Ok.....I so badly want to get this car back on the road...It's a beauty and i can't see it sitting any longer. It starts up just fine. I've driven it up the road a few times, it seems to lack a little power. Changed plugs,coil, dizzy cap, rotor, fixed a couple vacuum leaks, wires and a new MAF sensor is going in soon...(it runs much better with the MAF unplugged, but throws SES codes and my tach is jumping around a bit and it jumps around more when I turn the heater blower motor on. I think I need to replace the distributor as I can see the wires that plug into ignition module are beat (insulation is off and they are pretty bare) and the pickup coil is very rusty (I think it's called that) I'm thinkin maybe that's the reason my tach is jumping around. Question is.....Do I need to replace the entire distributor or would you recommend I replace just the pick up coil? Replacing a distributor is about the only thing I've never done. I pulled the motor out of my 88 firebird after crashing it and put it in the 86. It's the 2.8 V6. I've read on this site about noting where the rotor is pointing before pulling distributor and putting back in the car in the same position. Any advice or handy little tricks that someone knows about would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

And BTW.....what an awesome sight this is. So many knowledgeable ppl here. Love it!!

 

if the car is a 90-92 they have been known for tach problems,the main reason for tachs going crazy is a bad ground check all ur grounds only jumping when the heater is on suggests bad ground and the pickup is usually rusty so your good

 

It's an 86 with an 88 motor. I'll check all grounds. The tach does jump a little without the heater on...but really goes crazy when the heater is turned on. How detrimental is it with my ignition module wires missing most of the insulation. I wanted to get some heat wrap stuff and fix them....but there's no room to get to them with the dizzy pinned in between the firewall and the motor. Onlly way to fix I guess is to pull the distributor......And why would the pick up coil be so rusty like that?

 

you should be alright aslong as bare wires arent showing,if so you may need to pull dis.and fix em.but bare wires would more than likely cause no start issue or the car would randomly die.and the rotating piece with the points is called the armature and not sure why they rust they just do,its only surfice rust tho