I just recently bought an '88 Trans Am. I was driving it home yesterday when the window fogged up all nice like with a lovely film... YEAH heater core went out literally a couple hours after i bought it. However i replaced that in roughly 30-45 minutes, it was pretty easy!! i was worried after hearing the horror stories! Any ways the thing will not start/run for s*it when it is cold. It is a pain in the *** to get started and even worse to keep it running first thing in the morning and after it has been sitting a while as well.
The previous owner is a COMPLETE retard!! he was setting it up to be a "drag car". So he disconnected the windsheild wipers, cut ONLY the metal lines of to get rid of the A.C. there are probably like 6-8 vacuum lined un hooked/ blocked off. Many electrical connections that arent hooked and and a few wires that are just snipped right off! However it does have Fresh paint, a rust free body and a rust free under carriage as well as a VERY solid and rustless frame!
Anyways back in topic. I was thinking first off to check the coolant temp sensors ( i think?) as far as the not running when cold thing goes. I am probably going to take it to a local shop and have themn just go through and do what they can but figured i would jump in here and see what i could figure out first.


here are a couple pics... yeah it was dirty! has Corvette rally rims.
http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...gAnch=imgAnch1
http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rrent=a4_1.jpg
http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rrent=62_1.jpg

here are pics of a couple connections that arent hooked up.


is there a vacuum line diagrame somewhere? i have a tone of lines that arent hooked up and some niplles that are blocked off/plugged

 

sounds to me like the coolant temp. sensor is not hooked up, it would casue that.

 

Sure sounds like you have a mess on your hands. If you refer to the "new to TBI" sticky posted at the top of this forum you will see a vacuum diagram picture. Also, you should have a sticker under the hood. You may want to refer to the "LT1 can digest" sticky as well. Although you are not swapping cams there are plenty of photos of various sensors and such that may be of aid to you.

Few things that come to mind.

Make sure you have two plugs that go into the rear base of the distributor (that one plug looks like a dizzy plug)

Look at the front of your intake manifold right next to the thermostat housing. That is where your coolant temp sensor is located. If you do not see it, or see a wire coming out of it, chances are that is one of your problem areas.

See if there is a lead that goes into your air intake assembly. The pic on the Left looks like it is either the CTS (as I mentioned above) or the IAT sensor that measures inlet air temperature into the TBI unit.

Both the CTS, and IAT are crucial to have your car running right. In the mean time you may wish to plug your EGR just to verify that the EGR is not hacked and contributing to a poor running condition.