I knew it was too good to be true

[Phantomht]

well. i got a drive shaft and had it shortened, cost about 75$ more than i was expecting but whatever.

had started the motor for about a minute, set the timing, sounded great. no alternator bracket so i have nothing to spin the water pump.

ordered alternator brackets and was waiting for them in the mail. was thinking, well, i can hook up the electric radiator fan and maybe clean up some wiring.
i hooked up a switch to the fan, hid all the wires, looked like a nice job, got rid of some other wiring that didnt look like it was hooked up to anything, etc...

tried starting the motor again and noticed straight away the idle was about 500 rpms lower than it should be. gave it a little gas and getting popping and backfire thru the carb. omfg.

went all back thru my wiring 2, 3, 4 times, cant find shit that doesnt look right. even reconnected things to better sources like the MSD HOT and ground. hooked up a ground strap from the head to the frame rail, eliminated the thru-the-firewall coil adapter and mounted the coil on the engine side of the firewall, no difference.

alternator bracket arrived today. if i hadnt touched the wiring a couple nights ago i could be running my car up and down the street terrorizing the neighbors right NOW. but no.

so. i dont know what to do now. thinkin bout going to the junkyard and picking up a HEI and pulling all my MSD stuff out and hooking up the HEI just to see if that will work or not. if it does, then something is screwy with one of my current components, which, were all submerged in the flood we had here in 2006. which sounds like a leading cause for failure on some level, but like i said, everything sounded great and was working fine 2 days ago, then i hook up a fan switch and clean up some wiring and now i got this.

if the HEI works, then i think im just gonna have a better HEI built for me rather than putting the setup i got now back in. MSD Billet distrib, MSD Digital 6+ and MSD coil.

[Batman]

I had the same problem on my 89, turned out to be a bad coil, and it was an MSD

[ILuvPizzaTimes10]

What are you using for a fuel pump. That sounds like lean pop to me. Check all your fueling first. Set base timing again and go from there.

[84ta406]

I can tell you when my alternator fried and I was low on voltage it would pop through the carb as well. When you ran the car without the alternator did you use just the battery?

I'm using a HEI with a internal 50k v coil and a Digital 6+.

[Phantomht]

yeh, running just on battery, but ran it for less than 10 maybe 15 seconds. put the battery on the charger last night, trickle charge and tried it again when i got home from school, same damn thing. im hoping its something cheap and easy like a coil, i can handle that, albeit next week.
painting the new alternator brackets now, will have the alternator installed tomorrow, then all i have to do is find out what the electrical problem is and fix that, then im good to go. maybe ill see if someone has a spare coil i can borrow just to see if that helps.

[84ta406]

I have a spare coil but god knows where it is.

It could also be the carb. Running for 10-15 seconds will hardly tell you if the tune on it is right. I know I had a holley that would act different every time the wind blew lol

[Phantomht]

im starting to think, with my luck, i have an exhaust cam lobe go bad already. gonna try to check that next. if that turns out to be true, ... that will suk. cost me another 250$ to fix that. i should know by tonight if that is the case.
ugh.

[Phantomht]

well. did a compression check on the passenger side cylinders and No.1, 180 - 190 average for each, i then jus spun the motor over and looked at the rockers and all of them had full range of motion.
Next, i moved the timing, which doesnt make sense cuz i had it set just fine and hadnt moved it at all since, but im running out of other things to try., advanced the timing some more and it started and ran with no backfires. what the hell? the timing at 1800rpms is about 38* advanced right now. that cant be right.
so now im guessing i might be a tooth off on the distrib.
im gonna pull it out and set it back in with about 8* advance to start and see what happens.
Question, when you guys are setting a distrib, where do YOU position No.1 ?

[84ta406]

Set timing at 14-16* initial at idle on a warm motor.

When I do timing I set everything at TDC, then I stab the distributor as close the the #1 post as possible. Use timing light to set it at 14-16*.

No vacuum leaks? All the vacuum ports plugged? Mine was doing the same once and I forgot a port.

[Phantomht]

i think i only have 3 vacuum ports, both on carb.
one for the brake in the back.
one in the front im using for the TH350
and one on the side i have plugged off.
are there any more im missing? i woudnt doubt it : P

How do i know for sure if my distrib is off a tooth or not?

[ILuvPizzaTimes10]

How are you running the advance? Vaccuum I hope

[Phantomht]

nope. distib has no vacuum adv.

im still toying with the idea of shelfing the MSD stuff and putting in a HEI with a MSD module, but for next year, not this year.
Car hasnt run since 2006 so i want to use what time i have left just getting some fun out of it for the next couple months.

I already have plans of sending the headers out over winter to get coated. ive painted my super comps 3 times and they look like shit again.
also might put in a gear drive, was watching how the timing chain makes the timing jump around yesterday with the timing light. and my Cloyes chain doesnt have a whole hell of a lot of miles on it.

[84ta406]

Your chain shouldnt be making the light jump around at all. Thats why I'm getting rid of my gears, they suck.

I've seen issues with the MSD distributors before though. You can swap to a HEI and keep the box and see how it works. I wouldnt bother with the modules though.

What manifold are you using? I would start slow and check for any kind of vacuum leaks. Is the carb dripping fuel at all?

[Phantomht]

using an Edelbrock Super Victor Sr., single plane.
and no, no fuel leaks anywhere.
and yeh, my timing mark jumps around a lot, or at least a lot more than i like.
Still leaning towards picking up a fairly cheap HEI. i sorta subscribe to "you get what you pay for", so i wont get a 50$ HEI, but maybe a 100$ unit, like a JEGS brand or something just to see what the differences are if any.

right now, my cam break-in is complete and i have to put the inner springs back in the valve springs... which means i have to set valve lash again, 16 wonderful chances for me to kill my new cam : P
taking the inner springs out while the motor was on the engine stand was fairly easy with my cheapass spring compressor which resembles a bent piece of bar stock. im not looking forward to this although im sure the passenger side wont be too bad, the drivers side is gonna SUK.

pics of my car off the jackstands after i was playing with the trans in the parking lot across the street and my new alternator bracket i got from Bills Hot Rods in Covina, Cal.
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv65/phantomht/Camaro%20Stuff/DSCF0135.jpg
http://i670.photobucket.com/albums/vv65/phantomht/Camaro%20Stuff/DSCF0134.jpg