Just installed BC3+ cams in my stock B18C1 engine, ITR valvetrain, AEBS intake mani, stock intake, regular comptech 4-2-1, stock exhaust, cat, and USDM ITR ECU. Engine starts up okay, car idles perfectly, no excessive ticking noises, and the car pulls like a train in midrange between 4-6K, but there is a LOT of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Doesn't matter if the car is just warming up or if it's been idling for a long time already, the smoke won't stop coming out.

Also, under load, I can hear a slight pinging noise. Ignition timing is within spec, about 17-18º BTDC with the timing light last time i checked, but I haven't had a chance to officially check the timing since I installed the cams. I'll have to find my timing light somewhere tomorrow after work. I will probably scale it back to the lower end at around 14º until I can get a tune.

I had ITR cams yesterday and the car was running perfectly fine.

I adjusted the valves to 0.008" intake and 0.009" exhaust as recommended on Buddy Club's website. Cam gears are set to 0,0 as well. Any chance I might have missed something when I installed the cams? I've swapped out cams in this car a few times already, but I've never seen anything like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

What color is the smoke?
White-BAD
Blue-not as bad but bad
Black-to much gas, tuning will fix

 

i DO NOT see the itr valve train being able to support the bc3+ exhaust cam.

 

that noise...is it only under vtec, it might be coil bind

 

I'm pretty sure it's fuel, the smoke is definitely not white or blue.

Any way I can check for valve float easily? That might explain all the crap coming out of the exhaust.

 

you may wanna get a adjustable fpr at the very least. also you may try to retard the ignition timing 1 or 2 degrees to be safe,hopefully the pinging will stop.
you need to have it tuned. how many miles are on the valves,usually the itr's are good for the bc3's but they may be wore out

 

did you degree the cams? jw, if the valve events were out of sync that could be a definite reason for smoke.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4g hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you may wanna get a adjustable fpr at the very least. also you may try to retard the ignition timing 1 or 2 degrees to be safe,hopefully the pinging will stop.
you need to have it tuned. how many miles are on the valves,usually the itr's are good for the bc3's but they may be wore out</TD></TR></TABLE>

70K miles on the ITR exhausts (my old GSR intake valve springs) and about 5K on the ITR intake springs. If the ITR valve springs get worn out to the point where I can't run these cams safely, maybe ITR springs aren't sufficient for BC3's after all. I will be getting some portflows or something similar this week then. Thanks

 

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

70K miles on the ITR exhausts (my old GSR intake valve springs) and about 5K on the ITR intake springs. If the ITR valve springs get worn out to the point where I can't run these cams safely, maybe ITR springs aren't sufficient for BC3's after all. I will be getting some portflows or something similar this week then. Thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>
im not saying that they arent sufficient,but theres a test on here somewhere where rocket tested the type r springs and it showed that they really couldnt take much more without coilbind. with that said there are a quite a few people that do it and get away with it,its your motor and your choice if relability is a big factor. you can get a set of supertech dual valve springs for under 150$ and there great quality.
also you need to fix the pinging if its any sign of detonation,it could do your motor in before the valves do those cams have more lift and duration than the r's your ecu is mapped to run

 

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

I adjusted the valves to 0.008" intake and 0.009" exhaust as recommended on Buddy Club's website. Cam gears are set to 0,0 as well. Any chance I might have missed something when I installed the cams? I've swapped out cams in this car a few times already, but I've never seen anything like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm on +2 markings (4 degrees) on the intake cam. When my original set of BC cam gears broke, I ran on my stock cam gears and it ran crappy as hell at 5500+ RPM. After I threw on another set of adjustable cam gears and advanced to back to 4 degrees on the intake cam, it ran fine again. 4 degrees advanced is what my car was finally set to on the dyno. My tuner made a remark that that seems to be where most of the BC3+ cams like to be set to on street cars.

 

i'm been using itr valve springs with my bc3+ cams for almost 3 years now, went to the track and dynoed numerous times without any problems

 

Sounds like it needs to be tuned, and it maybe running rich don't quote me on that though. Good luck fixing it

 

I don't see how it could be running rich. Everything you've done is bringing in more air so if anything its running way lean. The stock exhaust and cat are doing nothing but choking the $hit out of your engine, so I would invest in a quality test pipe and cat back exhaust system. Then get it tuned on chrome or hondata. As for the smoke maybe the intake gasket isn't sealing properly and in is sucking in coolant from the coolant passage.

 

Update: Man I'm a expletiveing IDIOT!!!!!! That's what I get for not being patient until I got my timing gun. The 18º BTDC mark on the crank pulley must have been at least 1 WHOLE INCH to the right of the TDC notch on the timing belt plastic cover. It must have been at least 30º BTDC. I nearly had a heart attack! That definitely explains the pinging and that shitload of unburnt fuel dumping out of my tailpipe.

Just to be safe, I did a compression test, 1-4 showed 230, 215, 200, 215, and I know the exhaust valves are burnt to hell on cylinders 2 and 3 (seems to be a common problem among b-series motors, anyone else experienced this?), so I'm not surprised at the low reading there. Last time I did a comp test was 7 years ago, and it read 235-240 all the way across, so I'm guessing a rebuild may be in order within the next 1 or 2 years. But for now, the car idles fine, drives great, and there's virtually nothing coming out of the exhaust when the car is warmed up. Thanks again to everyone for your help.

Moral of the story: don't drive the car until you've checked the ignition timing, no matter how zeroed the cam gears look.

 

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

Moral of the story: don't drive the car until you've checked the ignition timing, no matter how zeroed the cam gears look.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Glad you figured things out before it got out of hand. Keep us updated once you get around to tuning it on the dyno.