hey wassup everybody, i got a problem and need some help. i recently installed new valves, valve stems, type r dual springs and retainers, and skunk2 stage 1 cams and cam gears. i made sure everything was installed properly and cam gears are at tdc; but when i drove the car around, the car was slower than my stock 91 ls. so i figured it was ignition timing and advanced it a little bit which made it a lil faster, but my vtec was hitting at 5k instead of the usual 4.5k. so i advanced it all the way and it drove a lot faster and vtec hit at 4.5k; but it still isnt as fast as it was before i installed all of these parts...and yes im just using my handy butt dyno. any help, info, opinions, and ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance and sorry bout the novel.

oh yea, i just barely passed a smog test and i have high levels of HC (unburnt fuel) so maybe there is something related to all of this. thanks again

 

Your mechanical timing is out of wack and you need a good dyno tune/engine managment system along with some adjustable cam gears.

 

You are loosing compression from installing valves and not lapping them in correctly.
Now you have leaks between the valve and valve seat. 150.00 lesson. 50.00 head gasket, 100.00 for valve job and some fluids and lost time.
thats my guess.

 

Adjust the valve lash and perform a compression test. Make sure that the cam timing is correct. How did you find TDC?

 

thanks for the replies.
1. yea i figured i would need to tune it and i have skunk2 adj cam gears.
2. i tried lapping the valves with valve lapping compound before i installed them but i guess i prolly didnt do it right
3. i did a valve lash adjustment after i installed everything but i will check it again after i do a compression test. the cam gears are at 0 degrees meaning i didnt adjust them at all.
thanks a lot. i will post compression test results and if anyone else has any other thoughts, please let me know.

 

Mess with your cam timing and see if that helps, try advancing each one a couple degrees. There is no way to really tell where they should be untill you get on a dyno tho.

 

i just did a compression test:
cylinders
1) 225
2) 225
3) 227
4) 235

and ill prolly hit the dyno tune sometime soon

 

so does anyone know what the causes for my high levels of hc are?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTEC_Du_Ma_Mai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just did a compression test:
cylinders
1) 225
2) 225
3) 227
4) 235

and ill prolly hit the dyno tune sometime soon</TD></TR></TABLE>

Those are good numbers.
Check or change your spark plugs and wires. Maybe gap is off or not firing fully.

Is your ecu chipped?
Wideband, crome and a dyno or street tuning would get your A/F ratio better. Maybe just adding too much gas and can't burn all of it.

 

the spark plugs are all in good shape right now but maybe not the wires, i dunno. but it is a stock ecu and im prolly gonna get it tuned after i install a blox manifold and type r ecu. thanks a lot

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTEC_Du_Ma_Mai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im prolly gonna get it tuned after i install a blox manifold and type r ecu. thanks a lot</TD></TR></TABLE>

FYI: you cannot easily tune an ITR ECU as they are OBDII. The compression numbers looked fine. The VTEC point should not change unless you tune or bypass the ECU. Check your O2 sensor and change for the HC. I assume that you recently changed the oil.

 

junk the type R ecu.. ur car is slow because it also bogs out at 4,500 rpms.. u need to raise that vtec xover with those cams

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

FYI: you cannot easily tune an ITR ECU as they are OBDII. The compression numbers looked fine. The VTEC point should not change unless you tune or bypass the ECU. Check your O2 sensor and change for the HC. I assume that you recently changed the oil.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea i have heard that its hard to tune obdII but my stock ecu is obdII, and i want the type r ecu so that there is no check engine light from running the blox manifold. i know the vtec shouldnt change but me and my friend tested it out twice and it was hitting at 5k from 1st-3rd gear, then when i advanced it all the way, it hit at 4.5. and how do i know if my o2 sensor is bad?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DC2SiR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">junk the type R ecu.. ur car is slow because it also bogs out at 4,500 rpms.. u need to raise that vtec xover with those cams</TD></TR></TABLE>

what do you mean bogs out at 4,500.

 

oh yea, im not planning to tune the ecu. i just want to get the cam gears adjusted and have them mess with my vafc to get better a/f ratio.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by VTEC_Du_Ma_Mai &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yea i have heard that its hard to tune obdII but my stock ecu is obdII, and i want the type r ecu so that there is no check engine light from running the blox manifold. i know the vtec shouldnt change but me and my friend tested it out twice and it was hitting at 5k from 1st-3rd gear, then when i advanced it all the way, it hit at 4.5. and how do i know if my o2 sensor is bad?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Removing the IAB by switching to a Blox manifold will not cause a CEL.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Removing the IAB by switching to a Blox manifold will not cause a CEL.</TD></TR></TABLE>

oh really? i heard from someone that it did. i guess i wont need the type r ecu. thanks. and how do i check if my o2 sensor is bad?

 

Unless the O2 sensor is damaged to the point of reading an open circuit, there usually isn't a way to tell that it is bad besides the car runs rich and the fuel economy suffers. (You could verify the reading with a widebad sensor.) Your high HC is an indicator for a faulty O2 sensor.

The IAB has no feedback mechanism for the ECU. It is simply a blind switch.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dogginator &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Unless the O2 sensor is damaged to the point of reading an open circuit, there usually isn't a way to tell that it is bad besides the car runs rich and the fuel economy suffers. (You could verify the reading with a widebad sensor.) Your high HC is an indicator for a faulty O2 sensor.

The IAB has no feedback mechanism for the ECU. It is simply a blind switch.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks a lot for your input, i really needed this info