When you turn the key to on without cranking, what should the fuel pressure be at, should it stay at the pressure or is it suppost to drop fast?
My 87 GTA 350TPI starts with a pressure of 35 and at idle is down to 30-35 psi, when revved it goes upto 43psi.
Is this normal, just trying to figure out why my idle isnt consistant and sux.

 

The fuel pressure regulator has a vacuum line on it to drop the pressure at idle/high manifold vacuum conditions. It should be higher when the engine isn't running or when you put the engine under load, and should maintain pressure when the pump shuts off when the engine isn't running. If it doesn't maintain pressure, it could be from a leaking regulator, leaking check valve in the fuel pump, or leaking injectors.

 

The pump, filter, injectors, afpr are all a year old.
I have checked for leaks but I might be missing something and come to think of it, I do smell a faint bit of gas from the drivers side when I throttle it.
Nothing else comes to mind of anything else thats not normal.
Its just to dam cold here to work on the car.

 

should the vacuum hose be disconnected, when checking fuel pressure?