So we did a bad thing for the right reasons.... By fall I will be in need of a daily driver. Not being afraid of RWD in the snow and on the hunt for something of cookie cutter build numbers, easy trouble shooting and cheap parts availability I began my search. My wife Loves 3rd gen Camaros, and one has always been on my to do list so that seemed to be a good choice. Stay to a carb'd car and all will be good. We found a rather local guy who wanted to trade his 1985 Z28 even up for my 1994 EX-500. The deal was struck and we hauled her home. Now the fun begins..
The car has a transmission issue (Automatic & does not make any attempt to move in any gear) Owner said that it used to drive fine then one morning just didnt. Upon quick review however, it looks like one of theoil cooler lines was laid against the exhaust so I have my doubts that there is any real pressure in the system.
It also has a TPI 350 swap in place of the carb'd 305. again, the car ran, but in the last 2 days refuses to fire. What I have found so fare is that it looks like the wire harness has seen better days. I think it was a snack bar for the local rodents. The car cranks, and on occasion tries to fire but wont catch.
I plan to chase all the wires for the ECM as a start as I really do not want to pitch the TPI and replace it with a carb. If forced, I will however.
I really think that mechanicaly the car is solid, I believe that most of its issues are wiring based. I know this should scare the shizz out of me, but I dont really mind automotive electrical systems.
Any thought, suggestions, ideas on chasing down the gremlins would be appreciated guys.
I'd bet that Painless makes a replacement harness.
HappyAndy wrote:
I'd bet that Painless makes a replacement harness.
Have you priced one out? IIRC the engine harnesses run in the $1k range.
HappyAndy said:
I'd bet that Painless makes a replacement harness.
$611.00 for the TPI harness from them. Thats pretty painful to me. I may need to just find a sued harness, or buy a spool of wire and tags... the sensor side of the ECM only has 14 wires and 3 of those gop straight to ground. The power side gets a bit more intensewit 18 connections that branch out from it. I need to stay on a GRM type budget on this one. Goal is to trouble shoot and get running/driving on the cheap ASAP then hunt and sort the issues as they come up.
is it getting fuel?
is it getting spark?
is there compression?
are the injectors firing?
does the "check engine" light come on with the key on and engine off?
if so, it should run.
one last thing: third gen Camaros suck in the snow, even with good tires. found that lesson out 2 winters ago when i could hardly go anywhere if there was more than a couple of inches of snow on the roads. it handles awesome for a car with a worn out suspension in the dry, tho.
I would check and see What year your motor and or ECU is, if it is 1988 and up they would have had to bypass VATS (Vehicle Anti theft System) to swap that motor in your car it maybe causing your no start issue if you are getting spark and no fuel, i think it disables the fuel injectors from firing. check out thirdgen.org for more info.
I daily my thirdgen, when winter hits get some cables and keep them in ur car for more than a couple inches of snow, my car did really well driving home through a unexpected blizzard in deep 6+ inches of snow with cables and Kumho ASX all season combo. Its great to see the look on peoples face when ur cruisin past them in a thirdgen kicking up rooster tails of snow down the freeway:)
Good luck with your build.
Under an overpass checking the cables after 75 miles
Mine always did okay in snow, of course down here we never get much, but as long as you kept momentum and hit the brakes early, you were fine.
didnt 85 go TPI in the iroc and 305? i thought 84 was the last year the camaro got that miserable rochester POS. so you should have the right harness now unless the PO swapped for a 1988 or newer engine and computer for power reasons (they got about 40HP in that time period) then i think the air metering is different.(mass air vs speed density)
check for spark first... its easiest to test and usually the root of the problem if you have gas in the tank and compression at the cylinders. VATS wont stop spark but it will stop the fuel injectors.
if you have spark check the fuel pump and fuel pump fuse. you should have about 45 psi at the schrader valve of the fuel rail. if not, work backwards to the tank. if so, check for wet cylinders after you crank to see if the injectors are firing...
as for the tranny, early to mid 80's gm 700R4s were known to have a weird valve stick issue that showed up out of nowhere and then just goes away. i got stuck at exist 6 in south georgia on my way to florida. running fine, stopped for gas, got about 50 feet onto the entrance ramp aferwards and then nothing in all gears. apparently it is temporary since it drove itself to the shop the next day with no intervention on my part. rebuilt the valve body and replaced the little ball bearings and it never happened again. try a rebuild kit, clean the valve body well, and see if that fixes it.
Check the ignition module in the hei. 2 make sure if it has a maf sensor its plugged in, or if the socket is cracked or broken its not upside down. It will NOT start without it. Not even to just idle. Fuel pump plugs supposedly burn out, never had that issue with mine.
With a motor swap and injection addition, it's hard to say what may be happening in there. If done right, it shouldn't be to bad, if it's a hack job and mice chewed it up like you said... Also, make sure the TV cable to the trans is properly adjusted.
As for the snow, you'll be ok if you use your head. 205/70r15 on 6" wide wheels fit my '87 Firebird just fine. Get good snow tires (I like Firestone Winterforce) and put some weight in the trunk. I used 3 50lb bags of gravel from the home improvement store. Much easier to clean up if you have a spill unlike sand or cement and won't hold moisture as much. You can still tear it open and dump it out if you get stuck, I never did.
