1984 Z28 305

problem: car will not accelerate at maximum potential; will lose all power and make a "pop" when I push pedal hard but not when slowly accellerating. Slowly accellerating leading into a harder acceleration seems to gradually cause the same issue.

first off, I'd like to hear a basic diagnosis for this before I start telling people what I've played with. Don't want to get bias feedback just because I tweeked something that might not be of any relevance. Also, I don't have any testing equipment to see if wires are running up to par so it's not a simple trial/error fix per se.

 

Does it diesel when you shut it off, or backfire when you let off the accelerator? It sounds like your timing might be a few degrees off to me... I could be wrong, but I have had a similar problem in the past when my distributor bolt was a little loose and it slipped a bit, throwing the timing off. I just had to play with the dizzy a bit. Yours might be more complicated than that, but it might be worth a shot.

 

sounds like timing is retarded

 

It does backfire when letting off accelerator.

I'm hoping it's a timing issue, I've been getting some wierd reviews of my problem from "professionals"

 

It is more than likely the timing, especially if you are getting a backfire on letting off the accelerator. It is not sparking at the right time.

I had the exact same problem once in my 84, a little adjustment cured her right up.

 

I guess I'll take it in somewhere to get the timing set straight, I don't have the tools for that unfortunately.

Thank you though!

 

Borrow a timing light, and just rotate the distributor up top. There shouldn't be any need to take off the timing cover or remove the dizzy, it just needs some fine tuning. You can ballpark it without a timing light, too, just get it to where it sounds nice when someone hits the accelerator while you mess with it. I know that's not the right way, but it is a good cheap way to do it if you just need to get it working right.

EDIT: Make sure you don't take the distributor out, because your timing might be FUBAR if you do. Unless you took it out already, and that is why it is off, in which case you will have to retime it altogether. But in your case, it sounds like it is just a few degrees off.