Ok guys, hopefully somebody here can help me out. Been working on my 91 lx to zc swap for a few months, bout a month ago i finally finished it all up, or so i thought. Car is 91 LX sedan, with stock trans & torque converter, and swapped dohc zc. As soon as i started it up i could tell something was wrong, besides the fact i paid way too fn much for it. (Stay away from TigerJapanese, IMHO) But anyways, i had to wait for a downpipe and such cause it didn't come with it, got it all put on, and when i try to start it...1. it takes about 10 secs to kick, sometimes more..2. Only CEL is the dizzy, which looks fine, but i know the engine was pressure washed before shipping, so who knows....3. I started it a few times, my dad who is a mechanic for mopar came over and when i started it that time, a puff of white metallic smelling smoke came out, somewhere what looked between the firewall and trans...4. Revs jump on start, i've tried reversing the tps wires and back, no luck....5. the one i really just don't get, is it sounds as if it has a blown headgasket, loud clanky like, it's not a blown gasket though, oil is absolutely clean, coolant as well, and absolutely nothing in the oil pan cept a couple tiny washers and o-ring which wouldn't have come from the bottom end (probly someone took it off before and left something in it, i dunno). I've checked the rotating assembly and all looks fine, nuts & bolts are secure, rods look straight and true, and the whole thing turns just lovely, not a single snag. Conditions of bearings are unknown, but shouldn't sound like that...should it? There is some carbon build up on the piston tops, and valves i'm sure, haven't taken the head off or anything yet, trying to avoid it for the meantime. Wiring should be good, i used the zcr.com's and a couple other sites diagrams, they were all the same, just checked others out for verification. Only thing i can really think that might be wrong is the gauge wiring i used, rather big, more what you'd use for grounds and such, bigger/fewer copper wires inside. My dad along with a couple other people i know said the dizzy or timing shouldn't have caused that sound. Which timing looks good, i left it how it got shipped to me, all marks line up. Any ideas guys? I don't know what the H is going on, makes no sense to me, but any help would be awesome. Thanks...p.s. i have most of my old engine still, block is junk (threw a rod) but everything else is good, if anybody needs anything i'll consider ANY offer. I'll let stuff go for the price of dirt + shipping.

 

wow that's a read. best thing i can say is post a video?

 

Seriously?....Everyone's always saying be specific, i just wrote a book of a diagnosis, and you say post a vid? WTF!!!!! LOL Video isn't an option, as of now, the oil pan and exhaust is off, along with the dizzy and valve cover, and i don't plan on putting them back on till i've changed something.

 

Well a video could help identify the clanking sounds. Try putting a long screwdriver handle (or similar) snugly to your ear and place the tip on different parts of the engine as its running, this has helped me narrow down what could be making sounds in engines before.

 

You consider your ramblings a diagnosis? Sounds like your engine is fubar, loud clanky noise and washers in the oil pan are never a good sign. .

 

HAHAHA, ramblings? I've yet to see anyone put that much effort into what is exactly going on with their motor. Motor is not fubar, and there are no small washers in the bottom end of the engine, thus, they did NOT come from anywhere inside the engine, rotating assembly is fine, cylinder walls are fine, and head is fine...so tell me how that's fubar? If ignorance is bliss, you're the happiest **** on the planet.

 

I just don't really want to run the engine if i don't have to. Nothing really seemed loose, only thing i can figure is a bearing failure or ring failure, in which case i don't want to run it at all. Like i said though, it sounds kinda like a blown head gasket, yet it's not. Sounds kinda like a lifter tick in the bottom end (know that sounds strange), that's coming through a blown gasket, mainly just cause of the loudness of it. At first i started the engine without the downpipe on to see if it'd start, so it was so loud i couldn't tell sht, i suppose though, the amount of noise could be due to bad seal somewhere around the manifold? Which would lead me back to the ticking, and high rev problem, which i really don't understand because everywhere i've read says check tps, and make sure eacv and everything have the right plugs in em, which they do.

 

How is the rotating assembly fine if you think you have a bearing failure? Cylinder walls aren't normally fine when you have a ring failure either. Just sayin. Not trying to start anything, but the only way people on a forum can help you with a noise is if you currently have the car running and tell us exactly what you hear, or make a video.

So start over, you started the motor up and what kind of noise did you hear? high pitch tapping, low pitch knocking or something else. Did the motor idle ok or was it skipping?

 

The motor at startup jumped revs quickly, checked my tps, reversed the wires and back, made sure all connectors are in the right spot by wire color checks. It was a relatively low pitch knock, the rotating assembly though, rotates smoothly, rods are perfectly straight, and leads me to even if there is bearing failure, at this point it's probably minor and crankshaft repairable. For the rings and walls, all seems smooth, even if scratched, it's probably not bad either, so i could have it bored and honed, planning on some nippon pistons anyway so i'd have to have it bored/honed. Like i said, last time i started it i saw a puff of white metallic smelling smoke somewhere behind the trans. And again, sounded like a blown head gasket, which is rather strange for me, never heard that without it actually being that. Which leads me to the possiblity of bad header or downpipe seal on the gaskets. Having said that, would be louder than normal, so the knocking might not be as bad as it seems. I just don't understand why it would have that knock to begin with. I don't believe it's anything to do with the head, it sounded like it was a bottom end knock not a top end tap or ping. But if everything rotates fine, shows no signs of loose anything, then where could it come from. One possiblity, but nobody has been able to confirm for me, is if the dizzy or injector wiring would cause this due to lack of combustion, only problem with that theory is though, after i ran it last time, i took out the spark plugs, looked at my piston tops, what i could see at least, and there was really no unburnt fuel just sitting, there was tons of carbon build up and the new plugs were black. Bout as best as i can describe. And i did forget to mention, the company i bought the motor from, supposedly compression and leak down tests all their engines, in which case the rings should be ok, and everything serviceable, just leaving the bearings and wiring open to be the cause...theoretically...but then again lots of companies say lots of things lol.

 

let me ask you this question, you did a dohc zc swap, in a 91 lx civic sedan, btw which is factory dual point fuel injection. IS this car properly MPFI converted and is it still obd0? what year dohc zc engine did you purchase? we need pics and information on said engine and car referring to what i just asked. what ecu, what dizzy, injectors, so on and so forth.

there is a lot of information still needed to diagnose what the problem could be. could be simple wiring believe it or not(my case).

 

still obdo, 88-91 civic/crx zc, not sure exactly what year...ran the injector wires as directed on the zcr site, as well as others, injector resistor box is properly hooked up as obdo requires. pg7 auto ecu, stock lx auto trans & converter, it's the tdo3u dizzy, not sure on injectors, i can tell you they are oem, that's about it. ecu was sending off dizzy code, but i think that had more to do with the cap that had a hole in it, replacing entire unit regardless though. as i said earlier though, i know the wires i ran were too big a gauge for what is needed and will be re-ran, kinda hooked it up that way mainly to make sure the engine started. When i had the old engine out, i checked all wiring throughout the engine bay, cleaned what needed it, and re-wrapped all the looms and all wiring with electrical tape. i used the cut and splice method on the ecu wiring, ran crank angle sensor as directed, heat shrinking all but injector splices, but they were well connected and taped up. like i said i'm gonna re run those wires so no biggie. other than that, did the wiring extensions the the eacv and tps, extended a couple others for a little better fit. i made sure and topped off all fluids, first couple times i cranked it over i refilled what was necessary. i tried to do pretty much everything by the book, with the exception of the gauge wire. when i first turned the key over for the first time some fuel sprayed from the fuel rail, couple injector top seals were dried out and didn't seal right so i replaced all of em.