Okay, I JUST rebuilt the H22a4 in my prelude..

It's got:
ACL Main and Rod bearings
ACL Thrush Washers
Hastings Rings
Crower Stage 2 Cams
Crower Retainers/Valve Springs
Brand new valve seats and guides
H22A pistons
Complete balanced set.. balanced crank, rods and pistons.
Cometics head-gasket
AEM Fuel Rail and adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Manual timing-belt Tensioner Conversion
Adjustable Cam Gears
New oil pump
Base-map chip, and OBD2/OB1 conversion [P28]
And of course bolt-ons (Skunk2 Intake Manifold/Throttle Body; Full exhaust)

The car pretty much didn't want to run at initial start up, had to keep the throttle at like 1,000rpms and even then it sputtered and acted all stupid. Part of the problem I think may have been the p28 I had in it [that's chipped] because with the stock ECU the car idles but has a check engine light [the light's for a missing o2 sensor which we left out]. We noticed the car smoked at initial crank up but it smelt like fuel rather than oil and it was gray not blue.. After basically 2 hours of running I pulled the plugs, they showed no signs of oil - the car was running wayyy rich. So I adjusted the fuel pressure and checked the fluids: the oil was perfect, had a small coolant leak at first (one of the hoses wasn't on all the way). Waited a day, let everything cool off and the next day it still smoked.. at this point I figured F it and decided to start driving it around anddd of course it still smokes. I thought maybe because the fuel pressure was so high, that the gas was mixing with the oil causing it to smoke so I changed the oil.. no luck. It's been 2 days since the engines been back in the car, and slightly less than 200 BABIED miles - and when I say babied, I mean I haven't even cracked VTEC. I pulled the plugs again and checked, no oil..perfect. WTF? So I'm assuming since there's no oil on the plugs that the smoking problem isn't my rings.. maybe it's in the head? Maybe everything hasn't set in properly yet? I'm also kinda skeptical about the oil I'm running in it for break-in.. Crower Cams recommended this Straight 30 weight oil, and a 8oz container of EOS to properly break in my cams. It's Brad Penn brand and it seems legit.. but I'm thinking it's kinda thin. The car has also burned about half a quart of oil in less than 100 miles. This 30 weight has Zinc and all that good extra crap that the cams supposedly need to break in. I've always used 10-30W oil in breaking in new motors but this is also the first time I've put brand new cams in anything sooo... idk? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, because at this point I'm looking at like 15 different possibilities. Also the car hasn't been tuned yet, it's running off the stock ECU because the chipped one makes it run all funky, and no I didn't buy a chip off eBay - I brought the ECU to a dyno shop and told him what was done to the car and had him base-map chip it so I could hopefully break it in before getting it tuned.

I'm pretty much screwed, I've invested thousands in this car.. and really don't feel like throwing a few hundred more at a tune if the smoking problem continues.

And one more thing.. when I put the rings on the pistons; I made sure to go in the North, East, South, West sequence rather than having the gaps all facing one direction so there would be no blow-by.

 

are you sure the rings are in right position??(up and down side)

 

Yes. I'm positive.
And its weird because it only smokes when you let off the gas..

Besides, if it was the rings wouldn't it have oil on the sparkplugs?

 

im thinking its in your head. did you replace your valve seals upon rebuild. there just like the rings in the head. should always be replaces. when you let off the gas it creates vacuume in the cylinder. ive read it a million times but here it goes....
on acceleration=rings
on deceleration= valve seals or possibly valve guides.

 

xXJDMEKXx is right. valve seals would be on startup and idle and basically all the time. only other thing is HG or piston rings I think

 

I'm gonna check the plugs again tomorrow and get back to you guys. Everything in the head is SUPPOSED to be brand new, I damn sure paid for everything to be replaced and it's gonna get ugly if they're bad.

The weirdest thing happened with it tonight too... I was sitting at idle and turned the AC button on and on full blast defrost, the car damn near died out and the smoke was ridiculous. lol. Any ideas?

 

Do you have a wideband? You need to get a full tune. I would suggest you tow it to your tuner. Also when you set your rings you want to drive the car hard and let it coast down in gear without using the brakes. You car could be running really rich on the chip. having the tuner make you a chip without actually seeing the car and af is still a guess!

 

No, no wideband.. no gauges at all other than a fuel pressure gauge. First car I've done without because I'm a girl and I'm not really a fan of pod gauges or anything like that. lol. I guess I'm gonna get it tuned tomorrow and see how it does.. the tuner recommended not driving it, if possible until we get it tuned but as far as towing it to the tuner goes that's probably not gonna happen. if it's the head - it's coming back off and going back to the machine shop. If it's the bottom end..well.. I have an accord bottom end my head will go on just fine and it'll take boost nicely.

 

how did they tune with no WB?

 

Cool a chick that builds i'm impressed i recently just rebuild my f22a1 block with new bearings and seals and it kind of smokes just a little but not to much and the smoke is white grey no blue smoke. I went about the suggested break in method and it still kind of smokes but the thing is that the oil is still good never goes down when i'm partially beating on it for weeks now. It could be the valve seals if anything my head has had the valve seals since IDK but it could be that. I also did the piston rings 8 o clock 2 o clock 5 o clock 10 o clock but they should not be at the piston wrist pin area by no means.

 

Your tuner is correct. Do not drive the car until he/she can actually tune it. You couldve washed your rings out without knowing it. You really need a wideband when driving a car that hasnt been tuned. A basemap isnt going to get you there. Once you drastically change cam profiles and compression YOU HAVE TO TUNE IT PROPERLY. The tuner is telling you not to drive it because you are probably running really rich.

 

Op where are you located?

 

@Hondasohc: thanks (: i try.

I took it to the tuner Saturday.. it was running rich, so he adjusted the fuel. Apparently the basemap he put in my p28 was for JDM H22 injectors which are 345cc stock I think. But he couldn't do a complete tune.. the car threw a check engine light on the dyno but the p28 wasn't communicating anything with the scanner or the guys PC. lol. So we're thinking either the car has a wiring issue, orrr the ecu/ob2 to ob1 harness is no good. We put the stock computer back in it and it had a code for o2 sensor and the map sensor...both of which were disconnected (the map sensor somehow came unplugged and the clip isn't even broken) cute huh? So the next step is a continuity test and I've got a p72 lying around that I'm gonna try in it to see if it throws any codes. lol.

I did go cheap on the conversion harness.. :/ eBay special, had no idea I could get a Boomerang that's actually worth a **** for 30 dollars more. Might return that too. Hah.

BUTTT i will say, since I brought it to Scotty at Mainstream and he tweaked on it for a few hours (what he could do) and he gave me a few pointers, it has stopped smoking andd burning oil maybe things just couldn't set as rich as it was. Although it is still running a teeny bit rich since he couldn't actually tune it.

And All_Motor, I'm in Rome, GA.. any idea where that is? It's right next to west bum****. lol

 

ok Glad you got it to your tuner in time. Running that rich wouldve washed your rings out and you wouldve had to pull the motor apart. Look into picking up an afr gauge so that you can keep an eye on things.

 

I may, I've been avoiding driving it too much.. until I have time to figure out what the wiring issue is at least. Then its back to the tuner for Lola

 

where??

 

right next to west bumf*ck lol. and its Rome.. its about 1 hour and a half northwest from Atlanta (: