i bought this car yesterday and i have seennit run before a few different occasions...then one time when the guy was cleaning it up for me to buy. he said he sprayed the disributor with water on accident when washing the car ,because there wasn't a fender well cover on the front tire...so the car would just turn over and not crank up..i found that kind of fishy so the next day he said he had the problem fixed and it was the "spark resistor"...he claims he had someone come and look at it andf replace it for 150 dollars and check all the wiring. the part looked used to me so i was skeptical about it but the car cranked fine...i drove it all yesterday and it started perfect...then i went outside to leave earlier and now its doing the same thing...just turning over and not cranking up. so i called the guy and he said it must be the same thing because he had a used spark resitor put on it not a new one...i think hes full of crap and didnt have anything done he just waitied until it cranked up then sold it to me...you guys have any ideas on what the problem could be...i guess the car does this when it wants to idk...Also when it was cold last night i got in the car and drove off and when i hit around 3k RMPs the car started busting up and the RPM needle had a spasm..then after it warmed up it was okay ( the car is all aftermarket if that matters.. it has a cam and all that good stuff. not totally sure what yet because i need to get the specs.)

When it's hard to start see if it has good spark. Pull a plug wire off and put a plug in the cap and ground it to the motor. Have someone crank it over while you watch to see if the spark is good. If it is check fuel pressure. If not he may have soaked something with water. Dry all the plug wires at the Optispark including the main coil wire. Some dielectric grease or WD40 may help when hooking everything up. Worst case would be a ruined distributor.

Never heard of a spark resistor, so yea I'd say he's full of crap. Sounds a lot like a failing fuel pump to me. If you can get your hands on a pressure gauge you can check it, should be somewhere between 40-45psi ish. Check while running to see if it drops, it should stay steady. Then again it could just be a nasty fuel filter. Is the car throwing any codes, ses light on?

well i got a new "spark resistor" which is not called that..its a module that sits where the coil pack is and bolts up to the driver's side head..it is about 3 inches long if that.... i installed it but my battery was pretty much dead by that time from trying to crank it..i have a charger on the battery and the car cranked but then the rpm's just went haywire and then it shut of...then i had it goingt again for about 3 seconds and it did the same thing ( sounded like a funny car from the way the rpms were acting.) now i turn the key and the rpms sit on the needle and i can watch the needle try to junmp..sp the car does want to start but it just cant..im thinking maybe the timing it bad or something

adding on to what is said above...what i find odd is that when i try and crank the car the car wants to start even after i stop turning the key. it like keeps trying to crank. and occasionally it will blow out a big puff of smoke out the intake and back fire blowing out a huge puff of smoke and a loud boom. its like it is over loading on fuel. so if that is the case then the issue has to be spark since the fuel is there and when it does decide to spark it just ignites the fuel for that little time that the spark is making contact.

The "resistor" is an ICM (Ignition Control Module). Do you have any way of scanning it for codes? That might tip us off where to start to fix what's fubar. Sounds like either a spark or fuel issue. Do you have a multimeter you can run some test with? You could start here and by testing the fuel pressure as I suggested before. I hope you didn't pay a lot for the car or the guy is going to pay for repairs. A good opti could run around $200 on the cheap side if it's toast for the opti alone.

i was supposed to trade me 91 formy and 4500 but i gave him 6 cash..he originally wanted 8k...its nice except the front end needs to be repainted and it needs other small stuff here and there. and no i do not have a meter to check anything but i will have it looked at and see what the codes are..im thinking its the opti spark.

You can get one for under $100 now on ebay. Prices have dropped a lot in the last few years.

What about the wires? Are all of the plug wires good? Are they connect in the proper order and seated all of the way? Just a thought.

Matt

the plug wires have to be in the right order because i havent taken them off at all and when i got the car it ran fine..it ha a slight idling problem..it would idle and then it would kind of surge and wanna die so i had to hit the gas for a second..but other than that it did great..this car is SUPPOSED to be 500HP so does it matter what kind of distributor i get???

OEM should work fine. Don't cheap out you'll pay for it later. I've had good luck the delphi opti from thepartsladi on ebay.

i was thinking going with an MSD opti would be the right thing to do since i was told that if i get a normal one from the parts store it will be a japanese piece of crap. BUT a buddy of mine works a mechanic shop and said the best thing to do would be to delete the front mount opti and convert it to coil packs or somethinhg like a cadillac northstar has. he said this is the most reliable way to go if im gonna keep the car but ive never heard of it..any preferences?

The coil pack conversion is supposedly very reliable but pricey. I heard of some issues with the MSD optis a while back but it seems like they worked those out. My personal preference is the OEM GM/Delphi opti. DO NOT go with a cheap import opti!

OKAY WELLLLLLLLL...not good news...the car needs a new timing chain gasket set, waterpump, opti (was getting oil in from the timing chain cover), trans mount,torque arm mount, plug wires, spark plugs, oil change, new fan temp switch installed. cost is 2,200!!!!!!!!!! not including headlight motors or window switchwes...i found a front clip from a 99 firebird..non ws6 hood or anything for 400...good deal????

Most of those parts you listed I've already replaced on my car, except the torque arm mount. So, it doesn't really sound unreasonable that they would all be fubar. Fortunately I didn't replace them all at once. $2200 seems a bit steep but I did it all myself so I can't really say. As far as the front clip I honestly have no idea. If you do it make sure they don't give you some POS opti and stay away from the stock trans mount or you'll be replacing it again.

lol im getting eurathane bushings and stuff for the tranny and torque arm mounts..and im getting a delphi opti or whatever..from GM idk lol