I have a question. I have a 1991 Camaro RS w/ a 305 that has 350 heads and a 700R4 trans. But, for some reason. It is lacking power. I checked the timing.
And it's only off by 2°s. 2°'s should'nt effect it that much should it ? Also, the engine keeps running hot on me. But i think its the fan going out in it.
It's got an electronic fan. I just can beleive that the fan has that much of an importance to cooling the engine down.

Thx,
Chris

 

Oh believe it! how else is it suppose to get cool, when the car just idling it has no mechanical fan off the water pump, being driven by the crankshaft, nor does it have a clutch fan that only starts to engage, when the thermostat opens cycling water in the top of the pump spinning the impeller. Now was this car purchased as is? has it always ran poor, or did this just start after engine mods? Have you done a compression check? each cylinder on each bank should be between 130 to 150 psi. Where do you live I;ll come over and well drink some beer and fix the car, cause I,ve about run out of things to do on mine, unless i let my girlfreind drive it. Anyway try checking plugs, compression, also could be arcing across the + & - terminals on the coil. anyway I've ranted enough sorry about the long post hope this helps, let us know.

 

Its not a power house in the first place and with the 350 heads you have lowered the compression.

 

Um, yeah, thats why they call it a 'cooling fan'.

So what do you mean 'lacking power'. What are you expecting? When I got my Maro last year it was my first V8 in almost 10 years. I expected gut wrenching, tire burning, neck twisting power. Boy was I in for a shock.My 305 was a DOG! My SUV couldwhoop it. So this winter I dropped in aworked 350... (bored .40 over, RV cam, headers, intake, carb...) I was happy for about 30 minutes and now I want to gear down the rear end for more 'off the line' power. What exactly do you want out of this car?

 

Well see, it runs rich kinda. And that puzzles me because its TBI. Right after I got the car. The first thing I did was change the plugs, cap, rotor, and coil. All of which
were Bosch excluding the rotor and coil. Although when I checked each plug after I pulled them. They werent fauled . Just normal wear and tear. So, I think
Compression isnt a big thing here. Though, I will check it. I changed the fan motor today. It was actually cheaper than I thought. It was only 25 bucks. Now it runs cool. Eventhough
it still hangs around 220 . Aswell, it is getting POOOOOOOOR gas milage. i did the numbers and it is getting anywhere from 10 to 11 mpg. As far as you coming to my place dhighway . I live in SC. So have fun w/ that lol. What do i want out of this car ... Um, mainly i need it to drive 50 -60 miles everyday to my college without having to pull out a half a tank of gas there and back. I was told this car should get 21 mpg... which is true. And for recreational purposes. Such as out running newer mustangs... Especially some tuners. Which I have found does quiet great. Although its not as quick acceleration as my 79 camaro. But, I figure that is because it has a 4 barrel. Well, I too have ramped enough. Hope this helps in more detail. The only thing I can thing of is the timing. But 2°'s can it be that significant ? Oh, and 350 heads were on it when i got it. The engine had just been rebuilt. The engine had 40k and tranny had 89k or vice versa I forget.

Thx, for all your help!
Chris

 

Well I have a possible culprit! I have the same engine less 350 heads, and it too was running rich, after a cold start she ran rough loaded up on fuel, was fuel fouling the plugs, i replaced the plugs, with a hotter platinum A/C that i got from my bro, came out of his 82 Z-28 he said they cost 9 bucks a plug which is possible but doubt it, anyway in ranting, it still ran rich, and we (bro and myself) discovered it was the mixture control solenoid, problem solved, mpg on hwy is about 23 to 25 in OD 16 to 18 city, but gotta keep a light foot, otherwise numbers crash hard, hope this helps you? best of luck, and south carolina! Hmm well im in seattle, i could hope in the Maro and be down there in say 4 or 5 DAYS!!! LOL.

 

I was wondering if i got a MSD ignition coil. I figure the hotter the spark ... the more fuel burned. At the same token . A minor jump in performance. Better gas milage. I do have a heavy foot but even so. I drove a whole tank of gas w/o running it hard and w/o winding gears out. And gas mileage still sucks. Also, i put the car back in time. Now it runs smoothly. And I have noticed a slight increase in gas mileage. But now, I'm starting to run into another problem. My car keeps overheating . But its puzzling. Simply because of the fact that I replaced the electronic fan motor. And there I also took the thermostat out. Now, the only thing I can thing I can think of is the water pump. Any suggestions ?

Thx,

Chris

 

How is the radiator flowing? If you could find a temp gun measure it and look for plugged areas, hot in on spot then a big drop down a little further along.

Also, did you take off or move any of the factory body panels under and in the grill? they direct the air to the radiator to help cool it. Even the low ones under neath help push air where it should go.

Focus on the cooling issue first before worrying about the power. I hate to say it, but have someone do a chemical check on the antifreeze and make sure your not getting some issues from a cracked head or blown gasket.

As for the timing, did you disconnect the wire before timing it? there is a signal wire to disconnect before setting the timing. This stops the module from advancing the timing on you, goes to base. Brown wire, up near the passenger side of the firewall.

 

yeah your right about that wire? EST or electronic spark timing, but he had to have disconnected it or timing would not have changed. Are you losing coolant? if the pump is out or going out? you should see coolant leaking from the bottom, out of a weep hole, heater core leaking is carpet wet on the passenger side. Actually i should ask how hot? is it getting, past 220o f. keep us posted and always best of luck.

 

Isn't the stock 305 heads 58cc chambers? If he is running 350 TBI heads which I think are 64s or maybe 76cc, wouldn't that be a big drop in compression ratio?