i recomend you pick up a factory shop manual for your year. i picked one up for 20 bucks. 1993 CAMARO FACTORY SERVICE MANUAL!! | eBay

 

in a perfect situation the car would show a trouble code for a failing opti. plug wires are a pita to change, easier to do when changing opti and with the alternator out. plugs are almost as hard as the wires. first time changing my plugs took all day. like 8 hours if i remember right. its a good idea to go with a new water pump when changing the opti, that is if you have not changed it in the recent past. you could try looking at shbox. 4th Gen LT1 F-Body Tech Aids

 

I filled up the car this morning, and she backfired so loud that people actually hit the deck, and I'm not kidding.

Something's gotta be done.. I'm getting misfire codes. It's really hard to get the car moving, it bucks and acts like it wants to stall if I don't ride the clutch. When I get to high rpm's it misses and the rpms are all over the place.. followed by what sounds like a driveby.

 

Has the plug wire location and firing order been verified a crossed plug wire can do that.
Outside of that and what you just described sounds like what happened to a friend of mine at the track something broke inside the opti as he was staging and good hawd did
It back fire! Oh and a few valve springs were broke too

 

what code numbers are coming up?

 

My neighbor came over with his really expensive scan tool today. lol

It had a couple codes. Evap Emission, o2 sensors (the ones after the cat that aren't there), and multiple misfire.

We ran it for 10 minutes, and it said cylinder 2 had 1500 misses. There was over 100 on each. On closer inspection all of my plug wires are melted near the opti. There's water in the water pump weep hole as well.

I have new plug wires sitting in a box next to me. I think my plan right now is to replace the water pump, plugs, wires, and opti. I just have to find a method to my madness.

 

The opti swap went pretty well. I opened it up, and all of the points were severely corroded. I did the water pump, plugs, and wires while I was in there. Three plug wires were completely toast, and one spark plug wasn't even hand tight. She runs so, so much better now. There's still a couple things I need to work on though.

Which brings these questions:
I have an intermittent low oil light. The oil isn't low. Any ideas?
Has anyone tried the cheap window motors off of ebay?
My parking brake cable is separated at the splitter, is there a diagram around showing how it's connected? I've got no idea.
How is the opti vented? One of the hoses coming from it is sealed on mine?
Thanks for all the help guys.

Heres a picture mid-project. lol

 

oil level sensor is on the passenger side of the oil pan. could be bad sensor or the wires could be damaged. i have a cheap motor on the passenger side in my car, its slow and making noises and failing even though i dont use it much. driver side i installed a new gm motor and its quite and fast as new.

opti vent diagram
http://shbox.com/ci/opti_vent.jpg

 

dont know if yours is different than a 93, best for you to pick up a factory shop manual for a 97 camaro

 

Can't tell you how much I appreciate your help.
I definitely need to get a manual for the car.
I took some pictures to help with my questions.

This is where my parking brake is separated:


This is what I'm assuming used to be my complete vent tube. Any ideas on fixing it? Cut and splice?


This next one is the weird rattling I think ive been hearing from the tranny. Honestly, I don't know what it is.. but its some sort of metal cover attached to the tranny, on the side closest to the engine. It's missing some bolts. Any idea? It's a 6 speed by the way.