Civic-EG.com Forum 3.3.1

- Sat Feb 09, 2013 8:03 am #326005 How to properly time a k series engine

today im ripping into an 02 acura rsx type s k20a2, my friend chirs is having timing issues since he purchased the car 2 months ago, he has a comptech supercharger and a kpro s-100 form comptech

im going to post up pictures of my civic as well so you know what you need to do in a eg, dc, ek chassis

heres a simple list of tools needed for the job

1/4" ratchet
10mm socket 1/4" drive (short and long)
12mm socket 1/4" drive (short)
14mm socket 1/4" drive (short)

3/8" ratchet
10mm socket 3/8" drive (short and long)
12mm socket 3/8" drive (short and long)
14mm socket 3/8" drive (short and long)
17mm socket 3/8" drive (short and long)
19mm socket 3/8" drive (short)

you can use regular box end open end wrench if you dont have the ratcheting style like i do

10mm ratchet wrench
12mm ratchet wrench
14mm ratchet wrench
17mm ratchet wrench

chain/pvc pipe wrench
(or impact and air compressor)

a decent sized nail

jack

jack stand

lug nut socket

pliers

bench vice

piece of a 2x4 if your scared about possibly damaging you oil pan with the jack

bucket to drain oil into

parts needed

hondabond or black silicone rtv
valve cover gasket
4.5 quarts of oil
brand new oil filter

if your not cheap like chirs lol
timing chain
tensioner
oil pump chain
front timing chain guide
rear timing chiain guide
rear oil pump chain guide
front oil pump chian guide

the best prices on the web for quality oem timing guide and chain is at www.clubrsx.com

click the parts section at the top of the page below the banner you cant miss it

here are some pictures of my civic eg jdm k20a to get started.

I am working on a rsx today, but I wanted to show you eg guys that there is not much difference in the process between the rsx and eg

youll have to jack your car up, brace the engine and pull this mount



next you will be taking your valve cover off



Now that your vc is off turn the crank pulley until its marks line up with the ones on the timing cover, zip that 19mm bolt out and your ready to take off the timing cover

lastly you will be pulling the timing cover off as carefully as possible there are 2 hidden bolts on these



OK! on to the rsx!

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:10 pm #326042 here we go!

start by jacking your car up and placing a jackstand securely underneath the body line towards the tire





and the bay im working with today

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:20 pm #326043 start by removing the tire, i did not take a pictue of this process because it is self explanatory

if you have a strut bar in your swapped civic take it off so you can remove the valve cover

ive seen this problem alot on many k's, remember to put some anti seize on these bolts for the coil pack cover...



take off all 6 nuts on the valve cover when you get the coil pack cover off



next step is taking the grommits off, they like to stick to the bolt and valve cover so give it a little help with a flat head screwdriver, also remove your coil packs carefully DO NOT DROP THEM!!



youll have something like this when your done with that step



now you need to follow the wire loom to the rear left of the engine, the wires are connected to your vtec pressure sensor, oil pressure sensor, crankshaft position sensor, and your vtec solenoid sensor, carfully press the tabs and pull to remove them from the sensor



now you are halfway able to remove the valve cover, for those of you running an lines you get the idea, remove the pipe at the right hand side of the valve cover using a flat head screwdriver and pliers also



now you have this!

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:30 pm #326045 if you have an air box remove it, if you have a cold air intake no need to remove it



once you have access to the driver side of the head, you will see these camshaft position sensors, the rear i believe is the cylinder position sensor.



you need to remove these sensors 2 10mm bolts easy peasy

now on to the power steering pump and serp belt

we have a supercharger so removing the brackets associated with the tensioner are difficult since the bracket acts in place of the tensioner



you would use a 14mm wrench and pry it forward releasing the tension, then remove the serp belt form the ps pump

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:46 pm #326048 heres a pic of me removing this pulley system to get the belt out of the way



and more parts on the ground



ps pump out of the way



you should remove your vtc solenoid sensor, (middle of timing cover)

ok, in the ep3, rsx, and civic si's they have subframes, in my eg its way less time consuming to do a chain replacement or repair
remove these 3 10mm bolts with either a wrench or a short 10mm 1/4" drive socket and ratchet



use your 19mm 3/8" and ratchet to turn the crank pulley before removing it, line up those marks the best you can, doesnt matter if its on the white or the red right now, the real timing happens behind the cover



i know this is a bad pic, but i was hungry for tacos, you will get the basic idea, looking from the top of the engine down you can see the triangle mark on the timing cover line up either the white or the red agian does not matter quite yet

check to see if your camshafts are lined up also

Last edited by kylenjdm93 on Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:46 pm #326098 once you have the harmonic balancer pulley off you can get to the remaining timing cover bolts, on the k20a, k20a2, and k24a2 engines you have an oil cooler, this line comes across the timing cover and needs to be removed part way, the quickest way with a car full of coolant to remove it is to take it off at the water pump 8mm head bolt



once this is off, you will be able to get the timing cover off when every bolt is off, if its hard to pry off then you have missed a bolt!!!!

once the cover is off, make sure to keep an eye on your timing components

make sure you pay attention when installing this little guy



its a counter for the crank sensor.... it only goes on one way, very simple HONDA wrote "outside" on it



im going to get a better picture of the timing chain components and timing marks today when I get to pulling it all apart,

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sun Feb 10, 2013 5:53 pm #326099 chirs's k20a2 is not engaging vtec at the moment, I have eliminated the following: knock sensor = good, o2 sensors = good, coolant sensors = good, timing = off by 3 teeth, vtec solenoid = actuates properly, oil pressure = a little low.

luckily I have a spare oil pump that is good laying around my garage, in fact I have 2 spare engines in my garage with good parts on them laying around.

Im going to replace his vtec solenoid with a known working one, remove his camshafts, oil pan, and oil pump

the previous owners doused every timing part with so much silicone it has to be in the oil galleys and must be why he has low oil pressure, there is oil getting to the camshafts but not enough to engage vtec

I guess we will find out today

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:03 pm #326101

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Mon Feb 11, 2013 12:08 am #326118 I have 60 more pictures to post up so you all can see exactly how to do this.

I will slowly be posting up the rest of these pictures when I take brakes from the work.

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer

- Mon Feb 11, 2013 4:26 am #326143 if you dont own this tool below, you can use a decent sized nail or allen wrench you will need 2!



i used an axle nut and the crank bolt so i can turn the crankshaft as i need to get it back into time




line up the marks on the crank sprocket and the block before you touch anyting!!!



I adjusted the crank so you could see what you want when you have the crank lined up if your replacing the chain, in our case its off by 3 teeth



here is a better look at it



so your engine is still in time? perfect, now on to locking the camshafts in plce so they wont move on you when removing the tensioner and installing the chain back in



(no you don't need to remove the sensors, but I like to replace the seals because im there anyway....

I own the tool from Honda bought it at clubrsx.com for 20.00 you can use an allen wrench or a nail if need be





ok, now we have our camshafts locked in place were going to be removing some parts here are some pictures of what we need to replace, you should have purchased a timing component kit for your K







remove the upper timing guide



remove the timing tensioner




adjust the intake camshaft so it lines up with the exhaust camshaft




lined up! when installing the timing chain you will notice 3 gold or bronze links, the two closest together go on the dots on the upper parts of the cam gears




once you have the tensioner out, if you purchased a new one skip the next 2 steps, if you have a toda, hybrid, skunk2, you can re use them a couple times



tensioner being put in the vice, you need to press the upper tab on it while turning the vice





once you have the camshafts aligned properly you can adjust the crank till the marks are lined up as well


hold the chain



install tensioner

"smoke me a kipper ill be back before breakfast" - ace rimmer