I just finished swapping in a sohc zc into my hf, it's mated with an si transmission.

Yesterday it jump started just fine, it idled for about two hours then i drove it around the neighborhood. Last night i tried to (jump)start it and it sounds like the starter is turning the flywheel a little and then just grinding against it. Today i had my wife try to start it and it's cranking slow and it sounds like something is grinding/rattling around in the starter/flywheel/transmission area. I pushed it down the driveway and into the street and had my wife bump start it, it made the same noise and didn't start.

I swapped starters - that didn't work. I got the same noise.
I checked the spark plugs to see if they were damaged, they're fine.
I emptied the engine oil and there were no metal shavings.
I emptied the transmission fluid and there were no metal shavings.

The car sounds like it wants to start for a split second and then the grinding/rattling starts. i don't think it's the engine.

Why would the car start and run one day, and then 5 hours later not start at all? Anyone else have this problem? Any ideas?

 

It appears that I'm a stupid piece of crap.

I took the valve cover off and turned the crank by hand and the timing is off about halfway between the 3 lines on the pulley and the white line. After that i tried to loosen the tensioner bolt and it moved very easily . About Half the rocker arms don't move when i crank it by hand.

Is a moron like myself able to fix the head? is it even worth it? easier to buy a used one?

can i use a dx head? if i can, do i use the same timing belt?

 

So the car was running fine? Why did the timing jump? You should 100% rule out that you've bent valves before swapping the heads.

Use a DX head with your ZC cam. Use the same belt that's designed for the head (so, DX).

 

yes the car ran for one day just fine. i have no idea why the timing jumped, but the tensioner bolt wasn't very tight, it was tight just not as tight as i think it should have been. Maybe it didn't tighten the timing belt enough when i put it on.

Why would the rocker arms not move (at all) when i crank it by hand? It must be a bent valve right?

Is it easy to replace valves? i replaced the bearings in my transmission with just hand tools so i'm not a total moron.