So, I spent the better part of the weekend tearing down my car to put some goodies in. 1998 Civic EX, D16Y8 now with Crower retainers, keepers and springs to handle a Skunk2 Tuner Series 2 Cam and pro series adjustable cam gear (please let's stay on the topic of my problem and not my choice of parts). Gear came shipped at roughly 4.75 degrees retarded, since it's also made to fit the Z6. Makes sense. So I fit everything in the top end, set to TDC (As marked by manufacturer) and fit the bottom end to TDC. Strapped everything together, torqued down to spec and tensioned the belt properly. Properly as in crank pulley first, then tensioner, then water pump then gear. Rotate three sprockets of the crank counter clock and tighten tensioner bolt. Rotated by hand and nothing was binding, no irregular noises of any kind. Valve lash was done to spec afterwards.

Here's the kicker, started it up and it sounded like the belt was slapping the belt cover. Seriously, that's what it sounded like. The noise was coming from the right side of the car, my initial thought was belt slapping the cover. Took the cover off, put everything back together without it, and it still makes the sound. I am very skeptical about P2V problems, as I compression tested the first two cylinders and 180 on both. Yea, I didn't test the other two because the noise is coming from the timing belt area. I assume.......that would hint if a valve was bent. I even took the exhaust header off and stuck a flashlight in and rotated the engine. Valves seem to be closing without any problems.

So my theory is it's off a tooth. But how the eff can I tell which way it's off? It's an adjustable cam gear and everything lines up timing wise. I'm very stuck. Pulling the head off is the last step I want to take but it may be necessary.

Any thoughts?

Cliffs: Upgraded valvetrain, S2 tuner 2 cam and adjustable gear. Sounds like belt slapping but it's not, feels like it's off a tooth. How can I verify if it is off a tooth, which way? Also, CEL came on for CFK so I cleared it and it only pops up about a minute after running the car.

 

Video, any suggestions?

 

I think you should post this a few more times just in case someone missed it.

 

Was that sarcasm? Because if so, it was funny. My problem, however, is not as funny.

 

I'd try taking the stock cam gear and stacking it up with the adjustable one. Adjust the gear so it matches the OEM gear and you should be pretty close to zero.
The CKF fault is could be due to the cam and crank sensors being too far off from each other (outside the allowed window of operation). What was the fault code for? Below limit, above limit, implausible, open circuit, etc? If the sensor itself is faulty for whatever reason, you might could do the CKF bypass/jumper solution.

I'd do a leakdown test if you want to be 100% a out your valves. You could have slightly bent valves on all cylinders causing low but even numbers on all cylinders. IF you have any valves leaking, then you could actually have much higher compression numbers with everything sealing up the way it should.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll be tinkering with the stock cam and adjustable cam gear to see if that makes any difference. The CFK CEL was P0336 which just says Sensor A Circuit Range/Performance. It's weird though, I verified that it was in fact off a tooth so I jumped it to the correct position and compression shot up to 210. If the noise is still apparent with the stock cam and gear in place, then I suppose I can assume the head needs to come back off so I can inspect what's going on.

 

Wow. Sounds like something is tapping against something. Try pulling valve cover off and checking your rocker arms. Your timing could of been far enough off for v2v or p2v. Did the cam gear say 4.75 degrees retarded on the Y8 or Z6 side? If it was on the Y8 side, did you zero it out on the Y8 side. I degreed a zex 59300 and it ended up being 4 degrees advanced. You might want to look into degreeing the camshaft after you figure out the issue.

 

What is your valve lash set at?