I have a 1982 trans am with the 305 motor. The previous owner had removed the crossfire injection system and replaced it with a edelbrock carb and manifold. the exhaust was cut off right after the cat. 45k miles on the car. the car was drove less than 500 miles in the last 8 years ( i know this from a oil change receipt i found under the seat). i believe most of those 500 miles were closer to 8 years ago so the car has probably sat that whole time.

okay so the problem is that when the car is driven there is a huge lack of power. free rev in neutral can only get to 3k rpm. the car has trouble making it up to speed and also loses speed uphill. WOT is actually slower than half throttle. the car also feels like its sputtering under accel. i haven't checked out the engine light because its going to throw so many codes due to confusion from not having the crossfire system.

so far i have :
replaced the plugs and wires.
removed the cat in case it was blocked up.
adjusted the carb
adjusted the fuel pressure regulator to 5-6 psi.

i believe that my problem is most likely a stuck valve/ valvetrain issue or a timing problem.

i have not pressure tested or leak tested the cylinders yet, nor looked into timing. i wanted to get an idea if this sounds more like timing or valve issue. any help will be greatly appreciated !! i would love to get this beast on the road

 

Valves don't "stick"; and if they did, that wouldn't be the symptom. Eliminate that from consideration.

Similarly, valve train issues... those generally make noise. LOTS of it, if they're bad enough to cause the symptoms at hand. Eliminate that from consideration.

Timing is pretty simple.

Mark the dist and the intake so that it's easy to put right back where it is now, should you so desire.

Loosen bolt; rotate dist body CCW about 30°; tighten bolt; test drive.

1 of 2 things will happen. Get ready now, this is SUPER complicated.

Either it will run BETTER, or it will run WORSE.

See, told ya, deep rocket-science stuff, eh??

Do that, come back and tell us what happened.

See my signature for a mental discipline you may find helpful as the project progresses.

 

Running better at part-throttle than WOT means the centrifugal advance is seized. When you go WOT, you lose all your vacuum advance, so if there's no centrifugal advance then there's only initial advance. This may be resolvable with a bit of work, or you may have to replace the distributor.

 

i was under the impression valves could get stuck open and shut. im educated in engineering because its my study in college. i still lack experience fixing cars.
i also forgot to post that the car make a slight screechy sound under any throttle

ill also try the adjusting the timing tomorrow and ill let you guys know. thanks

 

Stuck valves the way you imagine requires the engine to be full of water for all those years. If the valves were stuck the way you imagine, the engine wouldn't crank, without bending pushrods, collapsing lifters and pulling rocker studs. You would easily hear this carnage.

 

after moving the disributor cap about 15-20 degrees counter clockwise the car fired up very well and was idling smoothly at 2500.

so would my next step be to rent a timing light ?

 

adjusted carb again. idles normal. and has full rpm range. car is running much smoother and quieter

 

After 8 years the fuel sys has to trashed. I imagine the fuel that was in the tank had varnished, fuel filter probably clogged and the carb most likely has plugged passages (especially the idle circuits) and should be rebuilt.
Is it really idling at 2500 rpm? Seems a tad bit high..

 

i believe it was because the carb was set up to run with the messed up timing. i turned the idle down to 900 rpm and it idles smoothly at that.

before tuning the car i siphoned the gas and filled with new. the carb was recently installed by the last owner. so i believe its in good condition.

i do need to change the fuel filter though.