Hello I haven’t had a Honda in awhile and when I did it was LS this is my first vtec and I recently just got an em1 si , buddy told me after I got it that vtec hits at 3500 rpm and he advanced the cam gear a tooth and slightly advanced the distributor. Now I haven’t driven the car but once for around 8 minutes just to drive her , didn’t give it any power or anything really , It didn’t seem to run bad at all , and I couldn’t really tell if vtec was engaging because the exhaust is raspy at certain Rpms due to no muffler and around 3500 is one of them. Now my question is how did he do that and is it even possible because I haven’t heard of it. He said he learned it from a few old Honda heads. I just haven’t driven it because I don’t wanna blow up my motor but the car drove and idles fine. Cel is on due to no 02 sensor. Can anyone help me with info. I am also scared to drive it due to mixed reviews If vtec actually does engage around 3500. He has had 3 si’s and a boosted si all done by him so I figured it wasn’t bullshit but can’t find much info on anything he’s said. I’ve heard of a pill engaging vtec but don’t fully understand and I don’t think I have that

 

Anybody ? If it’s fine I’ll leave it but I will just reset timing on dizzy and cam if so

 

It is not normal to advance a cam gear by a tooth. It is possible with a tuneable ECU to lower the VTEC crossover point to 3500 RPM but there isn't any good reason to do so. I would get the engine in proper mechanical time and set the distributor timing. From there, get it on a dyno to make sure the tune is safe.
If VTEC is engaging at 3500 RPM, it is likely that you will see a power drop right then because it is too early.

 

[QUOTE=JRCivic1;52593596].

Would my car even remotely run fine with mechanical timing off ? I’m starting to think maybe he was just full of **** and doesn’t know why vtec hits at 3500 if it really does. I wanna let it warm up and take it out tomorrow and try and hit the oem si vtec cross over or see if vtec crosses over at all. I’ve just been scared to drive it honestly until I’ve figured this out. Just had a kid don’t have funds to fork out on nothing. First thing I am gonna do tomorrow is set the motor to tdc and check the marks and go from there. If it is even off any I’ll be surprised I’ve been trynna research on it and 90% people with mechanical timing off car runs like poop. I guess I also have to break open the ecu cover to see if she’s chipped. He said it’s stock. I’m dumbfounded

thank you for your reply. Yeah it just is all sketchy to me I only drove the car one time down the road and she drove fine , I didn’t get into high rpms but it didn’t really even seem like vtec kicked in at 3500. But it did sound louder in that range but that is more then likely cause of the exhaust. But I don’t want to take a chance and hit high Rpms and ruin my engine trying to see. The car idles fine and starts right up , doesn’t leak oil or anything. I asked him how he go the vtec to cross at 3500 and he said “ should be one tooth off on cam gear and the distributor is slightly advanced. “ I haven’t broke it open or looked but I am definitely running a stock b16 ecu. I don’t think I have a dud but I don’t have a timing light to retime the distributor. I’ve retimed my engine before ( b18b1) aligning the marks on the cam together along with crank marks and have done that just fine. I know advancing the timing a little bit is okay but if I reset my engines timing back to spec without the distributor being retimed could it cause my car to run like ****. I just wanna be safer then sorry so I haven’t driven it much. Thank you for your time and reply sir