I gotta get this figured out...see if you know whats wrong:

TransAmA4: would a loose rocker make me lose significant power?
MUSTANGEATER1283: depends on what the car is doin?
MUSTANGEATER1283: is it misfiring? or missing?
TransAmA4: backfires under throttle, noticeable loss of power, bad ticking (louder than what RR's should be)
MUSTANGEATER1283: check them out and the opti and the coil and the plugs
TransAmA4: it was running fine before
TransAmA4: I was driving it all day beforehand
TransAmA4: with open headers though
MUSTANGEATER1283: 02 sensors are dead
TransAmA4: you think?
MUSTANGEATER1283: yes i know so
TransAmA4: hm...
TransAmA4: but what about the loud ticking?
TransAmA4: and it happened as I was driving the car with exhaust on it
MUSTANGEATER1283: check the rocker arms to be safe
MUSTANGEATER1283: is it backfiring out the exhaust or the intake?
TransAmA4: exhaust
TransAmA4: but only under throttle
MUSTANGEATER1283: full throttle?
MUSTANGEATER1283: or when you let off?
TransAmA4: not necessarily
TransAmA4: when I give it more than normal gas
TransAmA4: but not WOT
MUSTANGEATER1283: is it when you let off?
TransAmA4: no
TransAmA4: as I'm giving it gas
MUSTANGEATER1283: its all the time though?
TransAmA4: explain
TransAmA4: it sounds like a machine gun when I give it 1/4 throttle
MUSTANGEATER1283: does it backfire through all aceleration
TransAmA4: not under normal driving
TransAmA4: but 1/4 or so throttle and it starts
TransAmA4: and doesnt have any power to it
TransAmA4: at idle the car almost sounds like it dropped a valve

 

a friend of mine had an old vette that wasnt well taken care of, so it ran low on oil and one of the cam lobesgot totally destroid. when you gave it gas all it did was backfire through the carb and it sounded like a mchine gun so id say check the rockers asap.

 

It sounded like it was backfiring through the exhaust though...

What do you guys think about a bent pushrod?

 

sounds like a bad opti to me....