I have an 83 TA with a rebuilt 350 engine and trans that I bought from a very old retiree. I took the car to my mechanic and he told me everything was in pretty good shape and that the engine had a cam in it. I orgianally took the car to him because when I came to a stop with the car in drive, it idles like crap and seemed liek it wanted to die, but never did. The mechanic told me it was because the cam/engine was too agressive for the torque converter and I would need a one with at least a 2400 stall. I am very new to the V8/auto trans world and was just wanting to know if this sounded right and if someone could explain to me a little more how the TQ converter works.. Also, for a 350 V8 the car seems to be a little sluggish, it will chirp the tires if a stomp it from a stop and shifting from 1-2, but just doesn't seem to be as quick as it should be... All I have is K&N Xtreme flow intake, Q-jet, Shorty headers with the patriot muffled side pipes, and whatever cam is supposedly in the engine...Thanx for any help or advice!

And yes I did search, it keeps on turning up threads that don't really answer what I am asking...

 

anybody?

 

One thing that really helped my engine immediately was a carb swap. Ditch the quadrajunk and get a nice aftermarket holly/edelbrock/whatever. I noticed a huge difference. Not an expert-just sayin what helped me.

 

You might check for a vaccum leak, check plugs and wires and fuel flow first. Be sure you dont have a clogged fuel filter!

 

Thanks for the replies...I'm assuming that the fuel filter is in the front of the carb where it says filter with an arrow pointing to the inlet hose...Is this correct? All the spark stuff is new, new HEI dist, new Accel 300+ 8.8mm, new Accel plugs...

 

oh yeah i forgot, my vacuum advance had a big gaping hole in it....

 

I'll re-check all my vacuum lines tommorrow....