Packy

Ok, I have an 86 TPI TA, with the hotter cam(unless previos owner swapped it). The only thing I have done to the car is add headers and flowmaster exhaust. Problem Im having is an odd idle, sometimes its right on the money other times it drops abit. Sounds like a miss, but all is good new plugs and wires cap rotor.

I had the ecm go bad on xmas, so we changed it. My bro found a hypertech chip in there.
Could the HT chip cause the idle to freak out?
Would getting a factory chip be worth it, since i have headers?
and if its replacing with another aftermarket chip , which is good?

Oh, sometimes I smell gas, but I dont see the inj leaking.

Any answers would rock, later

D Stroy H8

I would just throw a factory prom in there. The hypertech is junk.

The stock prom should be alright with those small mods. The best thing to do would be getting a custom burn, but you left that out so I assume you don't want to do it yet.

TKOPerformance

Another area to check would be the idle air passages in the throttle body that feed the IAC. Over time these can accumulate oil deposits from the crankcase breather system that can clog the IAC and create a condition like you mention. Buildup is also common behind the throttle butterflys.

If the condition I mention is present simply remove the throttle body and clean it thoroughly with carb cleaner and Q-tips. It may take numerous applications, but eventually all the crud will come out.

I did this to my car and the problem it had with intermitten stalling went away completely. My idle is still rough, but that's due to the aluminum flywheel I run. Once I cleaned out the throttle body I could adjust the idle screw to bring the IAC steps into line so that it no longer stalls when sitting at idle, or when I push the clutch in to brake for a turn.

Packy

Ok, I forgot about the custom burn. How much do they usually run? and, Is there someone in Jersey that does em?

As far as the IAC passage and the butterfly, I think I went thru one of the big cans of carb cleaner. It never did sqwat. I mean it did clean it, but the prob is still evident.

TKOPerformance

You have mass air, so a factory PROM should be fine with the headers, and even a slightly bigger cam.

Is the timing set to spec? Check and see if the timing is erratic when the idle goes funny.

Depending on the mileage the timing chain could also be due for a replacement, and could be causing a similar problem too.

Packy

doh, i forgot all about the t chain, and i was thinking about that when I bought the car Thats prlly the problem.

Captain C

A couple of other things come to mind. Are you running a gutted MAF? If so, that will cause the idle to fluctuate.

Another thing to check is the harmonic balancer. If you have a miss that you can't locate, you have probably spun the outer ring on the stock balancer. That's very common on the 305 TPI cars. I have personally done it on two different cars. The car I have now had a new 305 in it when I bought it because the previous owner did just that and messed up his main bearings. I spun the new balancer in about 10k miles.... That's why I run a Fluid Damper........