I just got the 85Z back on the roqad with a new 305 and I'm having problems.

First one is a threat, but doesn't have to worried. It's a starting issue. It seems whenever I try to start the car, especially when It's warmed up say if I went into 7-11 and grabbed a bag of chips, when you try to crank the engine, you can hear the starter clack and struggle and it seems like the car isn't gonna start, then vroom. I was stuck at the ban drive-thru for 10 minutes today. Tried to start it 4 times and nothing. I mean seriously to the point of no crank just clacking. Then the car decided to make a fool of me when I called my mechanic and said to listen to the noise it was making. Turned the key gave a couple clacks then started right up. I tried taking the battery which is only about 7 months old to autozone, they did a load test and said it was fine. I replaced the negative battery cable but haven't gotten to the positive yet as It goes out of reach and I don't have the time to tinker with it right now. We JUST replaced the starter with a new duralast gold so I doubt it could be that, although I am assuming whatever the problem is was one of the reasons the aged starter originally in the car didn't have enough power to even turn the engine.


Second problem is a knock. Actually, I believe this may be normal, but never bothered to ask so I am just making sure. My last 305 did the exact same thing. Not all the time, but maybe every 1 out of 5 times if you are at a dead stop and then hit the gas, the engine will give a single knock on take-off. What is this?


The last issue, honestly has me scared ****less. I simply can't afford any more repair bills right now. My credit to debt ratio is 100% from getting this car back on the road. I am hearing a wierd clicking noise coming from the engine that I did not hear from the last one. I can't be sure of It's placement as I haven't used the screwdriver method yet, but I'm pretty positive It's coming from the intake area. Almost sounds like the plenum or throttlebody. At worse It's coming from a head, but I'm leaning towards intake area. This is not a strady noise pattern like the engine has spun something or had something in the heads FUBARED during assembly, but rather a random pattern of "clicks" and "clacks". It almost sounds like someone popping popcorn, but at a higher tone. Or, think of the sound a compressor makes when the clutch engages. Close to that, only I had the shop remove the compressor. It is only audible while the engine is idling. Other than this noise all seems to be well with the engine. It has tons of power compared to the last one, and I'm in the process of breaking it in. But this sound now has me afraid to open it up.

This is a BRAND NEW engine. The only logical thing I can think of, is it may be knocking or backfiring due to the fact that I used 87 octane with that stupid Jet Performance chip which recommends 91 or above in my ECM, but this seems unlikely as I used to use 87 octane in the old 140k 305 and this never happened.

I can't afford any more thousand dollar repair bills. PLEASE HELP!

 

So I understand everything. The motor is new (rebuilt?) and has how much compression? And you have a chip in the ecm. Everything to me sounds like the initial timing is set to high and/or it is supposed to have a high torque starter. I dont know which starter you got so I have no idea what it is. The single knock your hearing taking off is likely preignition from the timing set to high as well. Bump the distributer back about 4 degrees and see if anything changes.

It would be hard to diagnose the other noise w/o hearing it. Has it always done this? Could it be a loose rockerarm? Maybe something was left under the intake or something else is in there bouncing around?