LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

Help Please... Big power problem

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Old Apr 4, 2008 | 09:18 PM
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EightyEight350's Avatar
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Default Help Please... Big power problem

Okay so the run down of my vehicle is as follows.... (94' Camaro Z28)
Bought the car off of a mechanic who got it from a mechanic lean...
the guy got rid of it because he had a TA with the ls1 in it so he said " why would i need a LT1?" i got it from him for 2000 which everyone was amazed at this deal. Now he did not know all that much about the car since he didnt do the work on it and just got it from the lean. transmission shifts great, but its always had a problem down low.. i can lay the pettle to the floor and it will take a good 1-1.5 seconds to react and even then its not all that impressive.. the speed in the middle to high is fine but its so doggy that it wont even spin the tires in the rain from a dead stop... cannot power break it or anything... now when the optispark went bad i took it to the shop got it replaced... the car took a vented optispark instead of a non-vented which is what is needed for the year of the car.. so its either a 95-96 camaro motor or for some reason they did a conversion on it. The motor has all sorts of ghetto riggings.. theres like 1 wire going to the alternator and every emissions part period is disconnected, removed or crimped off. Everyone i talk to cant figure out what the problem would be for a definate.. i know theres a million and 1 things it could be but so far we have changed plugs + wires, the coil, and optispark thinking it was some kind of ignition problem. If anyone has seen this before or has any clue what it might be any help would be better then the dead end im at now.

- some things we have thought about are injectors, fuel pump, and also it is kind of weird that a 94 would take a 95-96 camaro part so someone told me that if they dropped a 95-96 camaro motor into the car and did not change the computer that the computer would be confused and not know how to run the motor? any help would be appreciated.

Here are some pictures (takes very very good pictures)







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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 10:05 AM
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Well, first off, the year 94' was the year where th opti changed. So, you got the vented opti option instead of the non-vented opti. So, your just fine there. I'd start with the fuel system and than look into any possible leaks at the emissions hookups as some of those have to deal with vaccum and a vaccum leak can cause a car to run like crap.
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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 10:49 AM
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1995 was when they switched to the vented opti not 94
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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 11:12 AM
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^^I'm with you on that one. '95 was the first year for the vented opti.

Assuming the car is an automatic from the way you talk, I'm wondering if the converter was changed before. If it's not sputtering or missing, I tend to think the fuel may be ok, but would definitely not rule it out.

If it were mine, I'd get it scanned and check for any codes first. Then I'd find out if some kind of tune was attempted on the car as it sounds like somebody tried to mod the car already. I would say a read out of the A/F ratio tables may address your fuel issues as mentioned above.

I'm definitely no expert but it sounds converter/transmission related to me. Hope you get it figured out. Some of the more knowledgeable guys on here should be chiming in soon so you'll get even more advice.
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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 11:13 AM
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Nice ride for 2 grand though....
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 09:43 AM
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Yeah the mechanic scanned it to find out what the original problem was before we knew it was the opti spark... he said there wasnt anything else wrong with it besides defective distributor but im not sure what all that checks.. but ill definately try and get back with any more info as soon as i get it.. thx for the help
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Old Apr 7, 2008 | 05:03 PM
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codes were fine.. still trying to eliminate the problem. Hope i can get some more advice soon. If i floor it from a dead stop there isnt much power at all =/ the only power i can really get out of it is if it down shifts while on a roll.
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