I bought my 1992 Camaro RS and it had an Edelbrock carb on it, someone just slapped it on without doing anything else. It ran horrible, idled high, didn't downshift (the carb made the throttle cable sit an a bad angle). So we put a throttle body back on it, actually a car shop did. When I picked it up they told me they had put in a new intake manifold as well. They also showed me that now, after they had installed the TB, the car would not start unless the timing was unplugged, it would start but it would run rough and die in ten seconds.

The car runs well now, but I noticed it lost all of it's guts! Any more than 50% throttle and it won't hardly pull.

I had a thread on this before and I think the shop installed a TB from a larger motor that floods my poor 305 under acceleration. Would that also explain why it doesn't start well with the timing on?

It pulls 0-60 in about 18 seconds, and the 1/4 in over 25 seconds.

It also doesn't want to shift under heavy acceleration until I let off, the TV cable seems fine, and the distributor is in right.

 

Re-set the timing. With the timing unplugged.

 

It's wierd, it seems the timing is fine but the acceleration just degrades over time. Any rpm over 2,800 under heavier throttle is just horrible. It really screamed with that carb on it. It baked tires past 4,000!

 

I would still double check that the timing was not set while the EST wire was plugged in. By unplugging the EST (your ignition wire you're unplugging to get the car to start), you're bypassing the spark timing control, setting the dizzy to mechanical timing alone - so it's starting like it would if it were carb'd.

 

Def a timing issue if it only starts with the EST unpluged. Rotate the dizzy counterclockwise a few degrees, then try and start /check timing again. Follow stekmans directions.