Mini Me swap overheating and driving terrible

[BLINDEDminime]

Any help would be appreciated....

Gotta 92 Civic DX that I swapped a 97 Civic EX 1.6 VTEC head onto. Here's everything I've done so far..

-B7 Block with new 3-layer head gasket
-Y8 Head surfaced and re-done the valves
-Z6 Intake w/B7 throttle body
-P28 ECU
-Wired up VTEC
-Used the dizzy and cam gear off the B7
-Y8 timing belt
-New water pump and radiator

Might be forgetting some small things but here's my problem:
Just sitting there idling it'll run perfect besides a high idle(around 1300-1500) and normal operating temperature. But as soon as you start driving it, the needle skyrockets to hot and it's like it has no power going down the road. Switched the coolant temp switch just to make sure it wasn't the gauge acting up and it did the same thing.

The only thing i can come up with is maybe the cam gear or computer....would I have to use the gear for the head or for the block? I was told the B7 would work that's why I used it.

I'm really at a standstill and this is/was my daily driver so now I'm pretty much without a ride til it gets fixed. Like I said any help would be appreciated cuz I miss my Honda

 

[allen454ss]

sounds like a timing issue to me.. I have done a mini swap d15b7 to a d16z6 and had no problems. i try to keep parts and systems the same ( obd1 etc )

here is what i found for you...hope it helps ! cheers !

" The thing is this, the Y8 doesnt like as much timing as the Z6. The relationship of crank to cam on the Y8 is dieffernt than the Z6. Meaning that one engine has more teeth count than the other. The math will show you why the timing is different (12 vs 16 base timing.) The maps are different and that is becuase the Y8 has a knock sensor and the computer rides on that knock sensor feedback. Dont bother switching anything off the Y8. Use it stock and keep the timing low once in boost."

 

[Briansol]

i don't think bad timing would cause it to immediately spike temp.

it sounds like you have air in the coolant system. This can also effect idle. It should not be that high.... so check the thrttle cable screw on the TB to see if it's getting yanked. you may need to use a y8 throttle cable instead of your stock one (i'm not sure, never did one of these).

 

[BLINDEDminime]

yea i bought an adjustable cam gear for the head and im gonna put that on later on today...but as far as the overheating-before i did all this i put some head gasket sealer into the old radiator...is it possible it could have stopped up the thermostat and thats causing the overheating? im really racking my brain on this one and hopin the cam gear and new thermostat will fix most of the problems.

 

[Briansol]

When the car is cold, you can tell when the thermostat opens.

hold the lower rad hose. it won't get hot until a couple min after starting when the thermostat opens and begins the cooling cycle.
If it never gets hot and the engine temp starts to spike, the thermostat is malfunctioning.

 

[BLINDEDminime]

ok i replaced the thermostat and put the adjustable cam gear on. The running problem seems to be fixed, but it still overheats soon as you start to put a load on it. Like I said it idles at like 1500 and as long as I'm at or close to 1500 it doesn't overheat because I was driving it goin about 40 in 5th gear and it was staying cool. I'm beginning to think it's a coolant hose routing problem now. I switched back to the B7 intake and now I can't remember how all the coolant hoses were routed. Does anybody have a diagram that could show me this?

 

[Briansol]

It's possible you have the wrong head gasket and have blocked the water passages.

upper rad goes right in front by the dizzy. lower rad hose loops around back