Hey people....

Here's the deal.
98 civic ex w/ a JDM B18B, Hasport Mounts & supposedly brand new axles.
Swap went perfect. Motor runs great.
Problem.....
Car shakes with throttle @ low rpms, most noticable in 2nd, 3rd & 4th between idle and like 4k rpms & a little with cruzing throttle. Just the front end shakes. I can feel it through the steering wheel & all through the front of the car.....almost like wheel hop.

All bad ball joints replaced. Brand new wheels bearings. One bad tie rod end replaced. Everything else looked really good. Alignment will be done tomorrow. Axles are supposedly brand new but I've heard some people say that it's axles regardless. Some people have said that they have replaced axles like 3 times before finding a pair that didn't shake.

Any opinions or input please as to what could be causing this.

Thanks..
Brad

 

Couple things come to mind. Did they retune it at all, or just toss the motor in?

Is the shaking really bad, or could it be just that you're now using some very solid motor mounts, and you're still used to the old floppy d16 mounts?

 

Yea I was thinking motor mounts.

 

Motor mounts are stiff yes.....but that's vibration....or many I should say. LoL I know that caused by the mounts. This is an out right shake though. Completely like wheel hop when launching hard. Except I know I'm not spinning.

We gave it a MAJOR overhaul before dropping it in....routine maintanance and not so routine stuff. As far as tuning, Nothing right now but a stock PR4 ecu.

 

Alignment and wheel balancing? did you do those? it is an extremely major factor when accelerating hard to have your wheels balanced and aligned properly. Also, do a compression test. If you say it shakes when you rev in low rpms, a set of rings might have gone on one or two of your pistons. If you have a major fluxuation in compression between the cylinders, the people who put the engine didn't change the rings or even check to see if compression was ok.

 

Almost forgot, it could be the differential. If you say its like wheel hop and you have a limited slip differential, the diff could be switching power to either wheels quickly giving you that rough feeling. In honda's correct me if im wrong, but i believe the power wheel is the front right tire and the lsd switches to the other tire when front right tire starts to lose traction. Your diff could be out of whack too. Im just throwing problems out there to get you thinking.

I know it would have to be a "to experience it you have to be there" type of situation, but im just giving you different scenarios as to what would cause vibration of movement in the front end.

Maybe your shocks and springs dont like the extra weight on them? Unless you've upgraded of course. Let me know what you have done to the car and i will give you a different list of things that could be going on.

 

I'm gonna get alignment & wheel balance check done in the next day or two....it's really off (steering wheel turned to about 2 o-clock to the right)....it does not pull to one side or the other though. Steering wheel is just off ALOT after putting in new ball joints, tie rod ends and wheel bearings.

As far as suspension set up.....I have some Tokico HPs w/ H&R Sports....These should easily handle the extra 60 or so pounds.

I need to do a compression check for sure!!! Even though I got the Motor from H Motors & I have never ever heard of a problem motor coming out of them. We'll see what happens w/ that.

Differentail is stock....It came in the tranny w/ the motor. H Motors told me this came out of a clip that had only 40kish miles on it when motor was ripped out.

Really I think it boils down to either a freak bad set of new oem axles, alignment or wheel balance or worst case scenario.....bad rings-compression. I hope not.....Probably though. The motor revs live a Harley or V8 more so than a little smooth high revving Honda motor. You can hear distinct pauses in between firing cycles per cylinder unlike a smooth revving Honda. I thought this might just be an LS motor type thing though. The power seems to be there though as I almost kept up w/ my friends super freak, super strong LS motor. Would bad rings drop my power alot??? If so, I don't see myself keeping up w/ my boy as good as I did.

I searched Honda-Tech and out of the many threads I found w/ the same situation as me...the result came down to axles many times. Probably worse then that though ha???

What y'all think???

 

Definately check compression if you say it sounds like a harley. Honda's have a buzzing sound when revving not a bliping sound like harley's do. Pull the plugs and make sure you are running on all 4 cylinders too. Those motors can run on one cylinder (personally done) so i would check to make sure they are all working.

Definately get an alignment and a wheel balancing done on the car. If you've got new tires chances are you already have them balanced but definately get an alignment done. if it is still doing the bump steer effect, then change your drive shafts like you said and see if that makes it smooth. If not, at least you have a new set of drive shafts. If it still has the problem, then it is definately something of a drivetrain concern. Clutch, pressure plate, transmission, differential, firing problems, and compression problems start to come into play. Even fuel injectors should be checked if engine is still running rough and sounds like a harley. Check timing, DEFINATELY check your timing marks and make sure they are all aligned properly (you can do this in your driveway).

Diagnosing is extremely hard when you dont have the experience from the effect the car is making. Hopefully this gives you somethings to consider checking.

 

By the way, misfiring or no spark in sone cylinders causes extreme vibration and throws off the whole car

 

Timing's perfect. Hope to do a compression check tomorrow. Alignment & balance check appointment soon. The cap, rotor, plugs & wires are all brand new oem stuff. I also have a brand new Exedy stage 1 clutch kit w/ an ACT street lite flywheel, fastened w/ ARP clutch & flywheel bolts torqued to factory spec. I'll have to pull each plug wire while running later tonight to see what happens.

One more piece of info....the bliping sound and shake we speak of only happens while driving at low rpms or cruising at low rpms on throttle. Not while coasting at all. The car idles perfectly soundwise as well, besides 1 missing vacuum hose causing a little vacuum leak a causing the rpms to go up the down slowly while idling.