Yesterday someone said I should check to see if the Distributor is firing on cylinder one when at TDC. So today I turned the crank until both cams with the up arrow pointed upward (I guess that is how you do it?). I took off my Cap and it looks to me that when at TDC my distributor is sparking at cylinder 3. So how exactly do I fix this?

 

The marks in the circles should be pointing directly at each other when everything is set at TDC. The mark on the crank pulley should also line up with the timing mark on the lower timing belt cover. As far as I know you really can't put a honda distributor in wrong. Make sure everything is lined up and check it again. If you did then ok but from the pic it doesn't look lined up right.

 

Your timing belt isnt on tight enough and your exhaust cam looks like its too far off. Did you replace/mess with the timing belt before cuz it looks kinda bad. When I did my ZC swap heres how I had my timing belt on at first:



I really didnt think much of it (first time I had ever messed with timing, my first swap too). I showed a friend of mine and he told me I should prolly fix it but I still didnt care cuz I wanted to get the motor in and running. The next day was sunday and no one was open for me to rent a hoist and the timing belt prob was in the back of my head so I decided to fix it..



I think you should take off the timing belt, adjust the cam gears so that they're both lined up to eachother with the UP signs pointing up and make sure the crank pully is set at TDC, put the timing belt back on TIGHTER this time and you should be good.

 

OR, you can take the spark plug out of the #1 cylinder and put a long screwdriver in it and turn the engine over until it reaches TDC.

and if your at TDC and the stator is pointing at the #3 plug wire than move all the wires over one going clockwise so the #1 wire is right with the stator and #3,#4,and #2 are next going clockwise.

 

Im not exactly sure what you just said but here's the correct DOHC ZC firing order:

 

So I need to reset my timing? Don't I have to take that crank pulley bolt off to loosen the belt or something? I heard that is a huge bitch to do. Arghhh I hate cars

 

Im pretty sure you have to.. I did it when I was doing mine. You may just be able to remove the tensioner bolt, I think you'll also have to remove the driver's side mount. Im not sure cuz I did mine with the motor out of the car.

You need to fix your cam timing though.

 

OK I went back and redid my timing. Still didn't work. I then did what white99gsr said and the car fired right up. drjondurst I don't know why but the firing order in your picture was not the right one for me or something. But now it runs.

I have a question. Where is the tensioner bolt, was it the one under the mount where you had to pop a grommet off to see it?

 

Yes, there's a plug there. Make sure you have the cams timed right, marks facing each other, and #1 at TDC. Be careful with the cam tensioner, if you get it too tight you can snap the bolt. They will run with the cam timing off, but not that well. That picture is off by one plug wire too. #1 is aligned with the screw. Here's a picture of a properly timed ZC. http://www.wolfenet.org/gallery/zc/IMG_0702?full=1

Also, whoever has that black valve cover ZC picture, get a BOLT in that motor mount.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by markw &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes, there's a plug there. Make sure you have the cams timed right, marks facing each other, and #1 at TDC. Be careful with the cam tensioner, if you get it too tight you can snap the bolt. They will run with the cam timing off, but not that well. That picture is off by one plug wire too. #1 is aligned with the screw. Here's a picture of a properly timed ZC.

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Werd dude thats my exact firing order now! The picture above in this topic is now definitely wrong.

Nice blue header to, never seen that before. I want to paint mine bronze colored, it has rusty spots so I think it should get some paint. You don't have a picture of that vacuum hose connection upclose do you, mine is probably wrong. Also can you take a picture of your TB where the throttle cable connects, mine came apart and I hooked it up apparently wrong.

 

what the other guy told you is the b ser fireing order we all make mistake sometimes i'm glad you got your car to start

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">OK I went back and redid my timing. Still didn't work. I then did what white99gsr said and the car fired right up. drjondurst I don't know why but the firing order in your picture was not the right one for me or something. But now it runs.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Weird man, I dunno whats up with that. I had tried a whole bunch of different orders and thats the only one that worked for me.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also, whoever has that black valve cover ZC picture, get a BOLT in that motor mount.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I dunno what ur talkin about, and the motor is out of the car in that pic if that helps explain something.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by drjondurst &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Weird man, I dunno whats up with that. I had tried a whole bunch of different orders and thats the only one that worked for me.
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Maybe it depends on what distributor you are running. Maybe Integra and actual ZC one have that difference about them.

 

I just looked at it again and they're the same order in both pics. I shouldn't have taken that picture sideways I guess.

 

dude, your timing belt is definately on wrong in that picture, make sure you fix that, or it definately wont run right, like somebody said before, those 2 notches in the gear need to be lined up with each other, as far as the "up" signs go on those cam gears, they will never point straight up, so just go by the notches.

 

markw- which distributor are you using with your ZC?

 

i think that cam timing is off too. the marks on the cam gears aren't that great, the up arrows don't really point "up," and the alignment marks don't really align properly with the head. So, there's another way that i think is the best. if you take off the valve cover, there are holes right behind the cam gears on the cams themselves. line them up. if i remember correctly you should be able to see right through the cam.

and the zc and integra distributors work the same, no difference in firing order or anything. you should be able to just bolt either one on and go.

 

hm.. looking at it more, i'm more convinced the cam timing is off. drjondurst has the firing order right, i just checked my own car and its the same. basically what needs to happen is you need to turn the intake cam clockwise, when looking at the cam gear side, counter-clockwise from the dizzy side. that would position the rotor more towards the correct firing order.