I recently bought a 84 z28 with the 5.0L HO 5spd. as far as mods go all it has is a full isky cam. I was driving home the other day and she let out two pops, a puff of smoke from under the center of the hood(by windshield) and died. I have no check engine light on. My stock rochester cpu controlled carb had been acting up recently so it was my first shot and fixing my issue. replaced the carb with an identical refurb and still wouldnt start. next shot was at spark, though i didnt go into much depth. I replaced the basics, cap rotor plugs and wires(points were rusted and slightly corroded) and i dont want to go out and spend 150 bucks on a new coil. Long story short im $400 into this and im tired of guessing. i was hoping maybe someone might have some things for me to look at and consider. I have limited tools and no current tester or code reader. can anyone please help me? im desperate

 

ask a buddy hold onto the end of a plug wire while you crank her over, if he screams you got spark.this is how my dad tought me how to check for spark when i was 7.

 

OR, you could just stick a regular screwdriver in the plug boot and place it near a good ground,have someone crank it over and see if you have a spark.

If your car has points I think its time to throw it away and convert to an HEI ignition. All you need to get is a coil and an HEI distributor.

 

Chevrolet had converted to HEI long before 84. i.e., You should have an HEI dist. NOT points. Which makes me wonder about the entire engine?
Doesn't really matter as far as trouble shooting goes. Do you have spark? Do you have gas? Is the timing correct?

 

im sure he ment on the cap and rotor.the screwdriver method can mess up your ignition controle module, thats why shocking your buddy is a must!, well mostly because its funny.
just incase you dont have any friends, just use one of those ignition testers for $5 at the auto parts store.take the aircleaner off and pump the gas from under the hood while looking for a stream of fuel inside your carb.after 2 or so pumps if you dont see anything trhen you might need to bump the engine over a few times to prime the fuel pump/accererator pump again.
if you want, have your buddy hold the plug wire with one hand,and with the other point down into the carb while you crank the engine over, if he yelps and the carb starts on fire then you know you have fuel And spark.

 

check to see if you have power at the dist. geta cheap spark tester. do that first. spray a little carb clean or brake clean down the carb if no fuel squirts when you pump it. if it starts and dies you might have a fuel pump problem.