94Camaro_Z_28

I put an old carbed 305 I had laying around into my 89 RS after blowing a hole in the side of the block. Anyways, the motor runs great, until it hits 2nd gear....at which point it shuts off. As long as I keep it in 1st gear, it runs like a raped ape....

I used the distributor that was on the 89.....non coil in cap. I think it has something to do with the computer cutting off the spark as soon as it goes into second. It's a 700R4 for the tranny.....water temp, oil pressure sensors hooked up. All gauges including the tach work....and I've had no trouble with VATS as of yet...........


Anybody have the slightest clue?

s10er8

What kind of distributor are you running?

94Camaro_Z_28

Whatever was in it.......I suppose that depends on what kind you mean. I tend to fiddle more with my 4th gen, so a "normal" distributor is not normal to me.

s10er8

So you left the HEI remote coil distributor on the engine? You need to get another distributor it sounds like, just get a big cap HEI (coil in cap) and run a hot ignition wire to it. You did leave the carb on the engine right? I assume you did

94Camaro_Z_28

I have the distributor that was on the TBI motor and put it into the carbed one. It runs great through 1st gear, all the way up to 5800 or so.....the very second it shifts to second, the ignition shuts off. If I move the selector down to first, sometimes it refires, sometimes it doesn't......thus leaving me to believe this has something to do with the computer.....

84firebird

yea, i agree with him, computer controlled distributors are the devil, get an old mechanical/vacuum advance distributor and run a hot ignition wire to it, also run a carb without any electronics and use your throttle cable and kickdown cable... etc the bare necessities basically.

if it were the transmission it would likely rev and not move, since it's fine and then killing in second it's almost certainly a computer, your tach should be able to hook up to the HEI as well. and your computer is pretty much useless after you get a non-demonic distributor.

my old distributor was computer controlled too, and it was flat out nasty, wouldnt let me go over 75, sounded like it hit a rev limiter, disconnect the computer and it wouldnt allow advancing of timing

BrandonKeith

It is definately the distributor. You can get a cap for the big coil in-cap distributor that will allow you to keep your offset coil. Less wire mess and your tac will still work..

Otherwise you'll need to take the Red wire from the Grey coil connector and run that to the *bat* terminal on the big HEI cap and then the White wire from the Grey coil connector to the *tach* terminal on the cap.

You won't be needing anything from the other coil connector since that works with your current control module *thus your problem*

Anyway, the easiest thing to do would be to take 15.00 and a 9/16 wrench to your local junk yard, and grab you a complete distributor from an old truck or something.


Hope this helps, and sorry for the long post.

94Camaro_Z_28

I appreciate the help. I was pretty sure it had something to do with that.....and now you've confirmed it. Thanks guys.

ryan77

hey, I also have a question on this, since you are running a 700r tranny, did it have electrical wires on it....I was thinking of running a carbed engine on my 89 as well....but the tranny still needs the electrical computer....right???

Rice Killer87

No,the only thing electrical in a 700R4 is the lock-up convertor. JET sells a kit for like $70 I think for a 700R4 in an older carbed car.

94Camaro_Z_28

^ What he said. Nothing but the lockup for the torque converter.....and right now I don't even have that hooked up. You can actually just hook it up to a toggle and control it yourself, but I think that would kind of be a pain in the ***.

ryan77

cool....thanx....did you mean J.E.T as in Jasper Engines and Transmissions? although...I would be interested in a cheaper, toggle switch way of doing it

Rice Killer87

JET as in the same people that make performance chips/programmers.

Screw a toggle switch for the lockup,that would get old after the first 10 minutes.

ryan77

ok I looked at JET's site....what I'm seing is $179 and it uses vaccume to control the lock up......is it simply putting voltage to a termanal??(or switching continuity between tremanals??) when vaccume is applied......I'm thinking I could make something like this a lot cheaper...do you know how these trannys work????

94Camaro_Z_28

I'd have to go find it, but using the toggle just switches it on and off. Not sure which pins to use, though. With that info you might be able to build a vaccume switch. Nothing more than a solenoid.