Hi everyone.

I am going to try to explain my problem as best I can. My car knowledge is growing, but limited (I am using this Camaro to teach me as I "restore" it). Background information is as follows:

1985 Camaro - V8, Carbureted 350 w/ cam, Automatic

Engine/Trans are not stock but unfortunately I don't have much info on either. They were swapped before I bought the car. Used to be a fuel-injected 305 I think.

The root of the problem is startup. Aside from the starter clearly getting old, it takes a few times to get the engine going due to stalling out. It will turn over on maybe the second attempt (from a cold start), then roughly idle for a bit and stall out. If I give it any gas it will respond, but generally stall out anyway. From a cold start, it generally takes three times turning the engine over before it decides to stay running. The weather has been warm all week.

I also occasionally get an extremely rough idle at stoplights. The normal idle sounds a little wonky, I guess because of the cam, but this one is very abnormal. It will jerk the car forward, not enough to move, but enough to shake it. Instead of the normal purring, it is a slower and more erratic sound from the engine.

Whether it be related or not, I have also had problems with a strong fuel smell while running (my mechanic says it is due to the engine and not an issue) and fuel leaking out of the gas cap (while the car is moving) after filling the tank up. The leaking might be due to simple overfilling, but I may replace the gas cap just in case.

The stalling only really happens from a cold start when I first leave in the morning, and once the engine is all the way running, it stays that way. During the rough idling, which happens infrequently (twice in the last few days, both times after it had been warmed up), it sounds and feels like it could stall out, but hasn't yet. Once the engine is warmed up, it starts easily and strong right away.

If you need anymore info about the car I can try my best. The car was someone else's project and they really frankensteined a lot of it without passing down much info to me. They were building a track car. The engine had a knock that has disappeared with lubrication, but prior to that had overheated pretty badly and was driven anyway for a bit. The last things replaced were the fan and the master cylinder for the brakes.

I will answer any other questions as soon as I can, but I would greatly appreciate any speculation towards a possible issue. This is my first carbureted engine, so if some of this comes with the territory, I won't be too embarrassed to find that out.

 

It seems that you may be experiencing a problem with the mixture at cold start, i.e., a choke problem.

 

Thanks for the response! I was correct in thinking that I didn't know how to start a carbureted engine correctly. A firm press of the pedal and quick release before turning the key has led to an instant start. I hope I didn't put too much wear on the starter.

I still have problems stalling out in reverse from a cold start, though. Seems to do better in that situation with a few good revs of the pedal in park before attempting to reverse.

My rough idle hasn't come back since the first few times and the startup issue was simple negligence, so I think I may have worked things out on my own for now. Thanks for the input still. I appreciate it.