Hello
My step son spun a bearing on a 98 honda civic d16 vortec engine. We pulled an engine from a junk yard and it was a honda d16 base engine. We swapped the heads since that was the only difference I could see between the two engines. The car has the original head and distributor. I tried to start it and there is no spark. It has power coming from the black/yellow wire. The resistance of the coil (inside the distributor) passes the ohmmeter test. I cannot read a signal coming from the yellow/green wire. Here is where things get fuzzy. Instructions say to use my DMM on hertz and measure between the + terminal and the wire. 1) I am not confident that test worked. 2) The original block had a knock detector that the new and improved block does not have. I plan to get one when I return the original block to the junkyard. Would the lack of this detector cause no spark? 3) I am more inclined to think there is a bad connection or something else is missing. ex. the testing instructions for the distributor says to make sure both connectors are together. I only see one connector on my harness.
We had spark before we started this mess. what else could I have missed?
Thanks hoader

 

The bottom half of the two engines is the same, so it is OK to swap heads. You need to pull the oil restrictor out of the oil passage in a non-VTEC block before installing a VTEC head. Not having the knock sensor will cause a code, but it would still start and run. Check the ground wires on the thermostat housing, it is VERY easy to forget those when swapping engines. The CEL should cycle on and go off when you turn the key on but don't crank, that shows the ECU is booting up.

Make sure the distributor rotates when you crank. Check for ECU codes. Take cap off and try to draw sparks from the coil output to a grounded test wire. If only weak yellow sparks occur, the coil is blown (ohmmeter test generally won't show that). The coils blow easily by firing into an open circuit.

 

Thanks for your advice! I cleaned all ground connections and did some sanding and wire brushing. "It starts!" but it runs about 3700 rpm's for about 5 seconds then surges between 1300 and 2800 rpm's. It sounds good at the high idle but runs rough whilst surging. I sprayed carb cleaner around the intake manifold with no change. What could cause this? hoader

 

Is the throttle cable too tight? All vacuum hoses hooked up? The only way it can idle that fast is for excessive air to get into the manifold. I don't remember about that one, but some have a plastic fast idle air valve on the thermostat housing which is easy to break.