:confused: hi guys i have a 1980 trans am with a 350 chevy set the timing at 8 degrees starts ok in park idles at a 1000 rpm when i put it in gear she runs rough and stalls put vacuum gauge on it it reads btween10 and 15 flucuates rapidly it has a holley 650 double pumper on iti dont see any vacuum leaks help please thanks

give it more timing...start at 12 initial...may even need more...

Turbodude,

If the guage is bouncing, my first guess is you have leaky or misadjusted valves. Other causes could be worn or broken rings, uneven air/fuel mixture, improper ignition timing, or a leaking intake manifold. Have you ran a compression or a leak down test? These will rule out the rings and valves and let you concentrate on the more simpler stuff.

Happy motoring,
Craig

:(hi guys i tried seting timing runs good in park put it in gear still runs rough i got the timing mark off the scale on the timing cover road tested runs like it has a bad miss pulls ok but not like it should put vacuum gauge on it again still boucing between 10 and 15 rapidly had my buddy look at the gauge when i put in gear dropped to around 5 then put it park went back to bouncing idled good thanks for the input so far big cruise coming up i want to go first one for the summer

do a cancel test...pull one plug wire at a time, and look for the one that makes no difference in engine idle...then investigate that cyl for vacuum leak, or bad plug, or even a wiped cam lobe...

thanks guys found my problem performed a compression test found 70 psi on number 4 and 100 on 7 possibly cam you think thanks for your input

keep us informed,man...i dont know about everyone else, but i like to hear when someone gets the satisfaction of beating the problem...

hey guys found my cam lobes bad on 4 and 7 replaced cam set her up again runs great now thanks for all your info ps. we had a great turn out for our first run of the summer 162 cars turned up