okay this might be kinda long i just feel i need to get all the info in here for the best help

i bought a 89 civic si with a b16a swap it ran rough when i bought it had a slight miss when keeping revs between 2500-3500 under no load car felt fine driving vtec did not hit and it redlined at like 6500 and it was running horribly rich

well i checked the wiring for vtec and everything was fine the speedo works and i replaced the vtec oil presure sensor still redlined at 6500 so i assumed vtec wasnt popping well i got the apexi v-afc which i can manually control vtec with and after that it was popping vtec but still redlined at 7500 i tested my ecu in my buddies car (91 si b16a1) and it let him reach 8800 before it would redline so im still confused there but i tweeked the distributor a bit and it seemed to be running better not so rich so i thought it was ready for a turbo stupid me so i put on a turbo and now its running real rich again and it would rev up to about 4k rpm hit about 3psi of boost then misfire and backfire real bad loose all power and will not go past 4k rpm i bought a timing light and set the timing but i found the timing marks on the pully and those should be pointing straight up when the timing light goes off right? well they stay about 20-30 degrees toward the front of the car even with the distributor turned as much as it will go when i set the timing it seemed to help a little bit but not much now it will go to about 5000 rpm about 5psi of boost and misfire and backfire real bad therefore i think its something with the timing but just have no clue at this point

any help at all would be much appreciated thanks for reading over it and if you need any more info just ask

 

ok u should reset your ecu and after 5 min put it back together then crank and let it sit for 15 min without any throttle then shoot your timing then adjust it, also look into your rotor off the dizzy and the points if theyre hitting and also check your plugs for spark too just a start for it, and did vtec pop on your buddies ride?

 

are you even running any kind of engine management?? do you have a wideband to watch your afr?

you can't just bolt on a turbo and go

and stop moving your distributor around all ***** nilly. you can't just retard the timing a bit and be good to go. the timing wont change unless you jump the service connector anyway.

 

Good call on shorting the connector where would that be on an obd0 car anyhow and as for engine managment yes I have everything needed to chip my ecu burn roms and check for afr never tuned obd0 before but doesn't look too much different then tuning my obd1 b18c1 and obviously I know you can't just retard timing and go but I'm not worried about that I'm saying that when I try to set my timing proper it won't set up for me like I think it should and like it does on my b18 as for tuning I can't really tune right without getting this damn problem solved stock tune should be okay to start playing around with afr and getting it all tuned out atleast that is how I have tuned other cars and like I said they are obd1 so correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't the stock tune be good enough on 5psi to start some datalogging and tune it from there or should I mess around with the maps and lean it out because it seems to be running rich throughout until it hits the point that it bogs down and I want to keep it rich until I get some dyno time to really get to tune it idk I'm not stupid I'm just stumped is all lol help and yes vtec hits harder then a **** in my buds car with my ecu

 

since you have an 89 it should be located on the driverside shock tower in the engine bay. if not there then check by the passenger footwell near the kick panel. its just a 2 pin connector that plugs into nothing.

so are you like using turboedit? is the tune you are using atleast compensating for whatever injector size you are using? you then say stock tune so it makes me think you are just trying to run it with the stock b16 ecu. if so, that ecu will not run the engine properly with anything larger or smaller than the stock 240cc injectors. maybe that's what you have in there now, i dunno. you'll have to clarify some things.

 

Yeah sorry I tryed to get all the details in there but I am using completely stock b16a stock injectors and I was told that the injectors should be fine because all I'm trying to get is 220 horsepower tops I'm really trying to stay low with boost and ecu is completely stock too from what I can tell although it does have spoon on it written in sharpie and like I said it allowed my buddy to go to like 8800 or 9000 before it redlined so in essence it's a stock motor hitting 5 psi which should be fine to start tuning with I would think but I guess not??? Who knows please help idk why it won't go past 5k rpm because till it hits that 5k it runs good and pulls really strong then all of a sudden it looses it

 

Okay I've tryed resetting my ecu shorting that connector and did the timing none of that really helped really needing some help on this one guys please and thanks for all the replies so far really appreciate it

 

stock injectors will definitely not be capable of 220. highly recommend getting some 440's. the reason it craps out at 5k is probably the injectors maxing out and/or stock fuel pump can't deliver enough fuel.

 

It's just an idea but have you checked your timing belt to see if your off a tooth? Cuz if your going all the way advanced and the timing marks are not moving that would be cause also a cause for back fire.

 

First of all thank you all for the replies really appreciate all the brains on this problem

So today I tryed driving it again and I realized that it bogs really bad mostly when it's wot because I can keep it about quarter throttle and it pulls hard and strong to almost 7000 rpm then it starts bogging but not as bad which leads me to think it is timing

 

So it bogs really bad when its hot? So it's most likely what D16SiHatch was saying a fuel issue because you have a cold temp sensor that sprays more fuel and air while your motor is cold for a warm up process then after its warm less fuel and air. The sensor is on the back of the left side of head or block cant remember. its a 2 pin connector un clip it and put a resistor in it see if that helps what it does is make the ECU think its cold all the time so it sprays more fuel and air all the time.

 

No not at all it runs the same cold or hot it's just bogging when I open the throttle all the way (wot) wide open throttle if I barely push on the gas it doesn't bog at all until like 7000 rpm then it starts bogging after that thanks for the reply though really appreciate all the help but the problem is still not fixed I'm going to take some pics that might help you all figure out what I'm doing wrong lol that will be either Friday or Saturday when I post them thanks a lot for the help

 

i already told you what was wrong with it. the stock injectors can't handle the kind of power you're trying to make. at around 150-160hp you will begin to exceed the industry standard max of 80% duty cycle on the injectors. i can almost guarantee that it's breaking up on you because you're not only passing that number, but running the injectors at 100% when you hit WOT, and they simply can't deliver any more fuel.

 

You know that would make sense to me but my buddy has had his d16z6 producing about 230 to the wheels for over a year now and his motor is stock boosted of course but stock the b16a produces 158 horsepower stock from the factory so what you are saying doesn't add up to me I guess sorry

 

Okay just in case anyone else is following with the same problem I replaced the timing belt to spec and set the timing with my timing light it fixed the problems with the car completely not running lean at all hits vtec without the vtec controller pulls hard till about 8800 then hits redline doesn't bog at all runs perfect

 

Not running rich sorry