I have a 1984 Camaro it has a 3.8L from a 82 Malibu and a 5 speed. My question is why does the engine shake when I let off the clutch. It only does this in neutral not in gear. Also where should I go to get my timing set it's off and I cannot get it set right, should I go to a small local shop or a big shop. Thanks

 

...The engine shakes when you release the clutch in neutral only? Wow....you've got me stumped...

 

I'm not sure what to say here....

I would assume that the engine harmonics are out of whack due to the fact that

1. 84 Camaros originally had the 2.8 V6's

2. 82 Malibus did not come with 5-speeds

Using those two above statements, I would assume that, during the swap, something was either eliminated that should not have been or things are not lined up correctly.

Has the car always done this?

What are you setting the timing to?

The motor (being out of an 82 Malibu) should be set to 82 Malibu specs as the motor doesn't know it in an F-body.

HTH

 

I'd love to see a picture of that 3.8, especially of how it was crammed into the engine compartment. Can you see a casting # on the heads?

 

The 3.8 liter out of the late 70's and early to mid 80's Malibus are Chevy derived engines, not the famous Buick version. They are basically a 305 with 2 cylinders lopped off. My mom used to have an '80 Malibu with the same engine, and my uncle had a '79, also with the 3.8 liter chevy 2 barrel engine. The distributor was in the back, and they had a Chevy style long water pump.

The cluster gear could be going out on your transmission... I have heard them sit there and clunk and shake in neutral when that happened. It could also be that you have a flywheel or something that is out of balance, and it only shows up bad when the engine is unloaded. It could also be that you have a bad miss, or that the timing is waaaaay off. I think that they were set to about 4 degrees BTDC with the vacuum advance disconnected. Just my $.02 worth.