I've got an 86 Civic Si which I recently did a head job on. When I put the timing light on it I couldn't get it to set at the 12 degrees posted on the hood/manual. The most I could advance the timing to was approx. 9 degrees. Everything seems to be okay and the car runs pretty good with the timing at 9, but I live in Cali so I don't think Im going to pass my smog check(test only). Ive triple checked my timing marks(cam and crank) and they are spot on.

While looking at the service manual on RPR, I saw the description of the two vacuum lines running to the distributor advance diaphragm. At idle there is supposed to be no vacuum coming from either line(lines 2 & 5). The line, I believe #2, from the intake manifold to the inner port on the advance diaphragm has vacuum at all times. I was wondering if this was a misprint from Honda because I would suspect there would be vacuum at all times from a nipple on the intake manifold after the throttle body, unless there is supposed to be a check valve between but I dont see one in any diagrams ive seen. Vacuum line 5 which runs from thermovalve B seems to be running good and applies vacuum when the throttle is applied.

I just looked at the head again and noticed the cam gear has three holes in it and this does not match the ones listed in the manual. Im not sure if this would cause the timing to be this off because the t-belt fits on it perfectly and the lines on the gear line up with the top of the head. When I did the head job, the machine shop only resurfaced the head so I dont think a lot of material was taken off to affect the timing/cam to crank relationship. Slotting the distributor is not an option.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

I think they mean that you need to remove the vacuum lines to the distributor when you go to time it.

 

In the manual, it tells you to check for vacuum from the two lines, reconnect them to the distributor then hook up the timing light and check the timing.

 

Why dont you find another manual from a different company and do a cross reference? Its tough to know because they are all different

 

Well it was the official Honda manual....

 

The Honda factory manual and the CARB both say you must keep the vacuum lines connected when timing that car.

As for your timing problem, your cam timing is off. Make sure the key in both the cam gear and the crank pulley are at "12 o'clock."

Scott

 

Uh, I think I stated in the first post that I checked the timing marks and even took off the timing belt to check all the marks. I also rotated the crank numerous times to make sure the marks were on( Yes, rotated counter-clockwise) Don't mean to get snooty but I tried to describe all the things I did in the original post. That is why I was curious about the cam gear itself. From the pictures Ive seen, the gear looks similar to the one used on the dohc d16(86-87 integra) and not like the one pictured in the service manual.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ej14life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Don't mean to get snooty</TD></TR></TABLE>

I accept your apology. However I susspect that you timing is still off. Did you shave the head? That throws timing off by about 4 degrees of cam timing. You will need to use an adjustable cam gear to correct that situation.

Scott

 

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

I accept your apology. However I susspect that you timing is still off. Did you shave the head? That throws timing off by about 4 degrees of cam timing. You will need to use an adjustable cam gear to correct that situation.

Scott
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That might be it, I remember the machine shop told me the surface of the head was pretty worn because whoever did the head job before possibly used a belt sander so they might have had to take a lot off the surface.

Do you know who makes an adjustable cam gear for the single cam engine?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ej14life &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Do you know who makes an adjustable cam gear for the single cam engine?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, I do. And you could know also if you did the smallest amount of searching on Google.

Here's a tip, the EW4 aka D15A3 uses the same cam gear as the 1990 USDM Accord.

Scott