H23 manual tensioner worth doing

Ive been having trouble with my motor I have a bunch of head work and Type S pistons,(11to1) and i cant get the car to start. It seems that air is going out of the throttle body, since i have to take it apart again,i wanted to get rid of the auto tensioner since it seems to fail for a lot of people and myself a couple years ago. If the conversion worth doing? i know i have fuel and spark. the motor i think is 180 degrees off maybe all i know is i messed up some where on the timing belt portion of the build. Any help always appreciated, thanks.

uh oh. timing is indeed off if theres air coming out of the TB. if you want, you can remove the cams, pour a petroleum based liquid, such as gasoline or such into the head by the valve seats, and see if any leaks thru. you probably need new valves/seals/ect, and a valve job, but if your lucky there wont be damage to the pistons. next time if your gonna spend the dough, do it right.

Thanks for the post! The H22a is a non-interfence motor so the valves shouldn't be bent. I had a timing belt shread due to auto tensioner failure a while back and i had no bent valves. Anyway I have a problem that is now 3 years old. First I had an exhaust valve fail due to a silencer that i had to put in cause in CT aftermarket stuff is illegal and i was tired of cops harrassing me. The backpressure from it under load caused that valve to explode. I had a reputable machine shop do ferrera oversized valvetrain, crower titanium retainers, angle and polish job. It looked so sweet! Ur right slideways i cheaped out on the block. Me and good mechanic friend helped me and taught me alot. We did rings bearings and one new piston. The block barely looked used. We also took a ball hone the walls. The thing about that is supposedly there is a teflon coating on the cylinder wall that shouldn't be honed off. Other people said i was supposed to hone it. Anyone have insight please help clear that up. Anyway car ran strong til 3000 miles after the rebuild i had a major cooling problem (fans failed in summer heat) saw alot of smoke out of the back that night. Thought the heat burned up the rings, head came off no warping everthing pointed to rings (compression check)....

long story sry put back together with new rings and pistons and ARP head studs and head gasket. now i'm here. Is my block worthless cause of that coating. Trying to figure out a game plan and i admit that i need some help. The manual tensioner conversion that i read about caught my interest, i hadnt touched the car in a year, since i put it together and wouldnt start. Got very discouraged march 07. This week i decided to see if a forum could help me. I'm Complete noob to forums. Anyway i know engines better than most but this honda has been killing me and my buddies. any help is accepted thanks. Whats cool with the SR-20 latley? Those motors are so sick!!!!!

Whats cool with the SR-20 latley? Those motors are so sick!!!!!

:eek7: no they arent. sr20 motors are old technology. they were sick in 1991.
now they are just ok, but they get too much hype from the super street crowd.

anyways, about your problem. its hard to diagnose without doing the tests myself but ill see if i can provide some insight.
i havent had much experience with building honda engines, but if i were a betting man i would say the guys who said dont hone it are probably right. but that still shouldnt be your problem. what was your compression readings? also i would see if you cracked a cylinder wall. rings dont usually go bad because of an overheating issue. also, just to be sure check and see if your dizzy is oriented correctly. ive been in your shoes before. I rebuilt a 240sx sohc motor, and it spent 10 months in the garage because i couldnt figure out why it wouldnt start. thought i was hearing backfiring out of the intake, so i triple checked the timing, and checked it again, no dice. turned out the dizzy was on 180 degrees backwards.
anyways if your timing is on, and compression is very low, i would still think valves. my info on the h22a cylinder head came from my auto tech teacher back when i was in school i rebuilt one for a class and he said it was interference, but hes kind of an idiot so i believe you. i didnt have the block to check for sure, just the head.

Thanks for the post! After the car blew, the readings were 20- 30 in the middle 2 and 3 cylinders and didn't hold anything (the needle dropped off after starter was done) , 80 somthing on 1 and 4. But they held the pressure Should be 120 or so right?. After the build we would get the needle to just bounce off 25ish and not build or hold compression across the board. I have a feeling u might be right about those valve seals. Could heat screw those up? U said pour gas where the guides are, which would tell me valve seals are leaking. If they are does the machine shop have to do that work, I dont have alot of money until spring time. I think i need a better machine shop in the area. Whats a sick motor to u in 08? Audi has been making some sick cars lately the R8 is pretty dope i think! 120 grand though

Just though of something, Could i take out the cam and timimg belt, hook up the compressions tester. Then turn the crank with a wrench. With out the cams and belt the vavles will stay closed and if there is a bad valve seal i know right away and i can know if the new rings and pistons are doing there job. Is that a good idea? I never took and auto shop class, my school didn't offer that stuff so i never learned these little tests. How does a leak down test work my friend said something about feeding in compressed air?

leakdown test is usually for cracked cylinder walls cracked heads and piston rings. it will work with valve problems too but i would try first of all taking out the cam and checking compression. that will determine if the compression loss is because of a mistimed cam or bent valves. if the compression is fine with the cam off its a timing issue. oh and your compression readings should be up around 180-200 i think. double check that number with a more reliable source but it should not be below 160 i know for sure. you can, if you determine all the valves are good, put compressed air into the cylinder with the valves closed, and where the air comes out is where your losing compression from. or you can use gasoline. the gasoline trick works better if the head is off. you can pour it into the cylinder and watch how fast it drains, and pour it into the combustion chamber of the head when the head is upside down, and none should drain out.


a good modern motor? theres so many. the new GT-R's 3.8 twin turbo v6 is pretty cool, but not ridiculous. the new bmw M3's 4 liter v8 is more towards the ridiculous end of the coolness spectrum. honda needs a new super engine. the f20c is still cool but getting old, same with the k20a and k24a. something like how groundbreaking the f20c was when it came out. the audi r8 is pretty cool, its basically a lamborghini murcielago clone though. but nissan's new gt-r is officially the 3rd fastest production car in the world around the nurburgring. behind the clubsport pagani zonda, which is about a second faster than the porsche carrera GT.

Thanks for the help dude ill try this weekend! Nothing was cracked visually on either the head or the block. It needs some sleeves though. I would love to make that a 2.5 liter all- motor monster. Have u heard of anyone making a rear drive prelude? I've seen online someone made a targa lude that looked real nice! BMWs are insane, F-1 tech on the street is so cool. The M-6 would be my choice. Honda had that new NSX which might be cool. Nissan is doing good with bring their flagship GTR stateside. For a daily drive the infinite M-45 seems bad ass.

ive heard of a rear drive prelude but never seen evidence of one actually existing. someone did put a prelude motor in the hatch of an integra and made an MR integra...

speaking of crazy swaps, i wouldnt mind a turbo 2.5 liter AWD altima...it can be done without a lot of work...or an AWD turbo sentra spec V?

I almost bought a 3.5 altima in 02 the 5-speed was peppy. those are nice drivers. Lot of torque steer though. I like the SE-R altima, is that FWD? AWD turbo would be cool in the sentra with its small weight. Does nissan have AWD in cars other than the Infinite badged cars? Wow that would could be an evo killer! My buddy was trying how to figure a CRV drivetrain in my car. It seemed like alot of custom stuff, but may be cool.

the new nissan rogue mini suv shares the same platform as the sentra, so an AWD swap is almost bolt on. and the overseas nissan patrol i think is the same platform as the altima, so same there. the only issue is the altima v6 doesnt have much of a chance since the CVT transmission wont work with awd and the only other choice is an automatic. a crv is, iirc based on the civic platform, with some changes to accomidate AWD, so i think swapping it into a prelude is not gonna work, even swapping awd into a civic would take lots of money and time. but hey, they made a twin turbo v8 RWD scion xB so what cant be done?

Those CVT trans make my head explode! Why cant it work with AWD, audi has a CVT in the TT.? A V-8 scion, why not put that money into something cool. That makes imports look bad. Same with rx-7 v-8 swaps. Although its kinda cool, but a 3-rotor sounds so much better than a vette. Nissan VQ has one of the coolest sounds that internal combustion has to offer.

agreed that nissan's vq motor sounds cool.
not agreed that a super high output rotary sounds better than a super high output v8. rotaries are annoying sounding. not to say its bad, i worked with a guy who had a 3 rotor FD and it was so loud and fast, but i just cant say it sounds pleasent at all.

cvt can work with AWD, but nissan's system wont bolt up the same way. im only saying that if you want an AWD altima, the CVT really wont fit without some ridiculous custom work on the level of a v8 scion. cvt is a really cool concept but what really should be coming out in cars soon is a transaxle called the 'zeroshift'. its british. look it up. i want one for every car i ever own and i might try and bolt one up to my future child(s)' bigwheel too. i also might get one for a coffee table because they are so ill.

You knew someone with a 3 rotor! Cool, yeah american muscle sounds (i.e. 383 stroker with x-pipe) real cool, and i love all cars, but i like crazy technology. and I bet u could get a rotory to sound good if u tried. I've heard 13Bs with a Nur spec and they sound nice, but again loud. My car sounds dope. U would give me props, no rice whatsoever, just refined honda! Sorta R32 like, swear on my life! Anyway Zeroshift huh? Seems... Idk words dont form sentences yet! Def shifter kart worthy. U ever drive a sick cart? We have a place that u can go ride them, 40mph indoors!!!! And they drift! only 6hp at the place but a 250 2stroke and zeroshift would scare a kid, would be sick. Great bussiness idea to open a place like that! They get 20-25 a ride (10mins maybe) ur mad tired at the end!
----Haven't gotten to work on the lude yet, crappy weather, I think i want to try compressed air with timing belt on and hand crank the motor that should tell me a whole lot i would think? And the dizzy can only go on one way.

Does slideways work on cars for a living, or work at a performance shop? Just curious (9-5) I hate rice too! Might as well spend the money, wish i had it!

i work in a general repair shop. i wish i could find a performance shop to work in but the few that actually exist in MN are all small and run by a few guys who all know each other. maybe ill open my own shop. make all my profit selling altezza tail lights to rice boys for a 300% markup, and then spend it all making the fastest z in the country...or maybe then i could afford a skyline.

Hey,
Just had a brainstorm. When i first rebuilt my motor, and had the head work done. I had to adjust my valves. which i did, since i took the motor apart 2 since then and now maybe a third. Do those valves have to be readjusted? That would help the valve guide theory and the fact that the motor isnt holding compression across the board. Was going to try and work on it today, but here in the Northeast its pouring. Thanks for the input. Hey would and H22 powered honda S200 be cool? Ya know the car from back in the day that S2k is based off of. I know i had a crazy thought process going yesterday. haha.