looking good and its always something simple that needs fixin like a wire depinned

 

Thanks Hasport

Last-night:
Re-pinned the ECU side of my VTEC wire. The original pin I used was too small and wasn't making a solid contact. Fortunately I had a salvage yard plug laying around I could scavenge, No more CEL.
Torqued my crank pulley bolt. It may have already been done but I double checked it. 145ft-lbs, loosened, 130ft-lbs.
Wheels and front bumper cover are back on and I've got a seat in it. I had to trim an air dam in the cover just a bit to get it to sit right.
New 255 lph fuel pump is in.

Gonna leave work soon to do the timing and break-in.

 

Nice... Sounds like someone is going to have a good weekend!

 

Ugh... If it's not one thing it's another.

Long story short, I slipped my timing belt off my cam gears without first setting TDC. Can I rotate the cams and crank independent of each other to set TDC?

 

I think the only way you can rotate them independent of each other is if the head is off...

 

This thread handles a similar question:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-...d-tdc-2746384/

I would be be wary of turning the camshaft independently of the crankshaft due to the possibility of bending the valves due to interference.

 

​​​​​Yes you can. What you need to do is this:

Slowly rotate the crank so that all four pistons are in the middle portion of the cylinder. You will need to slide a long screwdriver or pipe(1/4" extension) into the spark plug holes to "feel" for the middle os the stroke.

Once you are certain the pistons are halfway down the cylinder. Rotate the camshafts into TDC positions as described in your manual. So instead of doing it by turning the crank, you'll do by tuenikg the cam sprocket. Once you have found the TDC you can lock them into place and then go back to the crank.

At this point your camshafts are in the TDC position and now you can rotate the crank to its TDC position.

If at any time you feel a strong resistance to the rotations, stop, back up the rotation amd try again. If the resistance is still there, please stop and post back here. Last thing you want is to damage the internals.
​​​

 

Nope, not true. They are independent of the other without the belt.

The comment above me is the right answer. There's not a ton of interference between the valves and pistons, but there's obviously enough and so avoiding contact is key. Doesn't take much either way of TDC to get the clearance you need to set the cams again.

 

Thanks for all the replies. After taking a second to calm down, I was able to take care of it.

We basically did what joey said.

We reset the timing belt, tightened the adjustable cam shaft pulleys, and set the valve lash. Hopefully all is well.

 

ah, ****.

I need to re-tension my timing belt. Last night there was a little slack between the cam gears at certain points in the revolution. I was like "meh, must be normal." But, I couldn't stop worrying about it so I did some internet searching and it sounds like I didn't set the the tensioner correctly. Good thing I didn't try starting it last night.

Looks like PatrickGSR here has it right.

 

Good stuff!

Here are the scans from the '96 Integra FSM:

 

Got it taken care of. @PatrickGSR94's advice was spot on. Turning the cam's 3 past TDC and retighting the tensioner took the slack right out. All you guys helped so, thank you.

The engine sounds much quitter with the lash set, too. It sounded like a bucket of bolts before compared to how it sounds now.

 

We set the timing last night with a timing light and I had to replace a blown 15amp cooling fan fuse. I've two oil leaks to deal with, now. One is from the distributor o-ring and the other is from the oil pan gasket right by the crank pulley. Both should be easy and inexpensive fixes.

 

Did you use any liquid gasket when you installed the oil pan?

 

My dad put the oil pan back on and, as I discovered today, no. He did not use liquid gasket maker.

 

Replaced the distributor o-ring. The old one was crushed flat and very brittle. It's no wonder it leaked.
I also replaced the oil pan gasket, today. It was close to 40F out so I figured I'd take the opportunity to tackle some work because it'll get colder in January.
I also re-installed the interior.

With all that done, we jumped in and took her around the block for the first time in years.
I few things that need to be resolved:
1. There's oil still pouring out around the distributor. WTF.
2. Minor oil leak under the car. Probably the oil pan gasket, still. My guess is the nuts/bolts aren't all the same torque. I need to get a torque wrench that goes down that low.
3. #1 cylinder injector is leaking. Fuel sprayed all over the head. I'm lucky it didn't cause a fire.
4. Very high idle (~1,800 RPM). Need to check the throttle cable tension. We had to build a bracket since the LHT mod deletes the JRSC mount point for the cable.
5. Got lean. Probably because of the leaking injector. Honestly, I don't know how to read the Hondata info. I guess I've more research to do.
6. Car stumbled at WOT. Probably because of the leaking injector and poor throttle cable tension.

I've some pictures of the exhaust cylinders to upload later. The car has a total of ~20 minutes of run time and cylinder 4 had a little bit of gunk in the exhaust port. The others were totally clean. I'm not sure if that's anything I should be concerned with.

 

I suggest an in/lbs torque wrench.

So that's what he meant when he said "What are they planning on racing with, hopes and dreams?" !

 

Damn you Cao and your correct grammar. Also, is that a perfect GT reference because I've only seen one episode and I feel like it was a quote.

I think I may have found the source of my fuel leak.

 

 

 

After a cumulative 20 or so minutes of running, I would expect the exhaust cylinders to have an even distribution of oil and ****. Once I get everything running, I'll have to do a pressure test and maybe a leakdown to see if there's a reason. I also have the valve cover venting back to the intake so maybe that's a problem.

Exhaust Port - Cylinder 1


Exhaust Port - Cylinder 2



Exhaust Port - Cylinder 3



Exhaust Port - Cylinder 4

 

Yeah man, good to see you got some time on your hatch!

I hope you figure out the oil leaks - those bug the F out of me!

Very cool you figured out the fuel leak - those are scary.

I know what you mean about the temperatures, very little work done this weekend, but it did get over 40 with a little sun, so I got some time in on Saturday...

 

And in the spirit of better writing - we are looking at exhaust ports, corresponding to cylinders 1 through 4...

 

Got some tinkering done last night. I thought I had new O-Rings for the injectors lying around but I couldn't find them so I had to find something else to work on. Instead, I got a swivel socket from the hardware store and was finally able to check the Intake Manifold stud below the Cylinder 1 Intake runner. Thankfully it was tight. This took some doing as the JRSC support brackets had to be messed with to get sight.

I also replaced the 200k+ mile fuel filter. The kid at the parts store that sold me the filter wished me luck on the bottom fitting but it was no problem at all. I had to climb up onto the car in order to work it back into place but it threaded in easy enough. Plus, the position of my TB is nice and low and out of the way with the JRSC setup.

I was going to clean my FITV but I didn't feel like undoing my catch can lines so I called it a night and went inside.

 

Cleaned the FITV in 14*F temps. No pics. I was using my phone to listen to podcasts.

P.S. the throttle body was spotless so there's no oil blowing back into the intake from the valve cover. The sludge in the exhaust ports must be from something else.