Lsvtec not running right. How does 1 degree mess with stuff?

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5speed4life

Senior Member
Ok, my setup...
B18a1 block
p30 pistons
Comp stage 2 cams
P/P head shaved 12 thou
B16 oil and water pumps
Stock cam gears
12:1 C/R



And my problem. I fired the engine up, set my ignition timing to stock. I know my head has been shaved so my cam timing is 1 degree retarded. The engine will idle kinda low, and a little rough, but i figured the roughness was the cams, thats what it sounds like. It will free rev just fine. very responsive. I take it out on the road today, and it stalls pulling it out of the driveway. I fire it back up, get it on the street, and has no power, wants to die. To me that was a cam timing issue but i could be wrong. the ecu i was trying to break the engine in on is a Pr4 stock LS ecu. i was gona play it safe for right now and not engage vtec.

Could those symptoms be an ECU related problem? Also will only one degree of cam timing cause the problems i have? If both awnsers are no, what should i check? My b16 ran just fine in it, with the same setup.
 
Would a coolant or Oil pressure switch cause these problems, b/c mine are not hooked up or working rite. (i hate the oil pressure lite, the only time it ever comes on is when your engine blows) The coolant temp doesnt seem to be working at all, and i used the oil pressure sensor spot to run my Lsvtec line.
 
Not throwing a single code. Im not a complete noob, not saying you said i was, but i cover all my bases and try to figure out what the problem is before i jump online and ask.

I just cant figure it out. I have a set of cam gears coming tomarow morning, and we will see how that works.
 
oil press might do something...hook everything up...reset the ecu....warm up the car with out reving or turning on any accesories....after it warms up take it for a spin...

and recheck the timing...or put it back to 0...

did you clay the engine for valve clearance?
 
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0.012" off head is only about .34 degrees and it is advanced, not retarded


Everywhere else ive seen its 1* retarted, and when i had my cam gears lined up, my crank would be past TDC. so that is retarded. I picked up a set of Sk2 cam gears today, and problem solved.
 
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0.012" off head is only about .34 degrees and it is advanced, not retarded


Everywhere else ive seen its 1* retarted, and when i had my cam gears lined up, my crank would be past TDC. so that is retarded. I picked up a set of Sk2 cam gears today, and problem solved.
with crankshaft at TDC, the camshafts have not reached the same place they would be if head was not milled - this means that the valves will start opening earlier, which means the camshafts are advanced - in order to get camshafts to 0 degrees, you would need to rotate them counterclockwise or retard them
 
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Ok, my setup...
B18a1 block
p30 pistons
Comp stage 2 cams
P/P head shaved 12 thou
B16 oil and water pumps
Stock cam gears
12:1 C/R



And my problem. I fired the engine up, set my ignition timing to stock. I know my head has been shaved so my cam timing is 1 degree retarded. The engine will idle kinda low, and a little rough, but i figured the roughness was the cams, thats what it sounds like. It will free rev just fine. very responsive. I take it out on the road today, and it stalls pulling it out of the driveway. I fire it back up, get it on the street, and has no power, wants to die. To me that was a cam timing issue but i could be wrong. the ecu i was trying to break the engine in on is a Pr4 stock LS ecu. i was gona play it safe for right now and not engage vtec.

Could those symptoms be an ECU related problem? Also will only one degree of cam timing cause the problems i have? If both awnsers are no, what should i check? My b16 ran just fine in it, with the same setup.


Uh, tuning? You have 12:1 compression and cams ona stock ECU and you expect it to idle like stock? On a stock LS ECU no less.....wow
 
No, i wasnt expecting it to idle like stock. I was hoping it would have a little rumble to it at idle.

However the "rough" idle i was talking about... it sounded like a little dragster. realy rough. It sounded sweet, but i knew it wasnt right. It was sputtering and backfiring, and with the stage 2 cams, the primary lobe on the cam isnt that much bigger/changed over stock.

I also needed the car to run to datalog my info to make a good basemap before taking it to the dyno. I have a 255 fuel pump, so it was already getting a little extra fuel. Plus i am not revving it over 4k for break in.

I figured starting off on a stock ecu, gathering data, and then making maps for this engine is better off than putting my pw0 in there with 9000 rev limit, vtec, and b16a map, or even a map that is just a guess.
 
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