i have a 1989 Camaro RS with a piece of **** 2.8L V6, 173 CID, Vin "1", and whoever had it before me (naturally) beat the hell out of it, im still in the process of fixing it up and other than body work itself, all i need to do is fix the timing because its shifting gears with great difficulty, takes a couple tries to start, idles around 2000, etc. etc. ive narrowed it down to the timing but have no idea on how to change it, what do i need to do it, how do i do it, and i dont want anything special, i just want it to run right, thx

 

Their should be a brown w/black wire near where the harness enters the firewall. It should have a connector on it somewhere along the line. Undo it and that takes away the advance to let you set the timing.

After the you disconnect the wire and set the timing, you will have a check engine light, just reset the computer and your good to go!

 

I'm guessing you know how to check timing already?

Find the said tan/black wire, and disconnect it, on mine its sticking out of one of those wire holder things on the passenger side probably about 2ft infront of the wirewall, took me about 5 seconts to locate the thing, if your unsure start the car and unplug it, the idle should change.

To change it loosten the distributer hold down bolt slightly, you will need a distributer wrench. Turning the distributer (whole thing) slightly will change the timing, I forget which way is what, just experiment. Then tighten the bolt when its where you want, and check the timing again to make sure you didn't more the distributer while tightening.

Reconnect the wire, and your all done.

If you want pictures of anything, let me know. I have a 305, so its going to be a little differant.

Just because I love pictures, this is the hold down bolt on mine

 

Even better.
How to check timing:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...ghlight=timing

How to change timing:
http://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/show...ghlight=timing

If you don't have a timing light and a distributer wrench get one. Its worth it in my opinion, an excuse to buy yet another tool yay!

$35 for a light at sears (you can get them for like 25 off ebay, just don't buy a real crappy one that you won't be able to see the light unless its pitch black)
$7 for 2 wrenchs from autozone because I couldn't find a craftsman one

 

You can get to the hold down bolt with spark plug ratchet and a standard socket. I'd check all the vacume lines while your under the hood too