Like it says I have a non computer carb edelbrock 1406 and the stock distributor. Its on a 350 i just swapped in about 500 miles ago. It runs fine but a little down on power i think due to the stock intake and exhaust from the 305.

My question is will this hurt anything like performance or anything because the car died on the way home from work the other day. Everything seemed fine temp, oil pressure, it just quit with no noise or anything. I took off the hood and tried to start it back up it turned over and over but didnt sound like it was getting any spark or trying to fire. I think its the coil (on top of the dist right??)

I didnt put a new one on when i swapped the motor so since it just died and wont crank i hope that is all it is. Im planning on a new distributor, intake and some exhaust in the next few months but im broke right now and need to just get it on the road until i can get this done.

Im thinking a good vacuum advance distributor will give it a little more kick since i dont think the computer controlled one is advancing the timing when i get on the throttle. You guys let me know if this is gonna hurt anything it doesnt knock or anything just doesnt get on it like my 2000 gmc with a 327 does and it is one heavy *****. Thanks for the answers in advance guys

Oh yeah 85 trans am orgin 305 carb non HO LG4 motor 350 bored 0.040 over, is from like a late 70's early 80's truck everything went back on the new motor except the carb, alt, starter... I got a very high torque from autozone they said it was the strongest they carried, oh all the normal stuff like stat and sensors are new.

 

well you are missing alot of timing advance due to having non ESC controlled carb, all youll have is vacuum advance, there are no advance weights in an EST HEI if you have noticed, but the truck site shows a way to swap a couple wires at the engine control module under the dash and be able to keep the ESt HEI, i dunno if i can find the page now or not, will try though.

ignition module in the HEI is probably getting hot and killing the car, common problme with old stock modules, get another one

 

More like missing all timing advance, there's no vacuum advance either (at least there wasn't on my 84 lg4).

 

Yes I'm missing all the timing advance there is no vac hookup to it so it is just staying at the base timing i think. It will still throw you back in your seat if you stomp the gas though and im getting about 21mpg hwy and 16.5 city mpg so not too bad for the way i drive lol. my truck gets worse ha. Im for sure getting a new dist in the next 2-3 weeks.

When it broke down i was miles away from home and couldnt get ahold of anyone so I just got it towed to a shop gonna let them fix it and take off the cat while they are at it there are some exhaust leaks in that area causing me to not be able to roll the windows up without choking. I just told them to take care of the problem with the spark and the exhaust leaks so maybe it wont be too expensive.

Is the timing not advancing going to hurt anything or just going to lower the performance. I just drive to work and home and to the auto parts store for supplies so its not getting a hard workout.

Any suggestions on what kind of setup to get a good spark from to give it a little extra "kick". I know you guys have tried out a few combinations and can help me from trying something that wont work as well as it could with another component.