h0nda n00b

I recently tried a diy cam swap but some how botched it...

Its a 1994 hatch with a 1st gen b16 swap running a "chipped" OBD1 p28 ecu
Everything was fine before the swap but now she wont go.

I set my crank to TDC by lining it up with mark on the timing belt cover.


Removed valve cover, cam rails, and cam caps.
Removed old gears off old cams and reinstalled on new cams.
Put new cams in still at TDC, lines on gears looked aligned so i proceeded to install everything back up.
Started valve adjustment and after rotating the crank by hand noticed the gears had misaligned. Thought nothing of it so i put it all together and tried starting it. No luck.

Next day i disassemble and try to line up the gears again. Lined em all up, looked good. Rotated by hand and this again.


Also noticed the order in which my spark plugs are in.


Tried starting it all up like that and ran for a bit like crap, missing the whole time and all then i revved it up a bit and it died.

So honda-tech what exactly did i do wrong?

h0nda n00b

Sorry, spark plug order picture here.

h0nda n00b

bump...

Just uninstalled and reinstalled... Got them to match up this close.


Half a tooth off? I dont know too much about adjustable cam gear but is it 5 degrees + or -? It started up fine, only let it idle for a bit though.

JuggerNaut-CTR

What cams did you install?

h0nda n00b

Ctr intake and exhaust went from what I think were 94 gsr's. Really need to know if it's safe to run.

DanCan'tSwim

Is the dizzy button pointing to spark plug #1?

I'm not too familiar with DOHC but I'd say whatever the button is pointing to, make that #1 and plug and hook up the plugs accordingly.

JuggerNaut-CTR

Not really following...???

According to his pic he has the firing order correct

h0nda n00b

Dizzy is in right postion. It starts up just fine now but not to sure on the cam gears. Just don't wanna run it with valve to piston collision.

h0nda n00b

Also what would the best cam seal be? For the side with the cam gears, i used 95 del sol cam seals but they don't seem to seal completely.

JuggerNaut-CTR

All dohc vtec b-series cam seals are the same...I would go with oem

h0nda n00b

Hmmm then maybe i just screwed that part up, lol. I got all oem parts just before the install. Forgot about the plug on the dizzy side though since it had a aftermarket one already but its in rough shape.

No one with some cam gear knowledge can tell me if its safe to run it? I know nothing about adjustable cam gears so have no clue about them. Any help would be appreciated.

h0nda n00b

Bump. Can anyone, anyone at all give me some input. Just need to know if the gears have just been advanced so I know if it's safe to run it.

beecee18

Are both cam gears adjusted to the zero position?

The problem you are having with the gears not lining up would probably come from not using the proper procedure to set the timing belt which can be found in the service manual, slack in the tensioner is probably responsible for the cams not lining up.

might not have the camseals set properly either it seems, It requires the use of Hondabond or Ultragrey sealant, and seated properly, this is done while assembling the cam holder caps.

service manual is your best friend.

h0nda n00b

Not sure how they're adjusted honestly.. They were on with the car when I got it a while back. Just took them Off the old cams and onto the ctr's. I thought it'd be fine to just remove the cams then swap em in easily enough. I followed the video by Evans tuning. I didn't mess with the tensioner at all. I also did use hondabond on the cam seals. Perhaps I didn't let it sit long enough before rotating it all. It was also 30 degrees when I did all this .

beecee18

Loosen timing belt tensioner bolt.
Remove timing belt from cam pulleys,
get the crank at TDC, and cam marks to line up,
stretch the belt over the gears pulling up harder on the intake pulley side using the tensioner slack to your benifit.

Turn engine over by hand counter clock 2-3 times until white TDC mark on crank pulley lines up with TDC mark on plastic and check to see everything lines up.

Rinse and repeat till it does

Tighten timing belt tensioner bolt

Inspect slack is within spec

Make sure not to reverse the crank rotation while doing this, and make sure cams or crank do not go out of sync while streaching the belt over everything.

beecee18

I just dont get this, these adjustment marks arent similar, are you sure one isnt 180 deg off.
I wouldnt mind seeing a pic showing all of both cam gears
^ = no bueno

h0nda n00b

Here's the best picture i got till tomorrow.



There is a bit of slack on the belt in between the cams.

nub

That slack betwen the cams looks like your issue. All of your slack needs to be on the tensioner side of the belt. There are service holes in the cam holders to hold oem cams at tdc while you put the belt in place. Put a dowel pin or drill bit in them so you can pull all of the slack to the tensioner side. The belt should be flat across the top of the cams.

h0nda n00b

The holes are on the cam caps or oil rails? Will CTR cams still have they service holes? That'd be real great if i can hold it all at TDC all at once and just tension the belt around it like that. Most of my slack felt like it was on the exhaust side.

nub

Genrically called cam holers but the factory calls them cam holder pipes. Fully assembled head the long piece that extends the length of each cam. All OE Honda DOH cams have them that I know of.

h0nda n00b

Cool. Well wish I would've known all that before. So I just remove the VC, remove timing belt. Lock cams at TDC along with crank. Loosen belt tension and stretch belt over cam gears starting on intake side. Then remove cam locks and turn crank three teeth on the cam gears and tighten belt tension? Then I should be good and dandy? :D

On a sad note found out the cams I removed were automatic b16 cams and from what I read single valve springs on both sides. Gotta spring for new valve train for sure now. Not going over 7k for a while. Lol.

JuggerNaut-CTR

Automatic b16's still rev to 7700 on single springs....

h0nda n00b

Strange, I could never get mine past 7300. Read somewhere that was the rev limit.

JuggerNaut-CTR

What do you mean by that? Like the motor would literally not go past 7300? Rev limiter?

h0nda n00b

Well I can't say for sure but it seemed like power would completely drop off around there. Just thought it was my tach that was off and I was actuallly close to 8k and didn't wanna beat her any higher.