I just bought a 1986 2.8 firebird that has two issues.

First being that it wont idle well when cold.
I have to keep giving it gas.....and then it fluctuates between 800 and 2500rpm. And it doesn't respond to the inputs from the gas pedal quickly at all......its weird.

After it gets warm, and I am assuming it goes into open loop, it has no power under 2000 rpm. While I was driving it around my buddy outside the car said he heard popping sounds. After I get past 2000RPM it has power. It feels like a really bad hesitation.....I am thinking the timing is off.

I havn't done a tune up, but the previous owner just replaced the plugs, so thats a start I guess. I will be replacing fuel filter, 02 etc as soon as I can.

Does the symptoms I described sound familiar to anyone?
thinking maybe a bad MAP or TPS......the 86 has a MAF right?

 

So I thought I would give an update...

Dropped the car off at the dealer for them to troubleshoot, I dont have the time....
They said the cat was clogged and was messing with it running, and the distributor was compeletly rusted apart.

They replaced the distributor, and it runs much better.
BUT:
they said they had to advance the timing alot to get it to run. Apparently that is a result of sticking valves they said. The car is currently getting the cat cut off and a new one is going in.
What are symptoms of bad valves? Are there easy fixes?

 

sounds like a bad tps/iac problem.. id check those first

 

yeah I thought so aswell, but the car seems to run pretty well now.

I will be checking the iac tommorrow, but the car does idle pretty well it seems