This is an 88 firebird with TBI

So the car has kind of been stuttering the past week while accelerating. Not all the time, but often enough to be a pain. Tried cleaning a few things and replaced the air filter as it was obviously clogged, started the car and let it idle, and as soon as I hit the gas it just died. No longer starts. After a few cranks (at the point it usually fires up) I hear a slight stutter but no go.

Need some guesses as to where I should start first. I can still hear the fuel pump whir with power applied. Possibly the fuel filter? It probably hasn't been replaced since the Cold War (seriously ). How would I go about checking other aspects of the fuel system? I've got limited tools and can't exactly buy more at this point.

 

re[;ace the fuel filter and see what it does. was it shooting any smoke while running?

 

Nah I didn't see anything out the pipes at all.

Yeah the book suggests clogged fuel filter. I went out to start the replacement and it started raining. Rain is forecasted for like two days. I love my car... Guess I won't find out until later if it fixes it haha

 

UPDATE:

Turns out I'm a moron and didn't put the dist cap on properly (too dark to see how the cap lines up with the areas where those elec plugs are.... Somehow I got it to secure but it was totally messed. Well I just put the cap back on properly and went to start it but heard a loud bang. I popped the air cleaner lid off to see what was happening and it was like a f**king campfire in my throttle body. This means the timing is completely bonked or something?

 

Doing some more thinking in regards to the latest update... How likely would it be that the dist cap/rotor are simply screwed since I didn't have it aligned properly? I'm betting that it smashed the contacts or something. That wouldn't have changed any timing would it? I won't be able to check on this until I get home but if that is the case I'll just go out and pick up a new cap and rotor to try.

 

Ahh ok so the rotor smashed into the side of the cap and shattered the plastic piece that holds it in the correct space. When I opened the cap it had spun 180 degrees. Replaced and now runs.