I have just bought a 78 Z28 350 AT that the previous owner said ran when parked 2 years ago (didnt say why it was parked). I assumed it was because of the interior that was mostly disassembled (someone's start on arestoration). I got a OK deal on it so what the heck? I brought her home and began to tinker. When I bought it the breather was off but the hood was down, but rats had brought nesting debris into the engine compartment so I took the carb off and looked down to make sure no crap was in the intake, squirtedcarb out with carb cleaner and put it back on. The engine turned by hand with a ratchet, so I put a battery in and dumped some gas and tried it. It fired up pretty quick. I dumped more and kept a cup full on standby for next time. Fired right up and I kept it running. lifters tapped for a second but quit (oil pump working?) Water pump making noise but working. Engine revs up ok. Next day, I try to crank her up and no go. She wants to, but wont. I unscrew the place where the fuel filter goes in the carb to check it (no filter) I didnt disassemble it the first time so i did this time, all the way and cleaned. Drained all the old gas and put in new. Installed fuel filter. OK she started but now she acts sick wont rev up past 2000 full throttle, runs rough. I've moved the timing forward and back, still nothing but 2000 sick rpms. Runs like a bad catalytic converter, but this car don't have one (no potatoes). What the ???? I replaced a few bad looking plug wires but still no good. Help!

 

After sitting for a while and based on your symptoms I would say time for a full tune up; plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil, filter(s) and then check the timing. If it ran the way you said its not in that bad of shape to begin with. Also did you drain all of the fuel or just from the tank up? I would either drain it all or put some stabilizer or activator in the tank to loosen up the gum.

 

Takae a look at the fuel filter in the carb, where the fuel lne enters the bowl.

 

YepI drained all of the fuel, and put a filter on before the carb (inline) the carb itself has no filter in the port. It fires good it seems, I stuck a screwdriver in the plug wire and grounded it. She sent arcs to the ground then shocked the crap out of me. Guess I'll try tuning up? Appreciate the advice.

 

[X(] have we checked fuel pressure yet?? how well does it run below 2000 rpm?? do all cylinders have good compression?? cars usually arent just parked and left for years without some reason yes the guy said it ran but really how well. while not particular to any year chevys do have a tendancy to flatten cam lobes in high mileage semi neglected cars and will exhibit some strange low power, popping through carb as well as other symptoms. you mentioned lifters making noise for awhile, should be no more than a second or so or may be a sign your oiling system is not up to snuff which is the culprit in cam flattening scenarios. id say lets get to basics first before you spend $$ on tune up and other parts. check compression, check fuel pressure, pull one or preferably both valve covers(does it look like oils been flowing good out the push rods, should be a steady little stream running down the oil return) turn engine over and look at the rocker arms( do all move the same amount). anyway thats some stuff to start with lets make sure we have a good foundation with the long block before we throw time and money into chasing ghosts and after that then we can look at ancillary parts and causes like carbs and distributors etc kurt

 

Thanks for all the help, I wasn't going to spend much on tune up just yet until I found the problem. I have enough spare parts lying around to figure it out. However, a man just offered me 50% more than what I paid for it last week, so the problem is now his. I'll be putting the extra $ into my 67. Thanks again Jeff