i recently did a LSVTEC. it ran fine for a couple days. then it starts to knock on me. pulled the spark plug to hear better. and the valves are hitting the pistons. i time it to find out that When i rev the cam gears start to misalign. the intake cam goes up and the exhaust cam goes down. at idle it doesn't knock only when there is tension when i rev higher and the belt streches and the timing goes crazy.

i got a b18a block with a pr3 b16 head. i was on a tight budget so i didn't use a vtec water pump. i kept the block stock. what could it be? the water pump? i used a LS timing belt

 

so the gears are moving when running? did you torque the bolts properly?

i dont think your hitting the valves against the pistons; if so the ''knocking'' would not go away

 

with the stock LS block you are not in any danger of valve to piston contact unless your running insane amounts of cam degree.


edit- check the cam-caps to see if they are way loose.

 

well let me clarify. when i set everything at top dead center and i point the timing gun at the cam gears they are not leveled "--" the intake cam is up and the exhaust is down. when i rev the distant between them increases and it starts to knock louder and faster.

what could it be?

 

the first thing you should do is to torque the cam gears to spec. its not good if they advance or retard them selfs when at high rpm. when done with that dont advance or retard the cam gears and see if you still hear a knocking. if you do its most likely not the valves hitting.

 

ok i set the timing. its perfect. i start it up and at idle no knock. i rev it to about 2 to 3k and it starts to knock. but if i rev past that to 5 k or higher no knock? please help i don't want to rip this motor apart.

 

it could be a bunch of different things. do u have access to a video camera so we could see and hear? that would be better