Aerizanthar

I'm in the process of bringing this v6 out of hibernation. I purchased it about 9 months ago and worked on it some over the winter, got it running in may and used it as a work vehicle for a few weeks and noticed several issues.

It may be just me, but does this engine normally have poor power? My daily commute involved climbing a mountain at roughly 11% grade to 14% grade in places for roughly 5-8 minutes. I could not maintain a speed of 55 at all, could barely maintain a speed of 45 coming up this mountain without pushing the pedal nearly to the floor. My aftermarket tach showed the engine running at 6-7k rpm when I did, and the only other vehicle I've ever owned with a tach was a neon, and I learned never to run my engine that high for very long.

In the end I was forced to put-put up the hill at about 40 each day much to my annoyance and the annoyance of other drivers. I'm trying to figure out what is wrong and what I can do.

Apart from that issue, I have finally decided to remove my smog system and a/c system from the vehicle. It's a T-top so my a/c is removing my roof.

This decision was made after I went to replace the valve cover gaskets and oil pan gasket and noticed all the unnecessary hoses running to and fro across my engine. According to the local authorities and the local mechanics I can legally take the smog system off permanently, so thats one less item on my engine. That and it's in the way of several other objects on the engine. Apart from that, the a/c takes up too much space, does not have any refridgerant in it, I attempted to retrofit it to r134a using the appropriate pag oil and pressures and still no luck getting it to fire, had to hotwire the pump to get it to even engage, so its an all around useless item I have no intention of keeping. The clutch/pump does work so if anyone wants it I am willing to sell it later once it's off.

My questions are:

Why does my engine struggle to climb a hill?

Why am I leaking oil around my valve covers and oil pan? (I assume bad gaskets and I am replacing said gaskets today to see if it fixes the issue but I want to make sure there aren't other possibilities)

What should I do with the holes left behind by removing the A/C system and the smog system?


For the record, I am a novice mechanic, but I have the equipment to do just about anything. I've done a few engine swaps on other vehicles, transmission swaps, body work, painting, and I'm very good at electrical. I have the equivalent of a car lift rigged up using chains, 2 ton pulleys, and the natural support system of my garage roof (thank you old timers for building things in the late 1800s with 4x6 studs instead of 2x4 studs!!)

If there's any tips or anything anyone could give me I would greatly appreciate it, because I am basically the equivalent of someone who knows too much for his own good and not enough to do things right the first time, so all the advice and help I can get is greatly appreciated.. I don't want to kill my first camaro!

Aerizanthar

here's a picture of the current way the engine compartment looks..

ex-x-fire

I had an 84 with a 2.8L, it was a 5 speed though. I removed the a/c & air pump too, so you'll have to plug the tubes that go into the exhaust manifolds. You might as well get rid of the cat converter also.
I'd flip the air cleaner lid over, sometimes the air cleaner heating valve sticks open causing power loss.
Check your ignition timing, make sure it advances when you rev it.
Your 2.8 has a 2 bbl carb. The secondary barrel is vacuum operated, make sure that's opening & not bound up. You should be able to brake torque it & have someone look to see if it opens. You could mod the secondary barrel limiting tab, so it opens beyond the factory limits.
A gear gear change should wake it up. Yours might have a 3.08 or 3.23, I went to 3.73s.
I ended up going with the edelbrock intake, holley 390 carb, & cam.
There's also a cheap way to get rid of your computer carb & use a more traditional carb. You get a 2.8L tbi intake & redrill the mounting flange for a dual jet carb.

ex-x-fire

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/carb...rb-84-2-a.html
Here's more on the intake carb swap.

Aerizanthar

I went ahead and looked at the carb, cant really tell if its working right or not, gonna look into it more later on. I have a bigger problem now involving the oil leak. I replaced the valve cover gaskets last night and everything seemed to be fine when I started and ran it apart from loud clicking. I assumed it was due to the clicking from before the valve cover gaskets were replaced. That was actually what clued me in to the oil leak in the first place. I drove my wife to work this morning, its forst trip since changing the gaskets, and now the leak seems bigger. I noticed whitish smoke coming out from under the vehicle when I stopped at a light, and when I pulled in to the office and parked it, I popped the hood and there was smoke rolling out from the driver's side of my engine compartment. I checked my valve cover gaskets and those are fine, the rear of the drivers side was a little wet but blnot enough to cause the size of leak I found. I backed the car up a bit without starting it and found nearly half a cup of oil in a puddle where it was parked. The leak seemed to indicate the driver, s side of the engine. At this point I think it may be the oil pan gasket, qhen I removed the valve covers the gaskets on them was just thin for lm a gasket so I think the previous owner may have done the same thing to the oil pan. I'm very concerned at this point because I cannot find a definitive location for the leak, all I have is where it isnt. Any pointers?

ex-x-fire

I guess the first thing to do is clean the engine off with degreaser & then recheck. Did you glue the valve cover gasket to the cover? Sometimes they can slip while you install them. Other areas to look at are the intake end seals, oil sending unit, & oil filter adaptor.

Aerizanthar

Alright, I'll check those when I get it home. Currently I was thinking it may be a rear main seal or distributor O ring, based on a few other forum posts. All i know is I am generating a small pond of oil while it sits and I can't find it. I'll be picking up a gallon of purple power on the way home today. Thanks for the help by the way, I know a good bit about my car, but there's still a great deal I need to learn.

camaroyoungster

You might want to check Pcv too because you might have positive crankcase pressure that is forcin the oil out of an already leaky gasket

Aerizanthar

You know that does nake some sense, my pcv valve hose from the air cleaner is still connected, but on the passenger side where it is meant to return fumes it is disconnected. I notice a consiferable amount of smoke coming out of the hole where the hose used to go for that, and it is decently oily on that side around the hole, but not enough on the side of the engine. Its mostly smoking from below the exhaust manifold manifold on the drivers side. If I can catch it on film today or tomorrow I will post it.

drdave88

iTrader: (3)

How is the car's power when you're not going up hill? Can you get to and maintain highway speeds alright? That almost sounds to me like a plugged converter. You could have some carb issues going on there too.

Aerizanthar

Once im not on an incline I can reach 80 without much effort at all. Its almost like it doesnt have enough power to pull itself up a hill. The entire smog system is removed, the exhaust system was missing when I bought it and the new exhaust doesnt have a catalytic converter, its just a magnaflow tube exhaust and then pipe

Aerizanthar

So I am at a loss here. I have replaced the oil pan gaskets, rocker arm cover gaskets, and I am leaking more oil than previously. I don't understand how that is possible. It leaks in a c shaped pattern around the driver's side of the oil pan. I'm pretty sure I tightened the oil pan bolts down properly. My brother suggests it possibly being the oil pressure sensor.

I fixed the power issue, there was some sort of wad of fluff covered in gunk wedged up under the 2nd flap in the carb, now it runs just fine.

Would anyone have any other suggestions to the oil leak? There was some talk about a "soft plug" on the side of the engine leak but I'm pretty sure it isn't leaking from there. I have pressure washed the engine to get a more accurate picture of where and how much is leaking.

Gfunkill

i had a bad one on the o ring for the oil filter housing. bad enough that i lost a quart of oil in the first week after a rebuild. it was also dripping onto the y pipe and smoking like crazy.

Aerizanthar

That sounds alot like what is going on, I never even thought to check there. I'll look there today, thanks!

ex-x-fire

You can add a sbc chevy distributor base gasket to the 2.8L distributor for extra sealing.

Aerizanthar

Thanks for the tip ex-x-fire, it actually looks like as of right now the oil leak mysteriously dissappeared, but now it is a fuel leak! It is dripping from a fuel line where it bolts into the fuel pump. I believe the seal is bad there, because it looks like the previous owner used pipe thread seal or stringy tape to seal it previously. Im going to take it off and check the o ring inside, I have an o ring collection so hopefully one will seal it up and I will be good to go!