Adjusting tappets with reground cams

[AccordB20A]

Ever since i bought my B20A which has some unknown spec cam regrinds its been loud as fuck in the cylinder head. pretty safe to say the valves needed adjusting so i pulled out the manual today and set them accordingly. but when i was done i started it up and fuck it ran like ass. Wouldn't idle so i turned it up to 1500rpm and it idled rough as fuck and it didnt make much power till like 4500rpm where it went hard to its limiter. (7k)

Do the specs need to be different for the different cams?

I was unhappy with the car so i waited till it cooeld down and got a bigger feeler blade and reset them to a bigger gap, Now Its quiet and makes really good power all through the rev range. All thats fine yet it idles at 1000rpm very unstably. sometimes it will stall.

Any ideas? were the valves set at a big gap when i got them for a reason?

[Hauntd ca3]

i would have thought that as long as you set the tappets with a cold motor they would have been fine.
also, big cams wont produce good vacum at idle, which is why it prob wont idle well at 1000.
especially if you dont have a decent after market ecu

[AccordB20A]

they are quite mild cams really. they have kiwi cams 294 or 394 engraved onto the end of them whatever that means

[AccordB20A]

aaand its running stock obd0 still. when i reshell my car into the new chassis i shall make it a "standalone" OBD1 loom from a civic. and do some tuning and see if i can make it fast

[2oodoor]

Just curious what are the specs you're using?

[MessyHonda]

when i had my cams they said to set up to factory valve leash. to make more power you will need to upgrade to OBD1 and tune them

[Dr_Snooz]

I'm surprised valve lash made that much difference. When I had mine out of spec, I had a noisy valve train, but it didn't affect performance. Unless you had them so tight they were not closing. :dunno:

[Vanilla Sky]

I had poor performance from a stock engine because the valves were set too loose, for whatever that's worth.

[AccordB20A]

they were definately closing cause the tappet was loose when the valve was shut like they should be. hell knows why it ran like bum

[2oodoor]

Ok what did you set them at finally, in NZ mm? :)

[AccordB20A]

didnt really look. maybe 0.2XXmm

[Dr_Snooz]

didnt really look. maybe 0.2XXmm

You adjusted according to the manual but didn't look at the specs? Why do I get the feeling that there is more to this story?

[AccordB20A]

at 1st i adjusted them to what the manual says, which is ".08 -.12mm inlet" and ".15-.20mm exhaust". started the car and it wouldnt idle and had no power. so i got the next biggest feeler gauge (0.25something mm i think) and set them ALL to that and it works better now

[2ndGenGuy]

I think that by leaving the lash loose, you're not getting the full lift and duration out of the cams though. So it's like running a more mild cam. I might be totally wrong on that though.

[AccordB20A]

could be why they were loose when i got it. too agressive for the stock ecu and they lost power with them instead of gained. they never tuned it when it was in their ef cause they couldnt get a dizzy to work on it haha

[A18A]

should be mint when you get it chooned with the valves properly adjusted then (Y)

[Hauntd ca3]

kiwi cams are in palmy north. (06) 355 4945
ring them and ask what the numbers mean on the cams.
dont shag around tuning obd1 ecus, pick up a link or something off trade me and do it properly.

[AccordB20A]

probably best to call them up and see. also tuning an OBD1 ecu is just as good as any link ecu as long as its not running CROME lol

[Hauntd ca3]

personally, i'd use an aftermarket ecu. but thats just the way i like to do things.
may cost a bit more to start with, but i still think its the best way to do things in the long run.