I bought an 88 convertible camaro. I have 101 questions because it might have a problem.

Car specs: V8 Engine, 355 HP. Automatic trans w/ shift kit. No choke. 3000 stall conveter. B&N 250 blower. Aluminum V-TEC heads.

I went there, and he just took the car out of the garage from winter sotrage. He washed it down before we came with a pressure hose (also under the hood), he doesnt know much about cars.

So he tries to start it up, it doesnt start he blames it on "he flooded the engine trying to start it" he was pumping the gas and had the starter going for quite some time. He got it going finnaly, then he switched it in to D (drive) and the whole car clunked forward and then the engine turned off.

1. When he switched gears the whole car pushed forward is that a sign of a bad tranny? (P.S. it has a shift kit on it if that matters)

So then his friend came, his friend knows more than him about cars, his freind said when he washed under the hood he could of got air in the distributor. So then they open the hood and he takes off the intake. Then he tries to start the car again and white smoke comes out of the intake. It's just a puff of white smoke it's not constant.

2. Why did white smoke come out of the intake?

His friend blamed the white smoke on its burning the liquid out (I didnt know if he meant the gas it was flooded with or the water).

So he keeps trying to turn the car on and a puff of more white smoke comes out. After a little while he finnaly gets it going again and he rev's the engine high and quickly goes into drive, there he goes! Well... he went for about 20 seconds then he turned around slowly (lower rpm) and it stalled again. So then he knew the battery was starting to go since he was trying to start it so much. He was right, he got his battery charger and put it on and it started right up.

So then he starts to drive back and BOOM, a pop came out of the muffler.

3. Why did a pop sound come out of the muffler? (P.S. he puts low octane gas in the car if that helps)

His friend convinced me that he got water in the distributor when pressure washing under the hood. So I said what the hell, it looks good and he says he drove it all around last summer it worked fine, so I bought the car. Hopefully it will work fine when it comes on the delivery truck wednsday.

Now I am stupid, you have to understand I don't know a lot about mechanics. So could you please give me a description of what these things do:

4. What does this part do, "B&N 250 blower"?

5. What about this one, "700' tranny w/shift kit"? (I think the shift kit helps it shift faster am I right)

6. What does the "3000 stall converter" do?

7. What's a distributor, and would getting water in it cause the side effects listed above?

 

7. Yes.


That should answer the rest of the questions. Remove the distributor cap and rotor. Dry everything in sight, then dry it some more.

1. The distributor is what routes the high voltage spark from the ignition coil to the correct spark plug at the correct time.

2. If the spark timing is incorrect, fuel that can accumulate in the intake could be ignited by a spark from a cylinder with an opened intake valve. This is called "backfire", and is expected in an engine with spark timing problems.

3. Excess fuel can also accumulate in the exhaust system, and be ignited by a spark from a cylinder with an opened exhaust valve (See above). This is called "afterfire" and is also expected with an engine suffering a timing problem.

4. Not a clue. Typo?

5. You got it, provided the shift kit was installed correctly.

6. The stall RPM (K=Factor) is the RPM that a torque cionverter will allow the input shaft and pump (from the engine) to turn before it forces movement of the turbine and output shaft. A higher stall speed will allow the engine to develop more RPM and power before applying that to the transmission input, thus allowing faster acceleration of the vehicle.

 

35 HP???

Quote:

Automatic trans w/ shift kit. No choke. 3000 stall conveter. B&N 250 blower. Aluminum V-TEC heads.

No. Just a sign that the idle is set really high. And that's less likely to happen with a 3,000 stall TC.Could be from a blown head gasket or an intake gasketRunning lean more than likely.That's about the same as a 6-71 blower. Pretty big blower with two carbs.Yes it does.See Vader's post.See Vader's post.

 

First off, thanks for answering my questions!

I have some more,

1. Could a wet distributor cause spark timing problems, or do you think it's another part causing that problem?

2. When the engine was running, I saw some specks of liquid fly out of the exhaust. Is this water? Is it a bad sign?

3. What about the transmission problem, when the car fly's forward when you change gears. It's sort of like whiplash when u change gears. Could this be caused by installing the shifter kit wrong? Or what is this caused by? Does the transmssion need a rebuild?

4. Where do you install the shifter kit?

 

Thanks for helping!

I think the RPM was low, like at 1 or 1.5, are there any other possibilities? Maybe engine mount wise?

Blown head gasket??? That doesnt sound good, it seemed to work AFTER that happened, would that be possible to run an engine after a blown head gasket?

Whats a 3000 stall TC? Is that the stall conveter? What's TC?

What does running "lean" mean?

BTW, wouldnt blowing a head gasket on a v8 5.0L pro built engine with 80,000km (non racing) be near close to impossible when reving below 5?

 

1, yes, water in the distributor will cause many problems with firing the plugs at the right time.

2, it probably was, it probably isn't a problem as it is normal for some water to come out of the tail pipes on a cold motor.

3, making the trans shift harder is part of what a shift kit does. its probably fine, although depending on how hard it shifts, it may be too much for your liking.

4, the shift kit goes inside of the trans, mostly in the valve body.

edit,
if it was running around 1500 rpm when it was dropped into gear, the car would jump more than normal.

a motor will start & run with a blown head gasket unless both head gaskets are completly gone, depending on how bad it is, it may not be noticeable for a few days or cause the motor to over pressure the cooling system & blow the hoses or heater core or the radiator out with in minutes of startup.

the TC is the torque converter.

running lean means the motor isn't getting enough fuel.

 

3. So theres a big chance that the car jumping forward whith my foot on the brake while switching into drive at 1 or 1.5 rpm is the shifter kit?

Other than that thanks sooo much you guys helped me a lot and made me more confident in my purchase. I really appreciate it.

 

Incidentally, the term "V-Tec" is a Honda trademark for a timing drive with slightly variable valve timing. If the heads are what I believe they might be, they are most probably "Vortec" heads - a GM trademark.

And even on its worst day, a SBC engine on three cylinders could make 35HP.

As for the distributor, moisture in the distributor can cause the spark energy to divert from its intended path to the path of lesser resistance - Either through the moisture to a different spark plug terminal or to ground. In either case, the engine would run poorly if at all.

It is possible to deform and damage a head gasket even while cranking, so RPM is not necessarily an issue.

Moisture from the exhaust is completely normal until the engine and exhaust system are completely warmed to operating temperature. On very cold days (-30°C and below), that may be impossible, but I believe it isn't quite that cold there right now.

A "shift kit" typically includes an altered spearator plate for the transmission valve body, possibly some altered valve spools, an accumulator spring or two, a servo piston and spring, and a governor/oil pressure control device. All of that would be installed in the transmission valve body or externally under a servo cover.

TC=Torque converter.

Lean= Fuel/Air mixture that has less fuel mass per unit mass of air than the presumed "correct" ratio of 14.7:1. Typically, 14.7pounds (or grams, ounces, KG, etc.) are mixed with one pound (or gram, ounce, KG, etc.) of fuel.

Rich is the opposite condition - More fuel than the "correct" ratio.

If the engine RPM is higher than is should be at idle, shifting into gear will cause the vehicle to lurch as you describe. That's an easy adjustment.

I have a question. What kind of fuel system is installed on the engine? Is it a carburetor? That alone would drop the price several hundred $$$ for me - Either Canadian or US.

 

at 1500 RPM, most any car will jump when put into gear.

 

Emm. I was thinking E-tec. Edelbrock.

 

Oh didnt know that, thanks!!!

Sorry it's 355 rear HP.

Its a dual intake carburator I think. It has a nice big intake filter in coordination with the hood.

What do you mean drop the price? Of gas?

Thanks a lot if you guys have any questions or anything to add i'll be here

P.S. There's a little bit of rust on the underside of the car, how would I properly remove it, and should I put any grease or anything on it afterwards. The thing is I don't want to sand right through the metal making it more prone to break but I want to make it look good.

 

Pretty sure he means drop the price of the car. Carbs often use more gas than FI. Especially if yours is supercharged. (that's what 'blown' means)

How bad is the rust on the bottom? If you have holes and stuff, it's time to get a new floorpan from a junkyard car. If it's just surface rust, I wouldnt worry about it. If you really wanna take care of it, sand it and use either a rust converter (chemically alters the rust and neutralizes it) or POR-15. But you have to spray that stuff on.

Oh, and about the choke. That's quite likely why it stalled. Not having a choke in Canada is a bad thing. The choke helps the engine run when it's cold. Without it, well, it'll stall.

 

The rust on the frame is just surface, but I didn't really get my hands dirty with it yet, the car will be here wednsday so I can check the condition. I guess I should just brush it hard with my fingers and see how much rust I get off and if its too thin... hmm, is there a way to get a new frame for a car? Or would I have to buy an entire new car?

Also about the floorpan, there was a rusted hole in it once, and this mechanic welded some metal on there and this other guy said he did a REAL nice job so im not too worried about that, but is it really possible to get a new floorboard for your car? Thats amazing I thought they were welded to the frame or something.

About the choke, I really don't mind im going to be driving it in summer and winterizing it. The one thing I need to do is check inside the engine for rust because this guy didnt winterize it. Im guessing that would take many hours to do that, how would I check for rust inside the piston holes and the rings, is it easy to replace rings?

 

Oh yea and I wanted to ask, how do you know when a transmission is getting shot?

Because I always thought when it clunked forward like that it was getting shot, but im wrong lol.

 

uh, well first of all, you dont have to worry about rust INSIDE the engine. And you know the piston rings are shot when the thing smokes when you gas it. And that basically means it's rebuild time.

They are unibody cars, so you cant get a new frame.

Yeah, the floorboards are all welded in and stuff. People go to the junkyard and just cut out the entire thing, or just the section they need. Then they cut along the same lines on their car, and weld the new one in.

..Or they scrap the car.

 

You can actually buy a full new floorpan for the third gen f-body cars. it does require welding skills.most of them however lay inside the current floorpan of the car and are welded over it. At least that has been my experience with them. As for some of the other questions I am sure at some point someone was hoping you would just post a picture of you engine compartment. Pictures makes things alot easier to understand because they can see what you are talking about.

 

when you get the car home, find the distributer. follow a spark plug wire back if you have to. figure out how to remove the cap. thats the part on top with the eight wires coming out of it.spray wd40 all over the inside of the cap and everything underneath it. put the cap back on, check that the wires are down snug, then start it up.

 

Thanks a lot everyone this forum is amazing you guys are really helpful. I just wish I knew as much about cars as you guys do lol.

Ok so I know how to follow the spark plug wires, the car will be here the day after tomorrow, i'll take some pictures of it just for you guys

So if theres any water in the distributor ill wipe it out, then spray wd40 all over it? Wouldnt that have the same effect of water?

 

WD40 will displace any water that may still be under the cap.
you don't want to drown the dist with it. 15 - 20 seconds of spraying everything should be enough. dump any liquid in the cap after you spray it.

be sure to post a pic or 2 when you get the car so we can see what you have.

 

Wow you guys are real smart, ill be sure to take before and after pics of the distributor. 2 more days, I cant wait!!!

 

I cant wait to see it either. You've definately come to the right place to learn about your thirdgen. This really is the best place on the web for it. Anyone and everyone is on here. From like sixty year-olds who have worked for GM for most of their lives, to eighteen year-olds like me who are just nerds and spend all of their free time learning about cars, and even walk around with a pushrod in their pocket.

Welcome to the life.

 

i wouldn't call myself smart,.. experienced yes. if i were smart, i would have a factory HEMI powered 71 cuda or 2 along with a first gen rag topped camaoro in the garage,.... well i can dream

 

No, that's if you're rich.


Plus, I like how I can get an assload of power from a smallblock without having to spend a lot of money on it.




...there was a time when I wanted a 88-91 Honnda CRX SI, and I wanted to do a uni wiper mod, bump the engine up to about 150 horsepower with a CAI, muffler, and some stickers, get a billet short shifter, 5" tach, momo steering wheel, mold-on hood/roof scoop, underbody neons, put wheel spacers on so the tires would stick out ever so slightly.. the list goes on and on. Then I got smart and bought a thirdgen.

To think, I was going to spend enough money on clear corner lights and euro tails to buy a new carburetor....

 

i think the correct phrase would be either filthy rich or more correctly, obscenely rich

if you ever get a chance to take a ride in any old true muscle car, take it, all i can say is, WOW, what a rush.
there was a time when you could go buy a new car, go straight to the track & turn 13s or quicker on the stock factory tires, & not spend a ton on buying it.
factory horse power still hasn't gotten to where it once was.

if i understand right what pixeldev said about this car, im thinking that it is pretty quick, im hoping he is willing to take it to the track sometime & post up numbers.

 

I do not think that the horse power is not where it once was back then. but the fact that the cars of today actually are a bit heavier. especially our third gen cars compared to the rest of the camaro generations. Nor are today's cars built as well as they used to be. Easy to put a frame under an old first gen . can even be done with a second gen.. almost impossible to do with the third and fourths though.. which does not do any significant benefit to the later cars stock.

 

Eek, Well I got the car today. I drove it some on the highway and a line bursted. I think its the power steering (hopefully). I was able to drive home ok. So im going to the mechanic tomorrow because it needs to be saftied anyways but once everything is fixed and dandy ill get yall some pics.

 

any pics yet?

 

A line bursted eh?

Was it hard to steer (like reaaally hard to steer) after the line bursted? If no then it probably wasnt power steering.

Did the car die off almost immediately? That would lead me to believe it was a fuel line. If no, then the only other thing it could have been was a radiator hose.


Radiator hoses are cheap and easy to fix, no big deal




It sounds like all of your problems ought to be fixed with drying out the distributor.... I didnt know about the WD40 trick... I'd have thought that would have caused a fire lol.


The car dying when you put it into gear can be too high of idle, as well as the timing being off (distributor).

The puff of smoke coming out from the carb is a tell-tale sign of the timing being off (distributor), I wouldnt worry about your headgasket unless there's lots of smoke coming out of your tailpipe, or your oil looks brown/milkshake-like.

The backfiring is a tell-tale sign of the timing being off (distributor)

The liquid coming out of the tailpipe is a tell-tale sign in a scenario like this, that the catalytic converter is working overtime to get all of the unburnt fuel, meaning that the ignition system isnt working properly (distributor).

 

I don't know about you.. but it would not get hard to steer the car if a power steering line burst until you got going pretty slow... after that the rotation of the tire helps you pull the wheels.. Been there and done that...

 

my PS belt went flying once when I went on a straight lined spirited driving route. I didnt realize it until I tried cornering at about 45mph slightly.

At higher speeds it is easier, but definetly not as easy as usual.

Driving in the city with no power steering, now THAT I dont happen to want to do again LOL!

 

LOL. guess it depends on how the camber is set on the car and such. i forget which is which.. either wieght over the wheels or in front of the wheels.. one or the other makes it easier to steer with manual.. eh..