I have a 91 dx hatch, just rebuilt the head, new seals, replaced head gasket. Started the car and it was smoking real bad. That cleared up ( think it was just some residual oil on the pistons and on the exhaust manifold) but the car stutters through the first few thousand elms, then springs to life around 3,000 rpms. Found my temperature sending unit bad ( left it in the head when head was milled), will be replacing today, but it seems more like it's a vacuum leak to me. Any have any suggestions? Thanks a bunch

 

Any CEL?

Not sure how much you milled the head, but it may have made the timing belt tricky.
It may now be impossible to get it 'right on' without an adjustable cam gear and now the timing belt is retarded a tooth and needs to be advanced a tooth.

 

No cel, and runs great after 3k. I was thinking it was the timing since we already adjusted it. Did find one nasty hose that plugs into the top middle of the intake manifold.