Alright, i recently did a head gasket, water pump, and timing chain gasket replace on a friends 89 2.8 firebird. got it all put back together, and now when cranking it "front fires" basically backfiring from the intake manifold where the air box hooks in. any help would be much appreciated as this has been an 11 day project now and i want it out of my garage to work on my new to me Jeep

 

Sounds like the distrib was put in wrong.. I would say it is a timing issue..

 

Never pulled the distributor tho. And have now timed it while cranking

 

I had a trans am that was doing the same thing turns out it was my timing being way off somehow. I didnt mess with mine either prior to having the problem but adjusting it fixed the issue


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Make sure you put the plug wires back on the right plugs...

 

Recheck the valve lash. If the valves are too tight they will hang open and backfire through the intake. Make sure you are timing on the number 1 cylinder, it is on the passenger side, not the driver's side like a small block.

Also, how did you do a head gasket without pulling the distributor?