I have a 350 tpi firebird and its completly stock (except for nitrous). i have replaced the wires cap and rotor and when it warms up and i pass 1/2 throttle it starts to sputter and pop and stop accelerating.

Before the engine warms up like before the temp gauge moves. The car runs great i can get all the way to WOT and it runs like a champ. I took the cap and rotor off and saw that it was rusty down in side there. i sprayed some PB Blaster down there and blew it out with the compressor and it ran fine for about 3 or 4 days then it slowly started to come back.

I was wondering if there was any tips or tricks to fix this problem im really not looking to replace the distbutor because of the money thing. But this car is my daily driver so any help would be awsome thanks

 

well the distributor isnt overly complicated once you see how it works. My first question is what was it that was rusty and sprayed pb blaster on? Also if you do this again does it repeat this behavior so we know it wasnt a fluke thing? Have you checked your base ignition timing? Once all this is confirmed we can start doing the real troubleshooting.

 

im not sure on what its called that is rusty its the cirlce thing down in side there with all points on it (sorry im 18 and still figuring out the electronic stuff) and yes when spayed again it does the same thing runs great for a few days and slowly comes back. The timing with that wire removed is right on TDC i figure to leave it there i have only timed my dual carb chevy 400 before so i didnt want to change the timing on the electronic cuz uncle said it changes it accordinly.

 

Its ok no worries once you get a picture of what the different parts are and what they do things will all start to make sence so concider it a learning experience. Well first off a few things ide like to mention. First i kinda wonder if spraying the PB blaser is displacing moisture which can cause problems just like what you describe. Ide check and see if there's any noticeable moisture build up in the distributor. Next up the part with the teeth on it is the pick up coil (in a fixed position) and the magnet (which spins with the distributor). The way this set up works is as the distributor spins the magnets will induce a voltage into the pick up coil. This voltage is detected in the ignition control module which uses that signal to trigger the ignition coil to fire by grounding it. I would inspect the pick up coil to see if its 100%. Lastly about the timing. You are correct you really shouldnt play with the timing too much by toying with the base timing because the computer makes all adjustments with the idea that its advancing X degrees from what the base timing should be. However you say its adjusted right to TDC? I would check your emissions label under the hood because i though the base timing for a 350 TPI was 6 degrees BTDC. If the base timing is retarded 6 degrees that will put everything off 6 degrees and could cause the symptoms you describe. However since you have NOS I cant say if the ECM was reprogrammed in the past to retard the timing to account for it or if the base timing was retarded to compensate for it. Im not much of an expert in NOS but im under the impression the timing has to be retarded a bit to prevent catastrophic detonation.

 

ok i will look to see what it should be set at thanks alot for the help. And about the nitrous it is the ZEX dry kit that is suppose to work with the computer and use the orginal fuel injectors and is only suppose to engage at WOT using the TPS i installed the kit and have only used it a few times and had no problems and i didnt change the base timing for it but i will look anyways.