timing
 

The cam is timed by the crank, ignition is timed by the ecu sensors in the distributor (driven by cam). The point here is that something with my engine timing is most likely ****ed up. I appreciate all the input, but the most confusing thing here has been what marks mean what and for what, not how the engine works... I want the valves and ignition to be working correctly when I finish. I want my FE damn it! Thats why I have two HFs in the first place. I happened upon this website a couple days ago and I can't stop reading, this place is as addictive as facebook was until it lost its "new".

Sorry for the confusion... I was refering to this:
That sounds to me like he's pointing the timing light at the cam gear, which to my knowledge is pointless.

:thumbup: I was confused at the flow of comments, :p

You're right
 

Bobski, You were right, I was trying to time the ignition from the cam gear, which I guess was stupid, I guess what I failed to think about was that I needed to time the spark to the point in the combustion cycle not in the valve timing. Its my first time using the light, and none of the instructions made sense because there were no pictures depicting the marks on the crank until you posted one. I was taking the 3,5, and 2 on the cam to be timing marks. I'll look at it tonight hopefully and have it completely figured out. I really appreciate the help, sorry I made such a stupid mistake.

Well, technically speaking, you could time the ignition from the cam gear. The crankshaft and camshaft are kept in sync by the timing belt, it's just that the crankshaft spins exactly twice as fast as the cam, so you can get a more precise measure of the timing by looking at the crankshaft.
Mistakes come with learning new material. You didn't know, so you made assumtions... No need to apologize.
What's the worst that could happen? You would break your own car.

exactly
 

and then I'd get to fix it.

Ok, I'm having timing issues and maybe a couple other things robbing fuel (cat, injectors?) in my 88 CRX HF 1.5. Today I went out and took off the drivers tire and discovered the plastic splash guard on that side is missing. (seems someone forgot to put it back on, probably when they changed the timing belt). I found the TDC mark on the crank pulley and lined it up with the plastic mark on the lower timing belt cover. Seems like the 1.5 liter marks are lined up on the cam and valve cover mating surface above. Now, when timing. . . if I set the timing light to 12-15 degrees BTDC (with the engine at 500-750 rpms and jumper installed) the marks move counter-clockwise away. I know honda engines are transverse mounted... does this mean that I need a timing light that will do -12 to -15 degrees BTDC, or rather 12 to 15 degrees After TDC?

Set your timing light to 0° and use the 3 ignition timing marks I labeled in my second pic... The one of the crank pulley. The center mark is ideal, the outer two are ±2°, but still within spec.

OK, but what I'm saying is with the timing light set at 0? it flashes when the TDC line passes the plastic marker, when I move the adjuster on the light towards 12-15 like its supposed to be set at the flash moves clockwise and the 3 lines are in the counterclockwise direction.

Also, since the crank and cam seem to be aligned properly, I think the real problem lies elsewhere because I don't think the ignition timing could kill my FE by 20 mpg.