my car is running like complete garbage right now, i think its badly out of tune. Ive got new plugs and wires and cap and roter on the way, they should be here Monday. After those go on, im gonna need to fine tune the thing (i.e- timing, carb jets, idle screws etc). My first qustion would be how to time the thing. Theres a mark on the balancer, but i cant seem to find any pointer to time it to, so can someone enlighten me as to where i might be able to find it? my second qustion would be what the timing should be set at? i have no idea what it should be. then comes the carb tuning. I am complete and total idiot whe it comes to carbs, the only thing i know how to do is replace them, so could someone give me details on setting the jets and idle using very simple terms, and not forgetting to mention where to find "that one little screw"? just pretend like your talking to a 6 y.o when you describe it . thanks for your help in advance...

oh yeah, it's a 350 with non CC qjet and vaccum adv HEI dist.

one more thing. the vaccume proportioning valve in front of the air cleaner isn't currently connected to anything but the vaccume can. Should it be? if so, what? again use small descriptive words

thanks again

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My 1986 Z28 and more!!
85 IROC w/ 1364 miles!

R.I.P Dale Earnhardt

 

Running like garbage is a fairly relative term. What exactly is it doing? Unless you modified the motor leave the carb jets alone. You can't adjust anything but the idle speed. Most likely it's fine. If not rotate the linkage and you will be able to see what screw the linkage is contacting to set the idle speed. That's the one to turn. Look for a vacuum leak it's the most likely cause of your car running poorly if it's not the ignition system. Most likely it's a vacuum line that has gone bad. The pointer should be seen from directly on top of the motor looking between the front of the engine and the water pump. Set the timing to about 10 degrees BTDC for good performance. Hope this helps, good luck!

 

let me be little more specific. at idle, the rpms jump all over the place, and it sometimes stalls for no apparent reason. when cruising at low speeds(20 mph) the car surges and is very rough. when accelerating, as you push the gas pedal smoothly in more and more, it tries to die, then surges to life. when in any gear if the rpms drop below like 1600 rpms, it sputters and tries to die, until you downshift. i hope thats a little more helpful, if not i'll try to describe it more.

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My 1986 Z28 and more!!
85 IROC w/ 1364 miles!

R.I.P Dale Earnhardt

 

Big time vacume leak. 1st try to replace the carb or tbi gasket. if that doesent help.
you might have to replace the manifold gaskets. You might want to hook up a vacume guage to see where its reading it should be in the 17/18 range. the timing tab should be straight down from the water pump. very hard to see dunno why gm put em there. as far as setting the timing you need to fing out what altitude your at its like 2' for ever thousand feet abouve sea level. example Ca is at 4 deg and CO is at 10/12. Gl

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85 Camaro RS 350/350 stealth intake, holley street avenger 670
true dual exhaust. "ButtStang killer"
82 firebird 305 all original - the cat and smog crap."All show No go"

 

SS-Chevy is right sounds like a honkin vacuum leak. But I have seen the exact same symptoms be the result of a timing chain that jumped. So, take it one step at a time and look for vacuum leaks first. SS said 4 degrees in CA. Okay that is the stock setting, go to 10 and you'll be happier as you'll pick up about 10 Rear wheel HP, everyone likes cheap HP.

 

there is at least one vacume leak i can think of without even looking at the car. The vacume proportioning valve that is in front of the air cleaner has one or two hoses going to vacume can, and then about four hoses that go to NOTHING. they are open and just lying there, no caps or nothing. would this be the problem? If so where should the hoses be going? I've got a non comp. qjet right now w/ a vacume adv. hei. as far as i know, theres only one vacume line coming off the carb and it goes to the Dist. i think this might solve my little problem!

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My 1986 Z28 and more!!
85 IROC w/ 1364 miles!

R.I.P Dale Earnhardt

 

the valve should connect to a couple plugs in the front of the carb, then make sure the rest of the holes are plugged up

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1984 Trans Am Coupe
700-R4 Tranny
Mods:
K&N
Rebuilt carb
Rebuilt heads
3" Mandrel Exhaust
Hooker Headers
Lunati Cam
1" Lowering Springs
Clarion CD
Kicker Speakers
2 MTX 4000
Pearl White Paint

"Live It To The Last"