I did a bunch of work on my 327k mile 1992 GS-R over the last few months and the engine hadn't been run since June. In that time off the road I replaced the timing belt, water pump, tensioner, an engine mount, VTEC spool valve filter/O-ring, valve cover gasket, distributor, spark plug wires and spark plugs.

Took the car out for a test drive to see how things are going and the throttle response was just horrible. Super sluggish off idle. Like, you could floor it, and it would take 1-2 seconds to even start accelerating. Power delivery in general is sluggish and occasionally jerky. Was able to engage VTEC a few times, but at other times the car refused to rev above 4000 rpm. When trying to accelerate beyond 4000 in those situations, more throttle would only result in more engine noise.

The car had sat for a while with only 1/3 tank of fuel, so my first (hopeful) thought was that the fuel was stale and/or water condensation built up over time. So I filled up the tank with 93 octane - took 8.5 gallons. Made no difference for the above described problems.

When I installed the timing belt I had trouble lining up everything perfectly. Cam gears weren't a problem, but every time I put the belt on, the notch on the crank pulley would be slightly behind the line on the lower timing belt cover. On the 3rd try I got the notch very, very, very closely lined up with the line, but it still wasn't perfect. I thought it was close enough, maybe not...? Maybe I just need to adjust the position of the distributor?

Any suggestions, oh wise people of the internet?

 

Set mechanical timing correctly.
Set ignition timing correctly.
Drain fuel tank.
Replace fuel filter.
Ultrasonic clean injectors.
New OEM NGK V-Power plugs (properly gapped)
New OEM NGK spark plug wires.
Confirm output from various sensors (TPS, ECT, MAP, Timing, IAT) makes sense...

 

Thanks for tips.

Oh guess I should have mentioned I did replace the fuel filter. Replaced so much stuff forgot about that one!

 

Mechanical timing is set correctly
Ignition timing is set correctly
Fuel filter is new
Spark plugs are new
Spark plug wires are new
Distributor is new

Gonna swap back in the old spark plugs and see what happens. Ditto the wires. Maybe there's something off about them.

 

Still need to have the injectors cleaned (I am not saying to just add a bottle cleaner in your gas tank) and totally drain and refill tank.