89 TPI 305 Firebird..

Yup, so the previous owner was an a-hole.. Did not care about maintenance
and such.

When I bought the car it had the breather between the throttle body and Pass Valve cover disconnected. There were also a lot of those maple tree seed pods in the air filter (you know, those things that spin as they fall through the air, lol).

After a full tune up and such, I realize with a handheld scan tool that while engine numbers looked somewhat okay, I had a 350 AUTO prom in a 305 Manual.

So, I'm not sure what the cause was yet but the engine missed a lot, especially under light throttle. Compression check was good aswell, ignition is good but everything under the Cap is what was already there.. Coil was tested as just barely out of spec but, the car ran the same with an MSD coil so I'm using the slightly out-of-spec one.

Anyhow, I've gone through a lot of testing and such - yesterday I pulled my Throttle Body and found MAPLE TREE SEED PODS IN THE THROTTLE BODY! lol. They were in the oily cavity of the breather area on the top of the throttlebody. I also found my throttleshaft to be a bit wiggly.


ANYHOW - Now that anyone could be up to speed with the problem; If an engine were to suck in just a few - say like 10 - of those little maple tree seedpod, do you think that it would do much damage, or little damage to the cylinder walls and such?

I don't recall what the compression numbers were, but they were all in spec (I think) and withing a couple percent. I wish I had a leakdown tester, perhaps I will have to adapt my compression tester into one.

I dunno, I'm lost with this misfire and can't get an inspection sticker. I bought the car in Aug 07 and it has like 200 miles or less on it since then.

I burnt a stock APYS chip yesterday on a 27SF512 Chip so, hopefully that will be what I need and the car will run better.

My rear was changed by prev. owner to 3.23's (88 7 5/8 w/discs + LSD) from the 3.08's so I also need to look into speedo issues. And also I suppose the ECU will have the wrong speed aswell... Oh, how I love previous owners

Thanks for any replies,
Dave

 

i dont think they could damage the engine if they did get into it. If they made their way into the cylinder, they would be incinerated, if they got stuck under a valve, not sure what would happen, but most likely nothing.

 

I wouldn't worry about it too much.
It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight.

 

Great to hear that! I wasn't really sure what the possibilities might be. My engine runs terribly and I am looking for any answer. Though I did just find the throttle-shaft in the throttlebody to be loose, and it looks that the lube I used on the return-spring area (silicone) is now on the throttle plate next to it.. I believe the throttle-body leaking air was an issue for many people, I'm gonna need to do a search.

I suppose the worst that would happen from sucking in the seed-pods would be possible abrasion in the cylinder from whatever dirt/sand might have been with the seed-pod, which would be negligible.

Thanks guys