Okay so at the very end of Feb. I got a '91 HB with a b20b swap. Drove it back home (130 mi) and made it back in middle of the night. Didn't think to check the coolant, which was obviously a stupidly huge mistake. It got to -7 F and of course when it struck me to check it in the morning, everything was froze solid. Silicone rad hoses bulged out, whole nine yards. Seeing as I don't have a garage and it was probly a high of twenty-something degrees that day, I went to start it up. To my amazement, it actually did after a few seconds of trying to make the crank turn. So I let it idle. For a really long time... about an hour or two before the radiator finally got slushy. Oh, and more and more steam seemed to be emitting from my breather on the valve cover. Then I hit the throttle for a bit to try and push the warmer water through, and something made a funny sound. Kinda hard to recall exactly, but kinda like a pop... then it started idling funny. Pulled the rad cap, and out spewed all my motor oil along with most of the "coolant," which it turns out is 50/50 mixed with water. Yeah. So I'm thinking; Head Gasket, right? Well I started pulling **** off to remove the head, broke a couple crusty clips, no big deal, 4 or so wires broke right off the dizzy harness... sucks, messed with the wires a lot, but couldn't get spark after I head replaced the HG.
This thing has been a big headache, its got body damage, my girl hates it, and I've only driven it about 140mi.
Anyways, I just got the dizzy situation 100% fixed yesterday - identified and labeled wires on harness to pinout on ECM, re-soldered into old harness connector, replaced dizzy, hell even got another ecm for backup - and it doesnt really want to start. I know for sure I got the cam timing 100% dead nuts on. I quadruple checked that ish. Figured maybe my ignition timing was 180* off. Nope. When its right, it backfires (now that i got spark...) through the exhaust. When its 180* off, it really tries to run, but pops thru the intake. Since I obviously mistook the "trying" for a good sign, I went ahead and put fluid in the rad to see if there are any more leaks. Yes, I used water but thats irrelevant. Anyways, after cranking a few times, I checked the oil. Sure enough, WATER. Drained the rad... OIL.

SO... Is my head fubared? block? are there oil passages behind the water pump??? ANYBODY with any good insight on this, please chime in. I've searched, I've pondered, I've gone asked other mechanics (w/out much Honda experience)... Any advise is much appreciated.

 

Oh, and I did a comp test before and after HG. 150psi dead on across the board cold (really cold) before, about 170-180 cold after with some drops of oil in cyl, might've sea-foamed a little, cant remember. Don't have a leak-down gauge or a compressor at the house, tho I'm sure that would be able to tell me a little more.