i have a 86 camaro. it was the carb engine when it was stock. i converted it to tpi setup with 24lb injectors and stock ecm and wiring harness out of another 86 tpi. i cant seem to get the car to run right. i have a powermax 2030 (204 intake and 214 exhaust at .50) i rebuilt entire top end and have bigger heads on it. (350 heads) i think 192. intake and 1.5 exhaust. i think i am going to go back to stock heads and stock 19lb injectors because im pretty sure that just lowered my compression and screwed everything up. also i want to check if its timed right? anyway to check that without pulling timing cover off? the car has no power at all until about 4k and revs up to 6k. and well theres some power but pretty much none. car idles at 1200 and wont idle any less or it will just cut out? i dont even have that big of a cam sooo idk what it could be. i messed around with tuning the ecm with moates tuning software but thats not helping me to much it just makes it richer and boggs the engine out. any suggestions will be greatly appreciated because im thinking about just ditching the 305 and go with a 350 lol.

 

Welcome aboard thirdgen.org.

350 heads on a 305 almost always will be a downgrade. The '86 305 heads were pretty good, having 1.94" intake valves installed and some basic port clean-up really helps them flow, and they'll out-do 90% of the factory 350 heads out there. Most likely you should put them back on.

There is no reason to be using 24 lb injectors on that engine. 19 lb will do fine.

Do you have a timing light? To set the timing, disconnect the ESC wire (what distributor did you use for the TPI conversion?). Start the engine and set the timing (loosen the distributor clamp, rotate the distributor body) to 6 degrees BTDC. Shut the engine off, reconnect the ESC wire. Until the timing is set properly, you can't expect the car to run properly.

That's assuming you were talking about ignition timing. If you were talking about cam timing, if you set the gears dot-to-dot, it's fine. You need to pull the timing cover to check it, though.

 

thanks alot man. ya i was about to put the 305 heads back on and i most likely have to do ignition and cam timing. i think there both out of whack. the car had the 305 heads on it and it seemed like it had alot more power. and i will go back to the 19lb injectors then. thanks for the info. and how do i set ignition timing with the timing light? just look for top dead center and set the degrees? i never understood lol.

thanks

 

The timing light is used with the engine running. First you disconnect the EST wire (or wires, depending upon the specific distributor you're using). Connect the timing light to the #1 spark plug wire (most have a clamp you just put over the wire, and positive/negative wires you connect to the battery). Start the engine, point the light at the timing tab at the front of the engine. The harmonic damper has a mark on it indicating the #1 (and #6, for that matter) cylinder - the light will "freeze" the timing mark so you can adjust the distributor for the proper advance as indicated by where the mark is lit up with respect to the timing tab.

Probably easier to demonstrate than it is to describe. . .

 

thanks for the reply. ok that sounds good. ill have to look into that and get a timing light mine broke awhile back :[ so ill just have to get another one. and my timing cover doesnt have the marks on it. they guy before me never put them on so how would i go about doing it then? are there other marks. jw i guess ill eventually figure it out :]
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oh wait. your saying on the harmonic damper theres a mark? ok i didnt know there was one there i thought it was just on the timing cover. have to look into it. and do you think i should pull my timing cover off to make sure everything is set right? since i am going to put the 305 heads back on. i should just make sure maybe that is why its such a horrible idle also.