My friend has a 1979 Camaro. Just a base model. It has a 305 with a 4 barrel and auto tranny. But it doesn't seem to have much power at all. Even in low gear flooring it, it won't even chirp the tires. It seemed to me that the 4 barrel may not be working good enough, though it was rebiult last year. Yet, I had a 1985 Camaro with the same motor and engine setup, but with the 700R4 tranny, and when floored, you couldn't keep it straight. It would even go thru the gears. But was there some large difference between the two motors that has my friends Camaro making less power? Or is it the carb, (I believe the secondarys aren't opening enough/at all) or does somebody think it could be something completely different. Though everything else seems to work absolutely fine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

i have a 79 also. and i had the 305 with a 2 barrel...and man that thing was slow...not so slow. but i droped a 350 with a 4 barrel edelbrock...its real quick now...you could have some sort of vaccum leak...that would really make you lose a lot of power. thats all i can think of off the top of my head at 2 in the morning !!!! good luck with it!!

 

Have someone get in the car and mash the gas all the way to the floor....(with the motor OFF)....and have someone else check the carb and see if its opening all the way. If thats ok, then have them mash it again and hold the carb open and make sure the accelerator pump is working ok....it should be squirting gas into the venturies. If the gas isn't coming out well, I'd replace theaccelerator pump, and if thatdoesn't doit, I'd try changing all the gas filters. And finally the fuel pump itself.

 

I've run into this issue before. First off, Is it a Qjet? Second, You do know that you can't floorboard a Qjet from a dead stop, right? I don't mean to start an argument here, but, I've been driving Qjets all my life. Other things to consider, It's 28 yrs. old, has the motor been rebuilt or is it a worn out origional? It probably has a 2.43 or 2.54 gear set, which was pretty common the economaro's with A/T's. It's a dog gear for a SB unless you're makin alot of torque. Timing is also a factor. To slow and the motor will lack power. HEI's have one common ailment that's easy to diagnose. The centrifugal advance will sieze up, not allowing the timing to advance beyond the vacuum adv. limits. Also, the vacumm adv. itself could not be working. To check these, you need to remove the cap and rotor, operate the mech adv.manualy, it should move smoothly but firm and return quickly and completely on it's own. It may take a small effort to move it depending on how stiff a spring you have. Disconect the vacuum adv. hose from the carb apply vacuum and see if it pulls the plunger in and holds it. Do these checks first, I could be wrong, but, I bet you find someting wrong. Good luck

 

So far that I know of the motor has not been rebuilt, and it has 88,000 original miles on it. It is a Q Jet though. Yes I know those carbs normally only open up during RPM raise. His doesn't seem to do it at all, and I think that's the problem. Also, if your correct about the gearing, that could have alot to do with it too. Just all the ratings I saw said somwhere in the range of 245 ft/lbs torque, Which was actually the same rating my 85' was said to of had. If that were so it should be acting more like my 85' but it doesn't. I'll have to look into that. I also noticed that the 79's motor has a whole lot less of a compression ratio than my 85' had. But I think the biggest problem is in the carb, so we'll see what can be done. Any other info would be greatly appreciated Thanks.

 

From what I've read the peak torque rating on that generation 350 was at 2400 RPM. Now that don't sound right to me, but, that's what I've read. My Z kinda acts that way, I get the best mileage cruising at 2500 and she accelerates strongest from 2000 to about 2800, She's worn out tho and don't pull much past 3k. You need to check on the bottom right (pass) side of the carb, look and see if the secondary throttle lock is disengaged. It's basicly a small choke opperated lever that prevents the secondary throttle plates from opening until the choke warms up. The choke counterweight hangs up and and keeps the primaries on the fast idle cam. preventing it from releasing the lock. Also, perform the other checks I mentioned before.

 

Ok, I will check the Vaccum and see if that's all ok. I definitely think the Gearing may have a huge hand in this. We're going to see if we can find out just what's going on.