Ever since I got my JDM B18C running and got the timing and everything adjusted to either 16-18 degrees I noticed that my distributor is further advanced than my friends cars. Also I recently did a timing belt replacement on my engine and noticed that the marks on the cam sprockets didnt exactly line up when the mark on the crank pulley was lined up for TDC and my friend noticed it to. Im sure someone else has had this happen before as well and I just would like an explanation. My car runs fine no problems just wanted to know if its a slight flaw in some B18Cs or what.

Oh before I forget my engine is bone stock other than a Blox intake mani, header, and I have a chipped P28 running everything.


Here are some pics of the problem that I just took









Modified by ringgold at 12:42 PM 9/9/2005


Modified by ringgold at 5:24 PM 9/9/2005

 

when you set the timing in your car, there is a base timing connector on the driver side strut tower. without this being gounded out, the car may not make base timing, or maybe your t-belt is off a tooth. or if you have any check engine lights, the ecu may be in limp mode not making full timing. it could be a bunch of different things. hope this helps

 

Ehh dont think anything is wrong with the car Im positive that the belt isnt off a tooth because it did it with the stock belt on there. As far as jumping the connector for timing I always do that its in a 92 DX hatch by the way. No CEL's car runs awesome has plenty of power even up here at 5500' or more above sea level. Right now the timing is set to 16 degrees and the distributor is way further advanced than my friends JDM B18C and his timing is set at the same place. Im not really worried about it just wanted an explanation basically

 

is the distributor from the jdm b18c? maybe its like a gsr dizzy on a itr head or somethin i dunno.

 

Its a P72-2 head so thats a GSR head and as far as I know the distributor is the stock one that came on that engine in Japan unless it has been modded or worked on at some point in Japan. The only other thing that I can think of right off would be there is a flaw or something in one of the cams or something. Because remember the cam sprockets didnt exactly line up when the crank pulley was set at TDC. The little lines on the sprockets were not exactly straight across when everything was lined up.

 

so its a jdm gsr swap. yeah maybe theres a flaw in the intake camshaft if in fact everything is running right. like you said prolly nothing to be concerned about though

 

Yeah Im thinking there is a small flaw somewhere on that engine and my friend that is an Acura tech found it rather odd as well but my car is fine and the engine runs strong.

Anyone else ever ran into anything like this? if so let me know what you found out about it or if you know what causes it.

 

anyone else got any ideas?

 

since the dist is driven of the intake cam, if isnt zeroed maybe its advanced 1 tooth then the distributor wil have to be advanced to get your base timing back to 16. kind of like having a adjustable cam gear. it could be that your engine would actually run better with the intake cam advanced so the car might feel fine. i have never see a cam gear or timing mark off myself so personally i doubt it but i guess anything is possible.

 

Yeah the cam sprocket marks arent a tooth off but they are not exactly straight across either when the engine is at TDC and everything is lined up. But like I said the engine runs fine so its not hurting anything.

I may go out and look at it again here in a little while and see if it is actually a tooth off on the intake cam.

 

Well I just looked at the marks on the cam sprockets and they are not lined up when the engine is supposed to be at TDC. After looking at it closer it may be a tooth off on the intake cam side. Im gonna see if I can set it to where it needs to be and see what happens from there


Modified by ringgold at 5:08 PM 9/9/2005

 

you'd know if it was off a tooth, the motor would idle rough.

most likely the distributor is just worn. try swapping distributors with your friend and see what the position of it is after you retime it.

 

has the head or block been milled down?

 

What would the distributor being worn have to do with how far it is advanced. I personally have never heard that before.

Im not sure if the head or block has been milled. If it was it was milled in Japan I guess.

Would having some kind of different cam in there cause this?

 

bump cause I just posted some pics

 

ur timing is dead on, ur just not looking at the crank from the right angle. set the marks on the cam gears dead even, and then look at the crank. if you line ur eyes up with the indicator, you'll notice the mark on the crank is directly behind it.

the bearings in the distributor wearing out can cause timing flucuations to occur.

 

So in those pics it looks like my timing is dead on? It just seems that my distributor is way more advanced than 2 of my friends B18C distributors. Im not really worried about it I just wanted and explanation for why mine is like that and theirs isnt. Both of my friends cars the timing is set right as well.

I just went out and set the marks on the cam gears dead even and the mark on the crank pulley was not lined up with the indicator on the timing cover.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ringgold &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anyone else got any ideas?</TD></TR></TABLE>

A buddy of mine also has a JDM GSR swap and the cam gears are off like that on his engine as well. So I don't think there's a problem, we recently swapped in my old ITR cams and there's no way the belt is a tooth off, as we tried to hook it up differently and this was as close as we got it. If the engine runs strong as it should don't worry about it.

 

Thanks man Im not to worried about it just wanted to find the culprit for this small problem.

 

I am running a jdm b16 dizzy on my usdm gsr head and my dizzy looks similar to yours (way advanced), but after checking my timing today it was only at 10 deg ! (I eyeballed it at what I thought was 16)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by X2BOARD &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am running a jdm b16 dizzy on my usdm gsr head and my dizzy looks similar to yours (way advanced), but after checking my timing today it was only at 10 deg ! (I eyeballed it at what I thought was 16)</TD></TR></TABLE>


Thats no good dude. Get the timing up to about 16 or 18 and pick up a few HP

 

from the pictures you posted it looks to me like if you moved the crank pulley a little bit more counter clockwise it would line up with the TDC mark for the pulley and that would bring your timing marks together on the cams. maybe your lokin at it wrong.

have you tried looking at the engine while running with a timing light with advance??? if you set it to 0 then look at the cam gears while the engines running and they line up then they are for sure lined up correctly if they ARENT then you can also figure out how much you are off by advancing the gun till they line up.

ALSO you arent running a chipped ecu or sumthing are you? a non stock program might have higher base timing than stock at idle.

 

Im running a chipped P28 in my car and thought that may have had something to do with it.

In that pic the indicator is directly lined up with the white TDC mark on the pulley. Its just not that good of a pic and I didnt get the right angle over the indicator to show that its directly lined up. If I turn the crank anymore counterclockwise to line up the marks on the cam sprockets then the white mark on the crank pulley is about an 1/8" away from the indicator thus not being directly lined up and I should have taken a pic of it that way as well but didnt

As far as actually pointing the timing light at the cam sprockets instead of the crank pulley I havent done that but it sounds like a cool idea. Im gonna have to try that one day. But wait the timing light isnt gonna flash at the marks on the cam gears unless the timing is way retarded right or is that what you mean by setting it to 0?

 

there's no problems the JDM motors all have higher compression run a higher octane gas and are in generally cooler climates that setting is factory. I had mine fully advanced for my dyno tuning and my motor made excellent power with no problems driving it around

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by e9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there's no problems the JDM motors all have higher compression run a higher octane gas and are in generally cooler climates that setting is factory. I had mine fully advanced for my dyno tuning and my motor made excellent power with no problems driving it around</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well that depends on how good your gas is.... 91 octane and you can't just jam the base timing.