Ready to go carb now. This car has a phantom gripe that has kicked my butt since october. The car is a 1989 RS 305 TBI 5 speed and when it's running right, it runs great. But it gets wild hairs up the tailpipe periodically, and has succeeded in embarrassing me pretty much everywhere I go . Pretty much, what it is doing is verifiably a somewhat common problem according to www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Apparently several people have noticed this problem but that web site gives no conclusions or remedies, you have to pay to receive each case I guess. I'll start at the begining. At first I noticed in the mornings after she warmed up if I was sitting at a redlight with heat or defrost on and the radio on after a while RPM`s would drop from 1000 (yeah, that's what she idles at according to the tach- but I don't believe it is correct) to 750 and if that light didn't change soon once that happened, she'd shut off. I paid more attention to what was happening after the first time and noticed not only was she dropping 250 RPM's spontaneously but it wasn't a steady 750. It was actually fluctuating. She was still driveable and I'm in the military which means not only am I broke, but obviously I was very busy at the time of year I bought that car with everything else that was going on so I left well enough alone. Now what she's doing is considerably worse, and I've decided to use the HEI distributer and quadrapuke that are in a box in the back seat of my `78 firebird esprit which is at my grandfathers house in Va. Both parts are for the `78, and the distributer happens to be brand new. I was going to use the one off my `74 c-10 pickup but when I stripped it down for inspection I found that if it would even work initially, it would only be temporarily. I know there are threads and boards here dealing with beefing up ccc quadrapuke's, but I need to know a little something about old school q-pukes. All I know is Holley, but prefer edelbrock. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

In january I performed a major tune up consisting of purolator fuel filter, accel 8 mm wires, bosch platinum single electrode plugs, accel super coil, borg warner select cap and rotor, purolator air filter, purolator breather filter, purolator pcv valve, purolator oil filter, castrol syntec 10w40 oil, engine flush, and fuel system cleaner. I also replaced the well used and abused single outlet muffler and tail pipe with a cherry bomb and echo tube. Shortly thereafter somehow she managed to blow the alternator and starter. I severly drained the battery trying to start her. I replaced them with lifetime components and had the battery charged. Then on april fools day on my way to work I stopped at a conveience store for a soda and the V.A.T.S. took a giant crap. I fixed that for about $20.00 thanks to the info I found at this site vs. $300.00 + towing that the dealership wanted :hail: . Now I went open element edelbrock pro flow air filter and mr. gasket chrome breather filter. Now while I'm driving the ignition flutters briefly to the point of back firing through the TBI and cutting out completely, while simultaneously the tach flutters full range violently between 0 (peg) and 9999 (peg). Sometimes she'll restart right away and sometimes she won't. If I'm rolling sometimes popping the clutch helps but not always. It seems like an ignition problem but when I open the hood, it's hotter 'n heck in there. Last night I found a coolant leak at the radiator side of the upper hose. I felt the hose and it was solid from pressure. I removed the thermostat and left it unrestricted now. She's running like she's too advanced (pinging) regardless of how I adjust the timing. Even past the point where I lose power and throttle response and I know darned well she's retarded. It's like the computer is working against me. Yes, I disconnected the esc and jumpered the aldl. I had to set the timing by ear though. No one I know has a timing light, and I think the tach is wrong.

 

Well today I went ahead and changed the ignition module. From what I can tell idle quality has improved and I think it is fixed, but the problem was somewhat intermittant so it really remains to be seen, but in accordance with what it was doing, it should have given me trouble today during the test drive. If it stays running good, that lets me take my time rebuilding and tuning the q-puke and distributer. I'm very surprised noone has said anythhing about the conversion I am planning. I would llike to view feedback from someone who knows about old school q-pukes and hei's.

 

Looks your fixed your own problem. Forget about the carburetor and just enjoy the car. Carburetors should only be on cars if you want to go the fastest you can and NOT care about mileage, driveability, or having to **** with the carb constantly.

 

Thank you for your reply blackened. At least now I know people are reading and understanding my posting. I'm not sure what I'll do, but it will be governed by a very restrictive budget (like...nothing) I have a `78 bird across the country, as well as a `74 chevy pick up to use as donor vehicles. Unfortunately I think the truck held up so well from the factory that everything outlived the motor/tranny (that's only due to misuse/abuse-not mine) and nothings ever been replaced. There's too much wear on the parts to really use them for my rs. The bird was in the middle of full frame off resto when I left home in `94 to attend tech school. Now I'm in the military and move around too much to bring it with me, not that I would even have the time to work on it. However, almost everything under the hood was brand new/reconditioned/machined/etc. If I could just get my hands on some of those parts...Have stripped truck 350 2bolt in garage now. Bored .060" over with a 400 crank and a good deck milling job and splayed 4 bolt caps is what I'd like to do with it. Then have the stock heads worked at a good head shop. I have a performer manifold and old hei distributer here also but can't use distributer...parts too worn. I have most of the big stuff, just need some $$$ to bring it all together.

 

well i just made the swap. i like this way better. my car wasnt starting because the fuel relay was not priming the engine so i had to spray starting fluid to start the car. that is not the reason i did the swap though, i already had all the parts when the problem started. i would say go with a carb and HEI if the computer is giving you any troubles. my wiring harness is so spliced up and bitched around that i had many problems with it.