Civic Si

Here is a B16 head with claimed PR3 stamp... https://honda-tech.com/forums/sale-1...d-pr3-2725646/