I changed my spark plugs today because a few days ago my car started dying out on me in neutral BUT that didnt last long.Went away after a bit......So,I went ahead and changed the spark plugs anyways to avoid the problem but right after the job was done...My car seems like it has problems accelerating and it even back fires....And not that long ago i followed this diagram thinking maybe my mechanic messed up the wireshttp://www.2carpros.com/tri/year/198...ring_order.htm and seems my car won't start what so ever anymore......im hoping someone could tell me what i did wrong...i have an 83' z28 305 carb 4brl.....my distributor says.....Delco Remy....When i followed this diagram my wiring was nowhere near what the picture showed........plz help!

 

Ill have a picture up tomorrow....it just started raining here.....

 

The diagram is correct. Your number 1 may not be in the exact same place as the diagram. Thats not important. Just make sure the plug wires are in the same order as the link you posted. If you need to find which one is number 1, pull the number 1 plug out. Disconnect the distributor so the car will not start. Have a friend bump the motor over till you feel air being PUSHED out of the spark plug hole. Then turn the motor over by hand untill your timing mark on the balancer lines up. Now pull the cap off and see where the rotor is facing. When you put the cap on put the number 1 wire where the rotor was facing. Then just put the rest of them in the order of the pic.

 

Ya except when my car was fine and it started the wiring looked nothing close to whats in the pic thats what i dont get....i had to take the plugs ALL off because they all were in the wrong place (says the diagram) ??????

 

or maybe i messed up? What does it mean by front of the engine? where the fan/alternator/battery are located no?

 

Thats what I was meaning though. YOUR number 1 doesnt have to be where the pics number 1 is. You could set the distributor up so number 1 is in back. Thats why I was saying to find out where your number 1 is and then put the plug wires on accordingly.

 

I only understood after i posted.....lol Oh boy.....what a mess i made.....guess i shouldn't have touched anything.....ok, im not much of a handy man so i have to remove my #1 spark plug?

 

If you have a smallblock your firing order is 18436572 and 1 3 5 & 7 are on the drivers side while 2,4,6 & 8 are on the passenger side. If your distributor was put in a tooth off the po may have moved the firing order over by one depending on which way the distributor is off.

 

Well! Now that i made a mess of the wires and i have no idea whats what.......what do i do......

 

 

Good thing i decided to call the PO. Turns out i actually have an 88' 305 inside. So i got everything figured out except my next problem.....i bought spark plugs for an 83' motor........Does that mean i need to go change them or am i ok?

 

It doesnt matter if you have a 305, 350,400,454, etc. The plug wires go on the same order and you find number 1 the same way.

 

Well i got the car to start so thats good but let me ask u are the spark plugs the same for an 83' and 88' motor?

 

not to be an ***... just trying to give you a learning experience... go to either oreillyauto.com or autozone.com and look up spark plugs for both vehicles... make sure you either use to windows or write down the first part number before you search for the second part number.... you will soon realize that there is nothing to it...

 

I see that the only difference is the gap..... gonna take out the sparky's and regap them see what happens thx for the help guys....wish me luck xD

 

Is the firing order correct now?

 

I corrected the order, and started the car no problem but seems like the cars missing power or like the response time is slow. So i took all the spark's out regaped them to what there supposed to be .035 . After leaving the car on for 5min running no problem........It instantly died......and hasnt started since. So i just went and bought Accel 8.8mm wires and im hoping its just a wire problem. Any ideas what it could be??

 

Sounds like your timing still isnt where it needs to be. Do you have a timing light? If not, try to borrow one from a friend, or rent one. Keep those wires away from your headers/manifolds, my accels burnt up FAST.

 

But everything was fine before i changed the spark plugs.....Now the car won't even start... What a mess......I was only trying to do good. Another thing is i found my old spark plug......It says R43TS......I bought and installed R45TS....Could this be the culprit?

 

No timing light and no mechanic friends......FML....

 

The car had R43TS's but i was told to buy R45TS's by oreilly.com and a few part shops around my area....Am i in the clear??

 

Yes, you're in the "clear"

The R45TS plugs are one heat range hotter than the 43s, but that difference won't cause the problem you're having.

Jake

My son, Ryan M. Cameron, graduated from West Point on 22 May 2010! He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and I pinned on his first pair of "Butter Bars" PROUDEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!

 

Well i changed the distributor,rotor,put heat sink compund on the module because i tested the module with a snap on module tester and put brand new accel wires(which aren't the same lenght as my old ones).Car runs fine..... But if i "kick it" it bogs?I'm gonna shorten the wires as soon as it stops raining here because there wayyyy to long hopefully that solves my problem if not........Timing???

 

The wires being longer than needed is not going to make that happen. Your timing is probably not right.