I am posting for a guy in my Team who drives a '90 Accord Coupe with a H22a motor swap. He has driven the car for close to two years with the motor and he has found that it was reliable. He had no problem in races and when he started to lose to V8's and WRX's he decided he needed some extra power. He opted to spray a small dry shot (65 shot) my not have been the absolute best choice but its his car. Before sparying he had a local shop replace many componets on the engine (pumps, belts, etc. no internal work all stock on the inside). He sprayed the stock H22 two different occasions. On the second spray in 3rd gear he immediatly felt something was wrong. A couple of weeks later found that he had bent valves (exhaust side??? may be wrong) and other vital componets in his head. No he did not miss a shift I was with him but He should not have been spraying.

NOW here is the problem. About $1500.00 later his head was shaved and compression was raised and he has all new valves and the block was compression tested and checked and there were NO CRACKS that were visible and the pistons, seals, gaskets, etc. were all fine. Compression on the oil and gas lines were checked and all was A OKAY. But a month later he encounters a problem when engaging VTEC. His car pulls very strong through the low RPMS and as soon as his car begins to hit VTEC and through out VTEC it will shutter and seems as if it is trying to cut in and out. He has had probably some of the best Mechanics I know of in our area working on this and I feel they are jerking him around. SO I trust pretty much everyone on Honda - Tech and feel that I can distinguish a bull shiter. Very Long story short we need help. What are we missing. If a catylitic converter had debris lodged in the cat could it cause a pressure issue causing the above problems? Mind you most parts on the engine have been replaced to rule out variables. But suggest ANYTHING you can think of!!!

Thanks and hurry I want to sleep sometime in the near future and am tired of messing with engines in friends cars. Recently swapped a SR20det in a 240sx. Very mean motor with little tuning...Thanks again.

 

Hmm, I'm not an expert by any means but I don't believe that anything with the exaust would cause problems with VTEC. If you were having problems in general with performance, suttering, hesitation, etc. then I might say exaust. If he has had the valves and all that replaced the only thing that comes to mind right off the bat for me is the cam. Other than that, I would have to start doing some research to figure it out. Look around on google and see if you can find any info on VTEC problems. I don't understand why he stayed with so much stock internals if he has had so much replaced, he may as well have just upgraded while they were in there and helped himself out in the HP department. Sorry I couldn't provide you with any real answers but GL anyhow.

 

I agree....The only reason I brought up exhaust was I had another buddy who was rear-ended and had minor damage and when he got his MR-2 back from the garage he began to notice similar problems and found that his cat was bent and causing issues with exhaust flow. As far as spraying and the work done to the motor all I can say is it is a lesson learned. Thanks for the help.