Originally i was going to swap out motors for somebody, but ended up switching vtec head off old engine on to the new (used) b20. The civic had run with the modified vtec head, so I figured switching the block should be no problem. After switching block and installing engine, I can not get the engine to start.
Two things I did not reinstall the knock sensor and the crank case breather box. I can not find a allen wrench big enough to remove the plug for the knock sensor.. but I'm under the understanding that, that would not cause the engine not to start.
I've gone over the timing marks several times... they seem to be right, I will say when the cams were lined up perfectly (both dots next to each other) the crank pulley seemed to be a half tooth off. After the engine wouldn't start I loosened the skunk2 adjustable cams and then moved the crank the half tooth to make it exactly tdc. Still won't start
The cylinders are reading around 180psi, and the spark plugs are wet with fuel. The issue seems to be the distributor... at TDC it seems to be pointing closer to the number 2 terminal than the number 1. (which doesn't make sense to me since the engine was supposivly running with the same head and distributor before) The only thing I can imagine is that the cam needs to be adjusted so that the distributor is in the right location... but I have no experience adjusting cams (except for the half tooth I already adjusted). I never moved the cams between engine blocks but possibly they were adusted while the machine shop had them.
The distributor is off of a SOHC engine... but I was told that they had made it work.
Would the B20 block change the timing from a B18 block... maybe thats my problem and the distributor being the wrong one just won't adjust far enough for the new block?
I did move the wires clockwise on the distributor one terminal and it did spit and sputter.
Can anyone offer some advice to what the problem might be? I'm a pretty good mechanic but as far as import tuning and vtec engines this is my first at bat. Please Help
