Ok I have a 90 integra that ran before I pulled the motor (rings are shoot ) . Got myself a Jdm B16 swapped my injectors,distributer( with the leg cut off) , and my engine harness and tranny ect . And a pwo ecu .
It has new plugs bosche platinum plugs,cap and rotor , wires, water pump and timing belt . It won't start . When I first got it in it would run but had a tap so I shut it down tore it down to find the cams where not lined up . So I lined everything back up put it together and it started up and ran without any taps and would run up to 5000 rpm if I wanted it to no problem , but wasn't running to well . and wouldn't idle on its own so I stopped for the day . today I tried to start it and it started once but wouldn't go over 3000k it just stops so I shut it down when I went to the front of the car the cat was glowing orange . I let it cool off and was going to play with the timing but I just cranks and backfires . Kind of hard to play with the timing when it won't start or if it does it won't idle .
Am I missing somethig ? Can distributer timing be off that much ? whats with the glowing cat ? thanks for any help .

 

how long did it run before you noticed the cat glowing? From reading above it looks like you only started the car and let it run for a minute or two, so unless your boosting or using a big nitrous spray i cant imagine how the cat could be glowing hot in such a short time....but if it was running for a good while then the cat must have some sort of blockage to be causing it to heat up like that...take it off and see if you can see through the mesh inner part

 

I bet you have a clogged cat. Since its not obd2, gut it, and check again. Easiest way to find out if the cat is screwed, run it open header. That includes driving it for a few minutes. If everything is going well, assume the cat is f***ed. I am betting thats your problem. Reason I am assuming its the cat is 1) unless you have been ******* the hell out of the car for 5 hours non stop, it shouldnt heat up that much at idle ans 2) A clogged cat acts like a hand over your mouth while you are trying to breath...It just wont work. Thats my $.02

 

I've heard of the same problem, with same symptoms as you describe. An overheated and completely clogged muffler from an aftermarket exhaust was the culprit in this case though. Changing his exhaust system out fixed it immediately. I'm guessing a clogged cat as well.