Ok, here's the story. I bought a 1990 integra gs auto with ~120,000 on it for $250. It has a near perfect body, but the engine was blown. It had spun a rod bearing. The kid I bought it off of had disassembled most of the engine by this time and had lost a few things. I decided to buy an engine I had found for $300, rather than rebuilding the original. It was supposed to be off of a ~70,000 mile car that had been wrecked.I don't know how long it had been sitting. I swap the engine out over the course of the next few weeks and get it in without too many problems. Most of the time was waiting on parts, gaskets, and other things. I fill it up with water, tranny fluid, and oil. I try to start it and it turns over but doesn't start. I do hear a weird knocking/ slapping sound though. I checked for loose connection and grounds and found 2 weren't connected. I tried to start it again and after a sec it fired right up. The weird noise was back though. the noise sounded like it came from the #1 piston on the intake side.I let it idle for about 15 minuets thinking that maybe the oil just needed to get in everything. It didn't go away. I searched on here and a few other forums and found it was probably one of two things. One, spun rod bearing , or two, stuck/bent valve. I found that I should check compression to see if it is a valve. I did that today and got #1 128psi #2 164psi #3 153psi #4 156 psi. Those readings were on a cold engine since I didn't want to warm up the engine and possibly damage it more. The weird thing, besides #1's compression, is that the car sat for a couple days before I had a chance to work on it again, and today when turning it over for the compression test. I didn't hear the knocking sound. I put the plugs back in, plugged up the fuel pump & distributor, turned the key, and she fired right up again. the tapping sound was back though. it wasn't as nearly loud though. I turned the car back off and I called my b18 "expert". He told me to take the valve cover off and turn the engine over a few times to check for a sticky valve. I did that and didn't see anything sticking. I didn't hear the noise either though. I didn't have the spark plugs in at the moment either. I don't know if that has anything to do with the problem. I'm kinda lost on what to look for and do right now. I'm mostly a rotary engine guy. I know I'm gonna have to pull the head either way but I just want to know what to look for. I need to get this car running so I'll have a DD while working on the fd.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Robert

 

ttt

 

nobody?

 

morning bump