Ok, here's the story: I have a 1992 Honda Civic DX hatchback that was previously an automatic. It has a regular D15b7 auto engine from HMO. Now, I had recently sold a motor swap and got his old engine, the CX's Z1 engine and transmission, for free since he was going to throw it away. I was going to use it for spare parts just in case. The head I had bought was a D16Z6 head that had recently been cleaned out, new valves, head work, etc. It didn't had the cam gear on it but came with it and a new cam seal.
The transmission swap isn't the problem (I think) but it seems like the head swapping is giving me the worst time. We bought a Z6 timing belt for the head, new spark plug and wires, pulled out the little oil jet between cylinder #2 & #3, new headgasket. Slapped it all on

On our first time, we attempted to fire it up, along with making sure everything being timed correctly, it was a weakish, boggy, none-idling start. The only time it would run was when I gave it a little gas... and if I stopped, the engine stopped. It misfired every couple of seconds as well. Alright, we checked everything again to make sure it was connected. On our second attempt, it stayed on for a little while, idling so bad and so crappy... and when giving it gas, seemed to max out before it hit 4k on the RPMs. Not even 5 minutes, it bit the dust. Oh, and this was late at time so we went to sleep right after.

The next day, left it the way it was and tried starting it again. This time no go. Just hear the starter turning, trying to crank with the smell of coolant fuming around... so took off the head, double checked everything and looked on timing. It wasn't at TDC no more so had to fix that. The starter was trying to fire and click on but no go. Then it did the same thing that one night and stayed on for a little bit but then heard a snap or something. So I turned off the engine. I got out, saw timing was off again, and tried to fix it.. again. Now it won't crank or anything, at all.

Before, if I gave it some gas and you'd at least hear it trying... but now the starter is just turning and turning. I think the engine is dead... I give up, I don't know what to do now. Can any of you guys give some suggestions??? Oh, I'm led to suspicion it could be involved with timing. The tensioner was fine when tightened/inspected but it was off TDC after every attempt to crank. Also, I'm not sure is there some woodruff key or something that goes on the cam gear to the head? The cam gear had a slit of metal on it but maybe there's something else... the B7 head looked similar but when I look in the service manual, it says there's a key or something that helps hold it in place.

Please guys, help me out. The car isn't giving me anything anymore. I felt like I loss and the motor just gave up.

 

Someone please help!!!

 

so did you figure it out?

 

Nope. After some assistance from D-series, I'm going to have to say it has to do with timing. The Z6 belt is waaaay too loose, even with a Y7/8 cam gear. Even so, it <U>seems</U> as if my motor has no compression so it could go beyond timing now. I'm going to break the motor down on Wednesday or whenever I get a chance and check out the bottom end. The head is fresh, new valve seats, valves, etc., new spark plugs, wires, HG; basically anything but the bottom end. But even so, I been looking for a cheap D-series motor ever since this problem arose.