just bringing this over from another section, maybe i'll get better help here



ok, i have an 83 with crossfire... i set the timing, and now it will idle in gear... i managed to get it down the road for the first time since ive had the car. but when i was driving it, it seemed very sluggish. (slow starts, didnt accelerate very fast) now, next day... go to drive it again... idles in gear which was the biggest concern to me so i thought... went to drive it, and it wont go past maybe 10-15 (speedometer doesnt work, so its an estimate) and it will cut off whith the pedal down. now... installed a brand new airtex fuel pump before hand (what they gave me at auto zone) and before you say it no it doesnt have a catalytic converter... it seems hard to rev in park but will wind its way up (tach isnt accurate so i cant say whether it goes all the way to 6500 or not) any help?

yes, i know that u prolly wont ever reach 6500.. it was just a number to explain what i mean...

i really need the help!! im completely confused

 

Sounds like timing to me. Espcially since you just did the timing. Have you recently pulled all the plugs? Be extra sure they're back on in the correct order. Is your timing gun an adjustable advance type gun? If so be sure your adjustable advance was set to zero when you were setting the timing.

Almost everytime I've had really strange issues with how an engine runs, it has ended up being some combination of timing and something stupid I did in my rush to get the timing/ignition stuff done.

 

timings fine... i got it fixed with some guidance from Twin_Turbo!! only thing now is a have a miss... dont know if i already had it and couldnt notice.. or if it just developed out of no where... so... i'm just gonna go ahead and replace the plugs, and wires... and then see how things go from there

 

IM THINKING PLUG WIRES LET US KNOW

 

RESOLVED: originally it was a bad CTS, and MAP. and then the miss came up, and that was burnt wires. it runs. next step, PAINT. thanks for the imput!!

and big6ft6, the timing was slightly off, but not enough to cause the problems, either way, thanks for the help!