I was driving home from the skatepark one hot day under the California sun and I stopped at a red light. It was idling smooth and right when it turns green, it starts to idle real rough and the exhaust starts to sound like it has a big lopey cam in it even though I have the stock peanut cam in the lg4 305. Checked the radiator cap and there was no oil in the radiator so it can’t be a blown head gasket. I replaced everything in the ignition except for the cap n rotor until after it happened. It was idling smooth again after replacing the cap n rotor but it started to misfire again. My father told me the malfunctioning cap n rotor could’ve burned up the new spark plugs? I hope not because it’s a pain to replace them in an 80s f body but any suggestions and advice is welcomed. It’s taking about 15 seconds to get up to 60 mph and it feels dangerously slow. Don’t get me wrong, the lopey idle sounds cool but I want my puny 165 hp back haha. It’s an 1986 Camaro Sport Coupe with the 4 barrel quadrajet 305.

 

Sounds like you already found the source of the problem - poor ignition components. What all did you replace and what brand parts did you use?

It is more likely that excessive plug gaps are damaging the cap and rotor, and possibly the wires. More gap means more voltage required to jump it. And that means more heat and shorter life to EVERY OTHER COMPONENT of the ignition system - cap, rotor, wires, and coil. Heat kills electrical parts.

You should ABSOLUTELY change the plugs. Regardless of how difficult you feel it is. Builds character anyway.

GD

 

I ended up fixing it 10 minutes after posting it. I rechecked the firing order and everything was fine and took off some boots on the spark plugs itself and put them back on more snug. It stopped misfiring so it was the loose spark plug wires. I replaced the spark plugs and wires with auto lites gapped at .025 I believe. I replaced the cap and rotor with blue streak and I don’t remember what brand the coil was but I also replaced it.

I was grabbing the boot and tracing it to the end to plug into the points and I must’ve been too rough when I was putting the wires back on because cylinder 7 was too lose.