Just got finished rebuilding a B18C1 and i start it up and it sounds perfect, im very happy. Then as it starts to warm up, after bout 5 min of idle, the rpm drops to like 300 and it is just barely stayin alive. Now the weird thing is it never did this before and i didnt even touch anything on the head or intake manifold, just took it off and back on. Also it could just be me but it seems like the valve cover is getting unusually hot. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

did the temp guage read hot?

 

No, thats the strange part... the temp gauge was not even midway yet and the valve cover was so hot i could barely touch it without getting burnt.

 

feel the top and bottom radiator hoses with the car up to temp, see if they are both hot

 

Yes they are both hot, but the bottom one is not as hot and takes alot longer to get there... The coolant temp gauge says i am good, i just dont understand.

 

Any ideas? I really need help on this

 

is the water pump new with the rebuild? it sounds like the water pump isnt pumping.

 

yes the water pump is new

 

Did you set the base timing?