we put a JDM B18C in my friends 99 GSR. a few weeks later he came across a good deal on a drag kit. so he got that and put it on. After a few days of driving around lean, but no boost, 2 of the pistons blew. So he ordered some JE 9.0to1 pistons. we put those in and it drove fine again. A few more days passed and he got a skunk2 IM. Now heres the problem. Since putting the IM on, he decided to wash the engine bay. He covered the distributor and all, but now the car is blowing white smoke out of the exhaust and it has a vaccum leak im pretty sure. we are going to buy a new IM gasket and hopefully that will solve the leak. i was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on the smoke. also he blew the sponge filter out of his missing link, and he used paper towels to replace it. is that ok or should he use something else? thanks

 

I have no idea about the smoke could be a head gasket not sealing( since you replaced the pistons,try to retorque the head) to your intake manifold gasket being loose or ripped and engine degreaser getting in with the water,good luck in solving it. also with the missing link you should replace it with the sponge, just order another one from the race shop you bought it from.

 

sounds like there could be a handful of things wrong.

for one, the white smoke generally means you are burning coolant, so there could be a problem with your headgasket as stated above. Did you replace it when you installed the new JE's?

Also make sure the head is still torqued to spec because if it wasn't then it might have loosened up and caused a leak.