ImportsRsloths

Well heres my deal.... when i was 16, I looked for about 6 months for either a mustang or iroc, but the catch was, it HAD to be jet black, 5 speed, t tops, (gray or black interior as well)... I finally found it, and bought it for 5K..... I paid it off about two years ago..... About exactly one year ago, i was racing a friends mustang and the engine spun a bearing (almost out of oil), well back then I didnt know ANYTHING ABOUT CARS, i couldnt even change a spark plug... Well I was just about to scrap the car becuase my parents wouldnt let me spend $2500 on a new engine..... well my friend at work said his dad would help me build a 350 as the money came in if i helped him everytime.... so for about 4 months, I spent every pay check on parts for this 350 including all the machine work and everything and went to his house about 3 times a week.... at about the 4 month mark, we had the engine completely done and blue printed... We put the engine in, and it started, but, it vibrated like crazy, and he thought the crank i bought was for a 305 and that was what was causing it to vibrate, so we took it out and it turned out it was that all the vlaves were way out of adjustment.... fixed that put the motor back in... we noticed a HUGE problem the SLP TRI-Y headers i bought didnt work on the straight plug World Products heads i had!!!! The plug wires hit the headers..... The engine still ran VERY CRAPPY and popped.... It sat there for about 2 months and he pretty much gave up on it i guess youd say... so i went over there for about two months everynow and then and just put new sensors in, and read everything i could off thirden.org to no avail..... It turns out my friend Jenniffer, her dad is a BAD @$$ MECHANIC.... well he said the popping sounded like the a wire was crossed..... So he went over and helped me put it all back together about a month ago, and I drove it to my house but it Ran EXTREMELY $HITY, turns out the timeing was about 75* advanced (we just threw the distributor in and drove it to my house), fixed that, and bought a set of hedman headers that i installed in my gararge and did some other little stuff..... it sat in my garage for about two weeks.... now about a month ago, norm said to just bring it to his house, so i did, turns out the computer was crapped out (he is a full time head mechanic at the shop he works at and brought home all those scanners and what nots) so i bought another one.... he thought this would be the fix, so i put it in.... not really anything happeneed, but this computer actually functioned properly..... the base timing is set at the factor 6*, but the only problem is now, is that the timing is C R A Z Y, when you rev it up, it advances and retards the timing like crazy likes its possesed...... he is having a really hard time figuring out whats wrong, and is currently tracing all the wires and doing stuff like that.... BTW, Im about to turn 19, can you imagine being 17 and 18 and not being able to drive this car for almost a year!!!!! CAN ANYONE HELP ME ON THIS PROBLEM.... Its not the prom (does it with stock and ed wright) new distributor (second one) new ignition moduel (second one) new knock sensor (for 350) now computer (did it with old computer to, but old computer was all messed up) not setting ANY codes if i dont get this car running soon im gonna cry!

curt86iroc

i cant really give you advice, but i can offer you some hope. back in january my friend (also a member on this board Ian_F) was involved in an auto accident when some jerk ran his 76 camaro off the road. he hit a telephone pole and bent the frame. the insurance company deemed the car totaled. however, his step dad is an ex mechanic so they set to work. they bought a frame from another 2nd gen and did all the body work themselves. new front nose clip, new gm light blue metallic paint, new doors, fenders.....he also took the 350, got it acid dipped, bored .30 over, forged internals, summit cam, new heads, everything was rebuilt. it took them a little over six months. now, the car is amazing. one of the best looking and driving 2nd gens i've ever seen. i asked him if it was worth the wait seeing what his car is now. he said definately.

moral of the story....dont give up. with all the bad luck you've had, something's bound to go right

xmind2006

I know how you feel, well not a full year of not being able to drive my Camaro, but almost 3 months. Which I wouldn't mind if it was in the winter time, but it was these last three months.

I too am 19 and try to stick every dollar extra I have into that car.

One qoute I always here from my dad: " Man, I wished I never sold my that car" Refering to his '68 Cuda

My dad loved that car and sold it for a couple hundred bucks and has been kicking himself ever since.

Don't do the same. Way too much money, time, and most importantly pride stuck into that car to let it go or give up on it know!

my $0.02

Morley

A few things come to mind.
First, ESC module

Second, you might actually be getting knock or the sensor thinks it is hearing knock and the timing is being retarded as it should, knock goes away...timing advances...knock...retard..and so on.
Disconnect the knock sensor and put a resistor (forget the value, ask around here someone will know) from it to ground and fire it up and see what happens. If it still does the advance/retard thing it might very well be the ESC, but you really need to get a scanner on it and look at the knock counts.
If it doesn't advance/retard after unhooking the sensor then either you have a bad spark knock or something is influencing the knock sensor, loose rod, headers banging on the block or frame somewhere, etc.

ImportsRsloths

The scanner he is using from his work is a Snap On.... and under "knock" it says "none" when the car is running........

IROC57TPI

Maybe a bad pickup in the dist.?

Is it throwing any codes at all? The Snap 0n should read you the codes its getting. It also has a troubleshooter that will give you tips on what to do next and how to do it. Try using it if you havn't already.

Later,

wes2k3

So you have a jet black IROC 5speed with T tops and a gray interior. I'll give it a good home.

ImportsRsloths

Yes its a jet black iroc ttops 5 speed, chracoal and black interior....
WITH
SLP 1 3/4 headers now
hooker cat back
edelbrock TPI manifold
AFPR
24lb injectors
mild 355 w/ ported S/R Torquer heads
rebuilt tranny fresh clutch
Alpine cd player w/ hookups for subs/amp
17" ROH ZS polished wheels

ImportsRsloths

The car also does not set off any codes...

94'_SS

I know a lot of people will cry when I say this but when by FI set up on my Firebird went south and I could not figure out the problem I went to carb and never looked back This way I could drive the car again.

Just had a thought pop up, if you emmissions testing don't go to carb

Best of luck in what ever option you choose!

mrt89rs

i know how you feel man and it sucks. I am also 19 and i have a 89 camaro rs. Three weeks ago i started to pull my tbi setup and was going to tpi. I got the car to run after two weeks of hard work and lots of labor money and head aches. the car was running a lil ruff but i was able to get in it and dive around my town. It need some timing ajustments done to it so i took it over to my frinds house that is about ten milies away. just before i got there my car started to bog down on me and backfiring. the battry was not recharging and it was not able to run good at all, i bearly made it to his house. when i got there we gave the car a jump and ajusted the timing then figured out why the car didn't want to recharge. I was so happy to finally get my car running after two weeks of hard work that i headed out the the local illgal drags. when not but half a mile down the rood my car died and ever sence it has not ran good at all. i have absalotly no idea why it will not run good. i have had sevarly people come out and look at it and they all say the same thing ( i don't know whats wrong, give up and go carbed) I am **** out of money and my car is stuck at my finds house ten miles away form where i live and i don't know what the hell is wrong with it. all i got to say it that for those breff moments that my car was hallen @$$ was enuff to make it worth it all but now i don't know what to do. Just don't give up on your car when you get it running it will be worth it all.