i have a new setup. 350 .040 over (357) with patriot vortec heads 2.02- 1.60's. howards cam .504-.510 with 280ish duration. ported intake and plenum. runs and drives but pops a code 43. i replaced the distributor and checked timing. and the knock sensor is fine. my question here is could this be bc i do not have a prom chip for this setup?

ive been trying to troubleshoot for far too long now. im pretty much completely stumped. any thoughts or ideas would be extremely helpful.

 

I assume you're using the 1992 wiring and computer and not the earlier MAF wiring. The code 43 is slightly different between the two. The distibutor is out if the loop on SD cars if I'm looking at the info correctly. The wire for the knock sensor is circuit 496 and it says it should have 4-6 volts. Also the knock sensor should have around 3300 and 4500 ohms from the terminal to the engine block. And to answer your question, yes the memcal could be the problem though I don't believe it has anything to do with you combination. It could just be a bad memcal. This info is all thrown out the window if your engine is pinging or knocking.

 

are you saying the distributor could be out of wack? it has alot of trouble idling on its own. but i drove it today and it felt great for the first minute or two. really smooth. but then it started getting a little choppy. like its runnin too rich.

 

No, the distributor is not in the circut for a code 43 on a SD car. Are you sure you do not have a bad knock sensor, bad connection/wire, or the engine is not experiencing spark knock? Those are the normal causes for that code, and the memcal is possible but not the most likely cause.