OK, here is the deal. I bought this car, it is a 84 camaro, with a 355 and 700r4 trans. I put a brand new battery in it when i bought it. Drove it home. And as soon as i got back home and turned it off. I go to restart it and it wont. So i put the charger on the battery and it still says that its fully charged. While driving the altinator charges the battery just fine. So i let it sit for an hour and it struggled but started again. Someone told me that it might be my timing thats off, but it runs fine at about 3000 rpm, lower than that it strugles. I dont really know if that has anything to do with it not cranking at full power. If i let it sit and charge it cranks at full power, but once again after a 15 min drive it wont start again untill it sits for a while. Any clues?? Do you think that the starter is getting to hot, or it is weak??

 

If it's the stock starter, it's too small for the 305 that came in the car, let alone for a 350.

Get yourself a "ministarter", which you can find at Summit, Jeg's, your local speed shop, etc.

 

So the question is; is the battery discharging or is the starter bad? Or maybe a bad connection or even a defective battery. Do you have a voltmeter? After the car sits and won't start, what's the voltage? Does the dome light dim when you try to start it?

 

Check your base timing as well. if it won't run right under 3000RPM i'd guess something is amiss. Too much timing can make it hard to crank over.

 

OK the timing thing makes sense to me more now. Cause i unhooked the distributer and the starter turns like a champ. Now the new question is this. Its a 355. So is there something you have to do different than from a 350? Cause the spark plug wires are in a different order from where it is on a 350. Does anyone have a good pic of there engine so i can compare?

 

A 355 is just a rebuilt 350. Changing the last digit doesn't mean anything.

 

It's a 350. It really doesn't matter that it's been bored out .030", it's still a 350.

The plug wires will be the same regardles of overbore.

Frequently, when people drop distributors in, they are not rigorous about where the dist is compared to where the factory put it; and as a result, the plug wires won't be in the same place either. There's no reason that the dist HAS TO be where the factory put it: as long as the rotor poiints to the right plug wire, it doesn't make any difference where on the cap #1 happens to be. They will however, ALWAYS be in the same order (except in the EXTREMELY rare event that somebody puts a race cam in it with cyls 4 & 7 swapped.... not likely).

Find the #1 spark plug wire. Make sure the rotor is pointing to it when #1 is at TDC at the end of the compression stroke, NOT the end of its exhaust stroke. The plug wires will be arranged around the dist clockwise in the firing order, 18436572, from there.

The stock starter they put on these cars is pitiful. It barely starts most 305s. With a 350, or any engine larger than a 305, it's REALLY challenged. Setting the timing to where the car runs the best almost always overloads it. With the computer-controlled system, the timing is basically at "static" during cranking, which will mostly work. With a mechanical dist (vac & centrifugal advance) there will almost always be problems. Which is not to say that the timing is wrong; rather, the starter is too weak to overcome the cyl pressure when a cyl fires before the piston reaches TDC. So it turns slow and acts like the batt is dead.

A modern, better-designed starter than the old Stone Age direct-drive Delco POS starter will AMAZE you at how much better it works.

 

Ok, so what is the easiest way to find out if the number one is top dead center. My thoughts are stick something in the spark plug hole and feel for it, and take off the valve cover, which will show me what valve is opening, by the way which is exhaust and which is fuel? will this work? or do i have to pull the head off?

 

Unless you have reason to suspect they're wrong, use the balancer mark and timing comb.

 

What degree should it be set to, cause there are more than multiple markings.

 

Anywhere in the area is close enough, you just want to make sure that the rotor is pointing in the right direction.