Down on power...
 

I decided today to change the plugs on my '86 El Camino that I just bought last week. I got under the hood and noticed that the plug wires on the dist were not in the correct firing order. Strange I thought, since the car ran well, a slightly rough idle but nothing bad. I change the plugs and put new wires on, in the correct order. It starts fine, but idles fast and seems down on power. I park it, check under the hood to see if I might have pulled a vaccum hose off. Start it again idles seems normal but on starting if bounces around under 500rpm for a sec. Again it still seems under powered but drives fine. Does anyone have any ideas? Why were the plugs wires not in the correct postition and why did it run ok, and even got 16.8 mpg last fill-up? I'm at a loss.

1986 El Camino
305 w/ Q-jet
Stock with all smog

Dustin

Make sure you are looking at the right year for firing order obviously, but the engine might not be an 86 even though the El Camino is. I would look up firing order that was it was originally set up with and find out what years that applies to. That seems Severly odd that the car would run right with the wrong firing order.

Check to see what your timing is set at. also see what the total
timing is set at. make sure the distributor is not a cog off on the cam. firing order for chevy small block is 18436572. double check that a wire did not get crossed on you. easy to do with out wire looms. hope this helps.