ignition timing can KILL performance, or KILL your motor. example:
When I got my new motor, the shop forgot to check the timing. I drove the car around for a while, and it felt ok I guess.... I had been without my car for a month, and driving a focus, so it seemed quick.
I went to the track, and my BEST time was a 15.8. I was thinking my new motor was ****ed.
I went home, checked the timing, and it was about 8 degrees retarded. (VERY RETARDED!
). I cranked it up to where its supposed to go, and went back to the track - ran a 14.7
I have a stock JDM motor with intake & V-AFC. your biggest concern from advancing the ignition will be detonation. USDM motors have less of a chance of doing that, as the compression is lower. I wouldn't go anything past 19-20 degrees though.
here is how to set your timing (this applies to a 4th generation prelude H22 - would guess the 5th gen is the same, or close...):
-drive around until you are almost out of gas
-stop at a gas station
-fill up with 93 octane
-drive home
-say 'damnit', get back in the car, and drive to the store and buy a timing light, with a digital readout for RPM.
-go back home
- turn your ignition off.
- look under the dash on the driver side, behind the center console. you will see two plugs hanging there. take the one with the brown & white wire going into it, and stick a paperclip into the plug to jump the harness (complete the circuit)
- turn the ignition on, but don't start the car
- the CE light should stay on
- start the car.
- turn off all lights, AC, fan, defroster, & stereo equipment in the car
- pull the small rubber stopper out of the front of the block. you will see it under the upper radiator hose, next to the header heat shield. yank that thing out of the block, there will be a hole there (don't stick your weewee in there, you'll fawking loose it)
take your timing light, hook it up per the instructions that came with the light (power from the battery, ground to the chassis) the #1 plug wire is the wire that goes to the 2nd spark plug from the passenger side. (the firing order goes, from passenger side to driver side, 2-1-3-4). the timing light clamp just needs to go over that wire.
the light will start flashing. if its a nice timing light, it will display your idle speed. (or you can use your V-AFC for that, if you have one). Adjust your idle screw on the throttle body so that you idle at 700 RPM (or as close as possible.)
turn off your garage light (or do this at night)
take a flashlight, and aim it inside that hole. you will see two a marker that looks like an arrow, on the right side. there are actually two arrows, your point of view should line those up.
take the flashing timing light, and aim it in the hole. turn off the flashlight.
the flywheel has marks like this:
------ <---- top dead center
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
----- <----- within spec mark (-2 degrees)
.
----- <---- 15 degrees (factory timing setting)
.
----- <----- within spec mark (-2 degrees)
.
.
.
.
.
.
you won't be able to see the top-dead-center mark, it will be hidden out of view of the small hole. make sure the timing light, if it has built-in ignition advance, is on '0'. The arrow on the block should be very near the center mark (15 degrees), assuming your timing has never been messed with.
take a screw driver, and with a hammer, notch the distributor cap & base, incase you ever want to easily return it to stock.
loosen the 3 bolts on the distributor (10mm? 12mm? I don't remember...)
with one hand on the gun, and looking in the hole, SLOWLY turn the distributor towards the firewall to advance, toward you to retard. using the '+2' mark (furthest to the bottom) as a reference, go a tiny bit just beyond that.
tighten the distributor, being careful not to move the cap.
recheck the timing, to make sure it didn't move while you were tightening the cap.
turn the car off, pull the paperclip out, and go test it.
the ignition advance setting on the timing light can also be used. to use that, simply set the advance that you want, (18, 19, etc) and line it up with the top-dead-center mark. (NOT THE +15 MARK!)
good luck fawkers!
. My question is can anyone help me to find the distributor and cylinder head please. Something like a bigger picture of the engine bay and then highlight these two parts for me.
, is like two stranger looking at each other. I know I should know my engine better since I study them at university before. But I guess the aircraft engine and car engine just looks a bit different in terms of the way they assemble.
.
Linear Mode
