Ok guys first i will tell you about my setup and then the symptoms.

B18a1 block with 81.5mm b16 pistons
ARP head studs, rod bolts, and main bolts
itr oil pump
new water pump
golden eagle headgasket (2 layer) - middle layer was removed
97 itr head with toda dual valve springs and ferrera retainers
skunk2 pro2 cams
Buddy club cam gears set to intake +2 exhaust +6
skunk2 intake manifold
68mm throttle body

Got the car running tonight and of course it wouldn't idle but it was ticking on the timing belt side of the motor.. noise softened when it was revved to around 2 thousand rpm.. I took it down the road and it felt ok on the way down but i could hear the noise louder and then on the way back power droped a little and it started to sound like it had a blown head gasket.. though it could have just been the cams.

It currently still starts and it will run but still has the loud valvetrain noise from that timing belt side (almost by the cam gears).

Any help is greatly appreciated. I will be trying a set of ctr cams tomorrow to see what it runs like and i will post my results tomorrow night.

 

i used a compression calculator and my compression currently is 12.33 : 1

i think there is something definitely hitting something

 

were the cams degreed?
what are you using for engine management?

 

Did you modify the valve reliefs on those pistons at all?

I was under the impression that stock type pistons do not have enough valve relief for those level cams . .

I could be wrong though

 

i did not mod the reliefs. and as for degreeing i did not do that either, i assumed it would be fine since it was in time and i checked around to see what everyone else had set the cam gears at for similar setups... if i bent something its no big deal because i have a donor head with perfect internals.. but i need to know should i ditch the pro2s and go with something more mild? and i would ask how to properly degree cams but thats when everyone would tell me to use the search button lol... trust me ive looked up degreeing cams and i dont understand any of it. thanks for the help guys. lmk what you think

 

oh and my engine management is hondata s100 but it is the tune from my last setup not a basemap for this setup

 

you need to properly check clearances before going further.
p2v, v2v

degree in the cams


if you want to check if you messed something up now. your valve lash may give you some hints of problems. Also a leak down test.

but honestly your going about this backwards. need to go back to the engine building part.

m.


Modified by marcin at 7:13 PM 8/21/2008

 

appreciate the guidance. i think im good on v2v clearance cuz i read up quite a bit about that but im wondering if this head i got has been milled. i may not have enough p2v clearance even if it hasnt been milled.

 

Pull the plugs out and use a flash light to look down the cylinder and see if you can see any hits on the piston.

Thats if you want to do it the half assed way. . haha

I would take the head off and look at the pistons first thing.

Other than that - Pro series cams run like **** when not degreed in and left at 0,0.

You cant expect a cam like that to run right just thrown in. HP is more precise than that.

I also dont think you can base where to leave your cam gears at by reading other peoples builds. every motor is different.

Don't ruin all your hardwork and money over pride my friend . .

 

ok guys great news... turns out it jumped time and thats all.. just to be on the safe side i put in the ctrs and it runs perfect.. im going to do some more reading before i attempt the pro2s again. thanks for all the info and advice guys