i completely rebuilt my hatch from the bottom up. everything is new or rebuilt, my problem is that it now wont start. the car is an 89 dx hatch and the motor is a d16a6, it was rebuilt with zc pistons and d16y8 head gasket. the head and intake manifold were overhauled by GUDE.
the problem is that the car turns over but doesnt start, the best i can get is an ocasionay "chug". there is no backfiring or any odd noises during cranking. i have verified spark, fuel, correct wiring from sensors to ecu pin locations. timing marks are lined up and stock pullys have been reinstalled. sparkplugs are gapped to stock 42mm, but it seams that timing is off enough to not start. the plugs get a chalky black and smell of gas after trying to start.
i havent checked compression yet, but will try that next. i can tell it has compression by how hard it is to crank with the starter or by ratchet. all fuses and main relay are good, and i have also tryed swapping misc. parts between both of my 89 civics. i am just concerned that the compression is too high for the stock ignition, i also will be swapping the injector resistor box incase that is bad (but i still get fuel into the cylinders).
any input would be greatly apreciated because i am pretty much out of ideas. thanks, phil

 

grounds?

codes?

 

no codes yet, and i have all grounds connected. i completely rewired the engine harness to locate the junction plugs inside the car aswell as the fuse box too. i ran 2 4ga grounds from the engine block too. it still seams that it is sparking completely before the injectors fire.
timing marks are lined up and all wires are correct from a pinout diagram of the ecu. injectors and plug wires are correct locations too.

 

according to a compression calculator, i am running just over 12:1 compression.

 

i read on a mini me swap write up that u have to use an adjustable cam gear to get timing right becuz if not then it will be like a 1/2 tooth or so off.....

 

are the spark plug wires in the right order?

 

plug wires are correct, and i took the adjustable cam gear off to make sure i have correct base timing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxdx89 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i read on a mini me swap write up that u have to use an adjustable cam gear to get timing right becuz if not then it will be like a 1/2 tooth or so off.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

It'd still start

 

may sound dumb , but did you try jumping the car?

 

with a battery charger i did. with that much compression, the motor cranks weird if i dont. (the optima battery is atleast 3 years old that i am using for now).
i did relocate the battery inside the car. it popped a 150 amp fuse the other day when it got really cold outside.

 

optima = teh ghey

 

Did you check to make sure the distributor isn't on 180 degrees backwards?

 

put the new rotor on the same as the old one, and i thought that the distributor can only line up one way to the groove in the cam.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by peichie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">put the new rotor on the same as the old one, and i thought that the distributor can only line up one way to the groove in the cam.</TD></TR></TABLE>

It can go on both ways, trust me.

 

the distributor or the rotor. i thought there was somewhat of a wedge shape to the keyway on the cam and distributor drive gear.

 

There is a keyway in the cam, and on the d16a6 (not sure about other motors) it can be put on *** backwards. So make sure when it's at tdc on #1, that the rotor is on #1.

 

thanks, i will try that tomorrow. honestly i never checked that assuming that the dizzy could be only installed one way, like on most other hondas.

if anyone else has some ideas, please keep them comming.

 

any more ideas? thanks guys.

 

you said that you tested the fuel pressure. did you test to see if the injectors are firing. try putting some gas down the TB if it runs for a second then you can pinpoint it to the fuel system

 

getting atleast 40 psi, fpr is pre set for 43.5 psi.
all cylinders are fouling the plugs and also firing in each cylinder also.
it almost seems to be that the timing is still off.

 

The timing is not hard to do. You're getting it wrong somewhere, download a helms manual somewhere and double check crank timing, cam timing, making sure it's in sync, and making sure the dist. is on right.

 

with the stock pullys on, the timing marks line up perfectly. nothing changes with rotation of the motor, so thats good. i have been to busy with work to make it to my buddies house to check the rotor yet. i will check grounds again, rotor placement and check compression. do you think gapping the plugs a little bit closer might help? they are gapped at the stock .042 right now.