On my 85 305 tpi it seems like the car has no low end. I have a 3:42 rear with ok tires and the timing at 10 and it wont bust them lose at all from a stop. It is a total dog till about 2500rpm. Is that just mine or is it the same with all 85's.
Thank you

 

Nooo, TPI should be a beast from a stop. Esp the '85 version. It was the most powerful 305 auto in any third gen. It sounds like you are in serious need of a tune up. How many miles? Got any pics?

 

Well, this motor sat for ten years at a junk yard. When i bought my car the motor was bad. So i got that one from the yard. They said it has like 60,000 miles. I put new fuel injectors, cap,plugs wires, and coil on it like less then two months ago. Even when i first had the motor put in about 2 years ago it has always been like this. I even have a rebuilt 700r4. Sorry no pic Its the factory silver .

 

Timing is too far advanced, should be 6* BTDC in drive.

 

You said you got another 305 from the junk yard????? What did it come out of? All 305's are not created equal. The 85 had more cam than the 86-89 305's. My 85 would spin both tires for 15 feet and that was with posi and soft tires. With my 350.... forget traction period.......

First, the timing usually improves up to 8 degrees, at 10 you are dropping off, especially if you have a low performance 305 in your car now.....

Second, check your catalytic converter for plugging. You can unbolt it or do a vacuum check, either will tell you if it's plugged. Also, how good is your MAF??? Are you running open loop all the time or does it run smooth????

 

The motor is from another 85. I have no cat, it runs good just that it has no low end. So you think i should retard my timing back to 6 or 8.

 

Your just going to have to play with it back it down to 8 and take a drive and see if it runs better. If that doesnt change anything go to 6.

I currently have mine at 8 when I had it at 10 it didnt want to idle to well.

 

Advancing the base is adding timing EVERYWHERE


If you push knock, it will pull out MORE timing, than if you were to never have touched knock (normally)

So try a stock base again

 

Ok, i will redo the timing this weekend. My idle moves around alittle bit to. Also sometimes when it down shifts from third or from over drive it spark knocks.

 

i have no problems with my '85.

well, other than the fact that the motor is in boxes in my garage currently

 

Hi
There is a connector on the computer hardness located back near the rear end of the passager side of the engine. The connector should be open whenever you set base timing on a TPI motor. The computer on a TPI will run the advance as high as it can upto the point where engine knocks(the knock sensor). So if base timing is not correctly set then the computer will be confused. The DIST on these TPI motors are solid, there are no advance weights etc. All advance is controlled by the computer.

Also check you fual filter, its located in the rear of the car where the fual line comes out of the tank. I had the same problem last year and after replacing the fual filter, all of my power came back.

 

Ya i know about the connector, So it is better just to leave the base timing at 6 then to advance it sense the computer does all of that.
Thanks

 

Just reset everything back to factory specs untill you get this problem corrected. After that you can try playing with the timing and all to see what the engine likes best (never got my 85 to run right at anything but the factory 6*)

Since you got this engine used you may want to replace the harmonic balancer. You also said that it had sat for a while, the rubber elastomer on it may have dry rotted and allowed the outer ring to slip and the timing mark is no longer valid. Your timing may be further off than the 3-4 degrees you think you have it set to.

 

Mines a 85 305 TPI, IROC Silver also (rare). You should easily be able to get by with 8*-9* base timing with dist timing advance disconnected at idle(re-connect when done timing, of course), assuming you burn 92 octane. Within reason, the more base timing you can run SAFELY, the more responsive the engine will feel all around. If you think the harminic balancer could be "off" some, try unhooking the knock sensor for test purposes ONLY, and start advancing the base timing 2* at a time, and listen for ping at WOT. When it "begins" to ping at WOT, go back 2*, re-connect the knock sensor, and leave it there. Also, check that your TPS is set properly at 0.54, key on-eng off! Sounds like you've done a tune-up in the other areas, should be OK. If tuned correct, that car should have more bottom end torque than the tires can hold.