I recently put a rebuilt 305 into my camaro, the bottom end is a 79 and the heads/intake/tbi/exhaust manifolds are off of my 91 not sure if this would pose a problem. The car sounds fine when it is being rev'd up in park but when you put it in drive it acts really sluggish, i know 305s dont have alot of power, but my friends 4cylinder in his camaro sets you back in the seat more than this. The furthest i have taken the car is around the block, some times it will stall out at a stop sign or if you are going slow and when you mat the gas to the floor it hardly goes , I have a new dist cap/rotor/plugs/wires/ignition coil and theres probably more that i am forgetting. If anyone has any questions about anything or any suggestions as to something i should try please let me know, sorry for rambling on.

 

What pistons are in it?
Old flat tappet block, newer TBI top end.... What cam is in it, the stock one from 1979? What pushrods, lifters, etc are used? :bugeyed:

You probably have a pretty low CR with the old shortblock, unless you used flat top pistons. And I really hope you matched up the correct valve train.

 

sounds like an ignition prob, go back over everything something aint right.

 

I'm pretty sure it had flat tops, what CR should it have, I can check that and see what its at. The guy I bought the bottom end off of put an Edelbrock Performer camshaft with lifters and Pushrods that came with it.
Tommorow I am going to redo the timing again, a friend told me to put a screwdriver in the #1 sparkplug hole to make sure its on TDC, didn't do that the first time I set the timing so it could be off a bit.
Thanks for the quick responses

 

Redid the timing today, still having the same problem. Any more suggestions or any ideas as to what i should look at/try?

 

Ok, what timing are you talking about? TDC#1 is to drop in the distributor.
You set the timing with a light? to what?
Valves are lashed right?

TBI intake? performer cam ? Hmm, that should work fine, it wouldn't be the fastest race horse in town, but should beat an LG4, and therefore an iron duke.

Hows it idle? Any codes?
Vacuum at idle?

 

I set the timing with a light at 2 degrees advanced and at idle it has a little over 15 vaccum at times it idles nice but then once in a while it will bog down likes it gonna die then rev up high. The car is not tripping any codes either. As for the valve lash I am not quite sure if it was done right, I followed what the haynes manual said as to spinning the pushrod and tighten until you feel any resistance then go like half a turn or something? But on here I have read that to adjust the valve lash its talking about the play moving it up and down. Which way is the right way and I will readjust my valves to be sure they are done right. Thanks again for your quick responses I really appreciate all the help.

 

You can tighten it down too much if you use the spinning method. You can still spin the pushrod after you're at zero lash.
Use the move up and down method.
I'm not sure that's your problem, but i'd check it.

2°? That sounds low, is that the spec for a TBI engine? I'd try giving it more, 8° or so.

 

The factory sticker says 0, ill try moving it up to 8

 

I found something when I was looking around in the engine bay. There is a bolt with 2 or three wires attached to it that I believe is suppost to be grounded to the drivers side head. When I put the 305 back in I could not get it to thread into the head so I made a hole in my throttle bracket and grounded it there, I am starting to think that it is not a good ground so I removed it and when the bolt touches something it sparks? I don't think it is suppost to do that and if you guys don't know what I am talking about let me know and I can take a pic to post.

 

If it's just a ground, then it's not a big deal. As long as you've got a good ground path from your engine to the frame you're fine. If you remove that wire while the car is running you might get some sparks, because the ignition needs to be grounded, ie a ground path back to the negative on the battery... (or the alternator, actually).

I'm assuming that this is just a ground wire, maybe snap a picture.

I'm going to bow out of this thread, because unless it's a vacuum leak or buggered ignition, then it's ECM/TBI/sensor related and i'm no good at that so...

 

I've been thinking is there any way that this sounds fuel filter/pump related? It seems like it gets enough gas at idle but when I am in drive and give it full gas it doesn't really go like its not getting gas maybe? Any ideas?

 

Install the bolt with the wires into the head somewhere like you said...make sure you disconnect the negative from the battery.

 

Did you disconnect the EST wire when you set the timing?

 

I had a friend come over the other day and take a look at it, the problem was so simple that I overlooked it. It turns out that the bolt that holds down the distributor was loose . We set the timing again tightened it down and it ran pretty good.. for a bit after about a few miles of driving the car the SES light comes on (doesn't trigger a code light goes off and doesn't come back on when it dies or it gets shut off) and it starts to run like crap when you mat the gas it hardly goes but it will still run as long as you do not let off the gas, it also runs really hot, my friend thinks its a sensor like a "choke" that doesn't close when its warm. The engine also started knocking after we drove the car for a while but when I started it up the next day it didn't knock. Sorry this post was so long thanks for taking the time to read it and any input you may have.

 

Any one have any idea if that problem sounds like a sensor and which one?