i didnt end up buying a timing light yet, thing is i rotate the distributor clockwise a few degrees and retard it still a few degrees either way and it still seems to want to do those pings I talk about. Its why i wonder if the carb is getting too much/too little fuel still. i can tell you one thing, if i floor it and hold it the car will run through the pings and shift and stop pinging. Its only at the highest RPMS that it is doing this. That video was kinda eye opening to some degree though, other then the gay talking about holes lol

 

STOP letting it ping. Detonation is the worst thing you can do to your motor.

 

out why its still doing that, i can drive it everywhere just cant floor it. Perhaps i should pull the plugs even and see if they are messed up or not, i know that night when the car got flooded im sure it effected them too. what do you think ? could this be causing the backfire a it?

 

It just wont ping if retarded enough. Either the noise you're hearing isn't pinging, or there's something wrong. Don't just twist the distributor around not knowing how far you're changing it. Go borrow or buy a timing light, they're not that spendy and you'll always use one.
Backfiring and pinging are not the same thing, but either will cause you to blow a hole in a piston if you let it continue.

 

Ok, well its definitely backfiring not pinging as i misworded it before. I did pull out the plugs, all were fine but Number 1 it was abit black and sooty. I cleaned it off though. yeah I moved the distributor all the way advanced and it was still backfiring, it appears to backfire no matter where the distributor is at. I even tried making the gas/air mixture more lean and it still was. My body shop siad they would have a guy come loook at it when i drop it off on the 12th of next month, thats my appointment date. I think i will call autozone and rent one for 15 bucks, a timing light that is. thanks for the advice though.



also my plugs are gapped at .45 i hope thats not too big.

 

There's a great idea. Rent one for $15, when you can buy an inexpensive one for $20.
Xenon Timing Light

 

I was thinking the same thing.

 

I had a 30+ year mechanic look at my car 2 nights ago, he noticed a lot of play in the distributor. He reccomended i get another one. So i did, my friend put it on and its still doing the backfiring under heavy load, im a little bit stumped. I am going to take it to the guy agian today. Hes a good friend of my brothers and knows his **** real well.

The car has newer plugs, cap, plug wires, distributor. What else really could it be?

 

He had you buy a distributor, which didn't fix anything? Seems a contradiction to the above statement. All GM distributors will allow some play when turning the rotor clockwise or counter clockwise, plus some up down play. The only play that's not acceptable is in the shaft bushings allowing side to side play.
You need to start from the basics and check timing with a light, dwell/points, plugs, and valve adjustments.

 

well the timing was set, but it was still making the same sounds and backfiring. We have determined that the stock cam is faulty in this car or is getting weak. I did some research and found out that these cams do go quite often in these cars even as low as 30K miles. oh well going to the shop on the 12th and then we said we would talk an engine rebuild in october or perhaps spring.