Good evening all,
I have recently rebuilt my d16y8, as far as an engine can be rebuilt. The most notable modification is the 8.5:1 Wiseco forged pistons. This engine is going into a 93 Del Sol, and had to be "converted" to obd1. Through some long nights and too many beers I've managed to get it to the point where it will burp at you when you turn it over. The distributor I used was an older one I had laying around, which I know works. I get spark in all four cylinders, I have reasonable compression, and there's definitely fuel getting to the cylinders. All of the spark plugs were wet and smelled like fuel, with a little bit of soot on them. I have the engine set to mechanical TDC, so timing cannot be that far off.






I am suspicious of a few things, the first being how I modified the distributor plug. The harness is OBD1, and the distributor is OBD2B. So by comparing these two, the #5 pin on the distributor gets connected to the #10 pin on the harness. This leaves #9 on the harness empty. (speed sensor output). I assumed this would only affect the tachometer. I may be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.
The second thing was my fuel pump. I installed a Walbro 255 while the engine was out, but left the stock fuel rail and pressure regulator on there. Maybe there's way too much fuel pressure coming through? I have a hondata s300, which I played with injector size and duty cycle on. I found it to "run" the best with ~800cc injectors, (I have dsm 450) at a upper normal duty cycle. I've tried uploading different tunes on which they had the Walbro 255 or the 8.5:1 pistons, none had both.
Lastly, I've heard that the 5 spoke cam gear is somehow different than the one that comes factory on the d16z6 (del sol original engine). I'm 96% certain that my mechanical TDC is dead on, but maybe the electronic timing is messed up since the ECU had been disconnected while running a completely different engine.

A few more mentions: There was a decent amount of oil in the engine from being rebuilt, however I've tried to start it so much that I'd assume the fuel would've washed the oil in the cylinder away. I've got the engine to run for maybe 2 seconds after the starter was shut off, note that was holding full throttle and the revs weren't coming up at all. Through some of these attempts it blew white smoke, out of my disconnected wastegate dump as well as out the back. Although all four spark plugs were firing, cylinder #4 was the coldest out of them all.

I've tried as much as I know, and I cant seem to determine what's preventing this thing from running. Timing is good (?), all four spark plugs work, compression is definitely there, and there's fuel coming through, may be not the right amount but either way I'm stumped. I have already tried flipping the distributor input thing 180 degrees, although the burping signifies that timing is somewhat correct.

(note o2 sensor isn't in the exhaust pipe yet, so the afr reading is wrong)

Any help, input or stories of similar problems you've overcome would be immensely appreciated.
Thanks again.

 

I don’t think it’s the Walbro fuel pump. On the same subject, if you try starting the engine multiple times in a row without it starting, then it can get “flooded” with fuel and not start.
I’m not sure why it won’t start but it might have something to do with wiring or the tune you are uploading.
Have you considered putting a stock ECU/ and or stock tune and injectors? I don’t think the 8.5:1 compression ratio should change much for the tune just for getting it started.

 

if your timing is off by one tooth, you will hear and notice it upon start-up. Also, use a timing gun to make sure it's correct.

Is there a reason why you're using DSM injectiors?

 

I've uploaded the stock tune, and scaled the injector sizing. Hasn't done much. I've also tried advancing the timing by 2 degrees, still not much. It could still be my wiring but I'm not sure what.

 

My timing is as close as I can get it without the timing gun. I can borrow my friend's one, but the engine needs to be running for a timing gun to do the trick. Check out the videos I've linked. There isn't a specific reason why I'm using DSM injectors, other than that I had them laying around.

 

did you set the mechanical timing.....at the crank pulley first and then the cam gear/sprocket? That's the correct way to do it, not the other way around.

 

If the car has been sitting more than 4-6 months it might have bad gas in it.
Make sure the wiring you did has good connections to where you can slightly pull in the wires and it won’t budge them. No twisted together wires or those connectors where you just twist the wires, they should be crimped solidly. Then go back to your wiring diagrams and make sure you have the correct wires going to the right places.
Maybe try starter fluid in the intake manifold also. If your spark plugs smell like gas then dry them off and let the cylinders air out for a little while, maybe put a fan on the cylinder to dry out the extra gas in there.

 

did you rebuild the distributor if so can you send me the rebuild kit link, ive been looking for honda oem distributor nd they are discontinued and i need to rrebuild it, i can hear a clacking sound coming from the distributor. i have recently done a valve job and the noise is not coming from the cam i tested this theory by opening the oil fill and listening when i rev. the noise is coming from the distributor at about 3-4000 rpms it gets loud and im assuming it is a bad bearing or worse i am new to the whole honda scene but am mechanically inclined, i just rebearinged the trans trans and put new syncros in it because the input shaft bearing was trashed. i have a 5 speed sohc d16y8 series 98 honda civic coupe.