I just recently installed a GM 290HP 350 long block in to my 82 Camaro. I topped it off with a Holley Street Dominator Intake and a Holley 3310 750CFM carb. I am still using the stock exhaust manifolds until I can get some money for headers but, I have a 3" Flowmaster American Thunder with the cat deleted. For the ignition it is just a HEI with an Accel BruteThunder coil and 8.8 wires. Using a TH350 tranny.

I am running about 68* of timing according to my timing light. I have the carb tuned to give the best vacuum also.

The car doesn't seem like it is respoding like it should. It bogs no matter how hard you push the gas. Does anyone know why it does this and what I should do to fix it? How much power should I be expecting with the current combo?

 

68*? of timing seems like alot 32-36 total seems to be the norm

 

It seemed to perform worse when I had timing that low. The more I bumped up the timing the more powerful it seemed to get.

 

what cam are you running?

what did you do to tune that carb?

when you say bog... does it it pick back up in a second or does it just fall flat

 

The camshaft has .450'' intake and .460'' exhaust lift with hydraulic flat tappets.
Camshaft Lift: Flat Tappet Duration @ 0.050'': 222° I, 222°.

I tuned the carb with a vacuum gauge.

When it goes it just doesn't seem to go like the old 100,000 mile engine did. It seems to have less power.

 

well i am betting the 68* of initial advance is a clue to the problem

 

When I adjust the timing I take off the vacuum line of the distributer then adjust it from there. Is that the proper way?

 

Yes. Pull the line off the dizzy, then plug the line.

 

That's what I do. And until around 65* of timing the engine doesn't start waking up. I know that the balancer and the timing cover are on correctly and, all that stuff. So, that can be ruled out as a problem.

 

With the dizzy unplugged you should turn the timing to 6 degrees or so. Then when you plug the line back in, you should see it bump up to about 12 or 14 or something. Then when you rev the engine, you should see the timing start to advance way off the tab. Also, what motor did your car have originally? That crate motor is only 290 hp. By the time all that gets to the wheels it's much less.

 

It originally had a V6 in it.

 

I guess the only thing is the timing?

 

i am having sort of the same issue with my camaro. i never can get a right reading with the light. i have a 73 350 brand new edelbrock rpm heads, comp xe268 cam, hardened push rods, crane roller rockers. i am using my old hedman headers, perfomer intake, 4160 600 cfm carb. accel hei dist. gm 8mm wires. accel spark plugs, and accel super hei coil. the car has a 2025 stall converter, 700r4 with shift kit and servo. and a 3.42 rear end. i know the car is not running right. i just finished the build and can't get it to perform the way it can. the rpm just don't climb the way the motor should. the secondaries open in the driveway when i hit wot in neutral. the car seems to run good at a reading of 44-48 degrees initial advance if i lock down the dist. and spin the engine up from idle it doesnt advance too much maybe a few degrees. my thought is the rotor is advancing at idle due to the weights slinging out too soon. i've messed with this this for so long and can't get it to do right. maybe we have the same problem? or along the same lines.

 

did you re use the old harmonic balancer with the new engine?

 

why is the timing at 68*!?!?!?!?!? it shouldnt be more than 40* total.. and around 10 initial.. are you on the right plug wire? most balancers dont even read past 45*

 

i just figured he was using a dial back timing light...i am hoping his balancer just slipped

 

I got the car running a lot better. I changed the secondary spring to open later and, it runs way better now.

 

yeah but does that fix the 44* of initial timing?

 

Is your timing indicator @ 12 oclock or closer 2 oclock? a 305 timing indicator is at 12 oclock and 350 is closer to 2 oclock. I believe if the cam is for a 305 timing indicator would need to be at 12 oclock. Someone correct me if I am wrong

 

Lemme guess.... this is some stock crank damper, and some aftermarket timing cover with a bolt-on timing tab?

If so, your "reading" is about 35° farther advanced than reality. i.e., if your "light" says it's at 60°, it's really at 25°.

Screw the light. Set the "timing" to where it runs the best. I don't care if the "light" says it's at 100°, if the ENGINE says that's where it wants the "timing", then that's where the "timing" needs to be.

And for G**'s sake, get rid of that lame 151 cam dupe. It'll never run worth a crap with that worthless POS in it. That's about the WORST excuse for a camshaft that there has ever been. People get "blingsmerized" (I borrowed that word from another member : totally awesome word) by the "375 HP 327" sucker line, and end up with a dar with no nads and even less gas mileage.

 

I didn't have to fix it. It is running better than ever and, it is really really strong.

 

Ah, yea, so you've probably set the timing by performance, and with the secondaries opening right - it runs great.... 290HP great. Like sofa said, you can do better, a cam is a great idea if you want more.

However, note to everyone reading this - the original post was 1 year old. His car runs fine now.
The guy who revived the thread hasn't gotten any help on his problem, so let me restate:

Not really related to the original post, but whatever, we'll try to keep the topics separate.

Ok, you're not getting any mech advance, and you're running 44* timing at idle? ACCEL dist? Ok, remove the line to the vacuum advance, and plug it at the carb. You'll hook that back up when the engine runs awesome - it's only for cruise mileage. Forget it for now.

Now then, pop off the cap and rotor and see what springs are in there. ACCEL should have given you a schwack of choices, try the medium and the medium combo for now. Fire it up and set the timing to 16* base. I have the xe268 and it seems to like more timing in my case, but I could probably get by with less if I modified the idle setup in the carb. Anywho, try 16*. Rev it up and see if it advances. Basically you want to set the timing for 36* at 3000RPM. It shouldn't advance any further past that RPM. Whatever it is at idle is what it is - no biggie there. (That's why I suggested 16*, if there is any justice in this world, 16* at idle should be 36* maxed out.
Reset the carb idle speed after that. If you're not getting any advance either:

-Your springs are basically broken and are letting you have full advance always
-Your springs are super strong, and you're only revving it to 3500RPM or so to measure your max timing, which is when its just starting to come online. It'll be at full advance by about 7000RPM - so it needs softer springs.
-Something is binding, needs lubrication, etc. I doubt this since it's an aftermarket dist.

 

i just got my goodwrench 350 back into my 86 iroc today. it has airgap manifold, edelbrock 650cfm, holley fuel pump, pretty basic. runs decent but has a small miss. I put the light on it but it wasnt reading because my timing tab is too small... Any idea what I should set the timing to???

 

Did you read this thread at all? Especially post #20?

 

can you do timing adjustments with the car running? That would be ideal, but i don't want my distributor to come flying off haha.

 

Of course. That's how it's done. How else would you do it? Why wouldn't you?

Just loosen the bolt just enough to where you can barely turn the dist body. Advance it until it starts to ping, then back it off a bit. That's not going to be "right", but it won't be too horribly far off; and it will SURELY tell you, if you have to move it REAL FAR to get it to do that, that the whole "blinky light" deal is out to lunch. On the other hand, if only a little bit of advancing makes it start to ping, then you know you're not far off of where it needs to be, and you should look elsewhere for the cause of whatever symptom you think you're chasing by twiddling the ignition timing.