just bought and 1988 Trans Am two weeks ago I was told that the bottom half was fresh 350 with 305 heads with TPI and 5 speed i have a few problems im looking for help on i have read were the motor should run around 220 and the fans come on around 236 is this correct my 2 problem is it is hard to start after it sits over night and when it does i smell fuel as i drive it
then as it warms up it seems to be sluggish as if the motor has to catch up with the fuel it does have msd ignition new cap and wires any help would be appreciate

 

The Appearance and Detailing - Members Firebirds is not the appropriate place to post a technical question. I am moving the post to General Tech where you will probably get better results.

 

If it sat a long time, chances are that water condensated in it. I just bought a GTA and that happened with mine. And also on the last T/A I bought as well. So today I let it idle until it completely died. Now I can put some fresh gas in it.

 

Ive tried fresh gas already

 

Have you checked for codes? If it's running rich, have to checked the spark plug gap? Like I said I just bought mine a week ago and did everything to make it run tip-top again. My plugs were gapped at .025 and had gas on the threads. Regapped them to .035-.040 and gave it new spark plug wires.

Check to see if there are any codes. Do the paperclip method. If you don't know what that means, there is a scanner port under the driver column. With the car off, take the paper clip and make a "U" out of it and insert it into the 2 upper right holes in the port. Now turn the car to on, but don't start it, look at your 4th gauge pod and the SES light will start flashing. It will flash 1 beat, pause, then 2 beats. This is code 12, not really a code so pay it no mind. Then it will start flashing the real codes. Depending what codes pop up, just like code 12 it will flash it 3 times. A pen and paper is nice to have if you start getting more than one code. Then when all the codes have been flashed, you'll get code 12 again. If you missed one, it will cycle through all the codes again.

If you already knew that, sorry for the essay. I had 4 codes pop up, 33,34,42,44. All related to water in the tank and the EST unplugged. Hopefully its an easy fix or something to do with a tune up.

 

I didnt know that trick, good info

 

I have finely found the problem when the motor was swap out from a 1988 305 to a 350 did a search on the vin numbers on the block and it was from a 1990 something 350 TPI
well the 350 needs to have 42to 46 psi from the fuel pump the 305 came with one 34psi to 37 in turn made it lean and caused it to stumble a little research goes along ways
just another learning curve

 

So did you up the fuel pressure?

 

yes today im putting a new fuel pump i will let you know if this solves the problem

 

Have you actually verified your fuel pressure? I once had a 305 and swapped to a 350 and it ran fine with the 305 fuel pump. In fact, I believe they are the same, just the 305 has slightly smaller fuel injectors. Now swapping from carb to TPI is a different story and you would need to swap fuel pumps.

Have you done a full tune up? Does shifting manually make the car run better? And are there any codes? Have you changed out the fuel filter.

 

i have verified the vin numbers and fuel pump and then replaced it and all ive got to say

its ALIVE wow what a difference so now im trying to find out how much hp it has but this could prove to be very hard the guy i bought the car from said he put a cam in it with 305 heads on a 350 i just dont no if he got the heads milled port and polished the timing seems to be good and no spark knock msd ignition and msd distrbter with 8 mm spark plug wires

 

There are a couple of flaws in that information. All TPI systems, from 1985 through 1993 required the SAME fuel pressure. The standing pressure is supposed to be 3 BAR, or 43.5 PSIG ± 3 PSIG. That would equate to about 41-46 pounds on the gauge. The RUNNING pressure is 36 PSIG ± 3 PSIG, or about 33-39 pounds on the gauge. It's the same thing, since the vacuum applied to the FPR should drop the rail pressure to that range. A 1988 TPI pump would easily achieve 46 pounds on the gauge if in good condition.

The missing piece of information is whether the original engine was TPI or TBI. If the original engine was TBI, that would explain the inadequate fuel pressure, since they were designed to pump at 11-13 PSIG.

Also, punctuation is your friend. It makes long posts much easier to understand.

 

sorry i should have put that down it was a tbi now its tpi