Hey guys I am doing my first motor swap and I replaced the timing belt/water pump before I installed the new motor.

The timing belt was tight, I kept the white line on the crank pulley lined up with the guide while I installed it on the cam gear which was also at TDC.

I went to start the car the first time, cranked a few seconds then there was a loud pop sound. It kind of sounded like an exaggerated spark plug wire being pulled out.

Now the timing belt is a little loose. I am gonna open it hopefully today to see if I can see anything with the timing belt. Looking back in the haynes manual I did not have the crank pulley key lined up with the oil pump to begin with.... I really hope I did not bend valves/damage my head.

I will report back what I find with the timing belt...

 

did u mess with the dizzy? when i swapped mine i replaced the dizzy but stabbed it in backwards lol. might not be ur problem but just a suggestion

 

yeah that is definitely a possibility. I will check that too, but regardless the timing belt is now loose.

 

Just line everything back up and hope that everything lines up as it should. The crank pulley can only go on the crank one way, so as long as the mark was lined up with the bottom timing case then it should be fine. It's sometimes difficult however to line the cam gear up with the head properly. Also make sure your tensioner is tight.

 

Being my first time it looks like I had several different problems at least.

I did have the spark plugs in the wrong order on the distributor cap.

It looks like I did not tighten down the timing belt tensioner properly. Thankfully it was still lined up to tdc so that means I did not skip a tooth on the belt right?

I spun the crank 5-6 times, loosened the tensioner, and tightened it back up again.

I am having a horrible time getting my torque wrench down there to tighten the tensioner... do people just guess at how tight it is?


I will put it all back together tomorrow and we'll see if it starts!

 

I guessed. Just make sure it's firm.

Why did you remove the spark plug wires from the distributor? I know you have to remove them from the valve cover to remove the valve cover, but the leads themselves are different lengths, so they pretty much fall back into place when you replace the cover.

Good luck on it starting tomorrow.

 

Thanks for the advice. I changed the distributor cap because it looked pretty beat up and I had another one.

I am making all kinds of noob mistakes i guess. The alternator doesn't work now. I had it tested at schucks. It was smoking and making a burning smell.

Is it possible I hooked something up wrong?

It was working before i swapped the motor, I am reusing it.

 

Power and ground are hooked up correctly?

Meh, it's all part of learning. Atleast you're giving it a go.

 

thanks for all the advice guys, i finally had some time to work on it today. I think it is ready to go I am getting a new battery tomorrow and well see!

 

damn how hard were you shoving it in... i thought that honda dizzys were grooved a certain way so you couldn't do that... hahaha ;/
crazy

 

Verry true... and Ive lerned the hard way haha...
as far as the tensioner goes... ive always done pretty tight prolly as tight as i could go
I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT IF YOUR USING A 12 point 14mm socket i believe... make sure its a 6 point if ur going to get it xtra tight...
I have rounded the head of that bolt and was un able to un tension it...
leads to pulling the motor again and getting it out with channel locks.. cause that motor mount in in the way.
good luck man.. glad to see your doing it yourself
Im right up north from you by mountvernon so lemme know if you need a second hand

 

Thanks for the advice appreciate it. Still won't start up, it's making the loud popping sound after cranking for 2-3 seconds.

The only thing that is not hooked up (I don't know the proper name) is the vacuum hose that comes from the crank ventilation case (black box on back of block) to the intake manifold.
It came off and I can't reach it (fat hands) so I need to take off the intake manifold to get to it.

I think the noise is coming from here? Would this stop the car from turning over?

I ran out of time today and will fix it tomorrow...

 

PCV, na it wont stop the car from turning over. It's basically just emissions crap, any positive crank case air vents back into the intake.

So you've checked your timing is 100%? Still sounds like it's out man. Make sure the correct wires are going to the correct plugs, line up your crank and cam gear.

 

Like SP33 said, it still sounds like your timing is out a few degrees. When you put your dizzy in did you have to hit it to get it on? Or just give it a little shove to get it to meet with the cam?

Are you sure you have the correct firing order?

Good luck man!

 

At this point I would say its really likely it's my timing.

Timing belt is tight, white line on the crank pulley lines up with the timing belt cover guide and the cam gear is straight up.

I have double and triple checked my plug wires. I am using the OBD-0 distributor with the Y8 plugs. Does this sound right? (remember I am temporarily staying DPFI just to get it running) The D15 cap,rotor,plug wires are different than the Y8 and dont' seem to be interchangable.

The distributor was hard to put in, but I did not have to force it or hit it. Could the timing on the distributor be so off that it isn't starting? From what I can tell the top tab is lined up right down the middle.

thanks for all the advice guys really appreciate it!

 

The dizzy will only go in one way smoothly without having to straight JAM it in. You can try spinning it 180* and see if that helps. I've had that happen to my buddy when he did his MPFI swap and it slid in kinda smooth he said. I pulled the dizzy out, turned the rotor 180* and viola, it started.

 

awesome I will try that tomorrow thanks

 

If it doesn't wanna go in DON'T force it!!!

 

man I wanna go try right now so bad but this wind is crazy cold!

I sure miss my garage.

 

Man I owe you BIG time. The distributor was in backwards. It started right up and every thing seems to be running ok!

 

I charge 20 bucks, now drive to Olympia!!!

 

^ DOH! congrates, I was going to tell you the same thing, so I get $20 also..

 

No Waiiii!!! You're lies are impeccable!!!

 

hey, I spilt it with you. CLose this thread.

 

haha man I definitely owe you a beer!

It's idling really bad right now and dies after a few minutes of idling but I am sure that has something to do with the DPFI manifold. Ill mess with it tomorrow