so i recently bought a 92 prelude s, that had an h23a3 ghetto swapped into it.. they didnt replace the computer(p12) or wire harness(f22a1), and used the f series header because of the o2 location. now that some what worked becauce the h23a3 doesnt have a knock sensor(neither does the f22a1). The only other difference was no IABC conector on the f series harness, so i have the IAB diaphragm plugged as well the extra port on the IM. Everything else seems to be in order... the head gasket was blown pretty bad when i bought it so i pulled everything out and had the block honed and put new pistons, rings, main and rod bearings, thrust washers, polished the crank and had the deck machined. The original head and cams were in pretty bad shape, so i found an h23a1 cylinder head with cams, that are great shape, already machined and had a valve job done. I slapped it all together and i definitely have the cams and crank lined up perfect. starts great and idles well, even drives with no cel..

now to my problem... the timing is way off

even with my dizzy all the way advanced, im still off by 5 degrees. Its suppose to be at 15+/- 2 degrees, and all the way advanced im only at 10 or so.

my question for some one out there who know's is:

Could the ecu and engine harness be my problem here?

the only other solution i've found is that, because i machined the deck on the block and the head, that now i may need adjustable cam gears to compensate...

 

if you changed the deck height by milling then you need adjustable cams to compernsate for that, that is why your timign is off. How much was milled down?

Anytime you change the distance of the cams from the cranks shaft you mess with the timing. Depending how much you have taken off you might be able to get a thicker headgasket to make up the difference but a stock gasket will keep your timing out.

 

im not exactly sure how much was taken off the head because i bought it already done, but i know that we took almost .007 off of the block.. and i used the oem 3 layer gasket...