1978 Buick Regal 383 stroker ignition problems

ACOLEMAN

MEMBER
1978 BUICK REGAL

Engine Mechanical problem
1978 Buick Regal V8 Two Wheel Drive Automatic

I have a 1978 Buick Regal with a 383 stroker, solid roller cam (.525 lift, 245/250 duration), pro comp distributor, 10.5/1 compression, summit racing 750 cfm carb, the list goes on. I am having ignition problems related to temperature I believe. I recently took the car on a 400 mile road trip and I had major problems with backfiring and it didn't really want to rev up. I put in colder spark plugs and that helped for awhile but now it is back. It idles much rougher than normal and has a hard time reving up especially when warm to the point where I can't get the car to go faster than idle speed. Could the distributor be getting too hot causing the problem? The backfiring caused both header gaskets to blow out also, I don't know if that would affect it at all. Please help! Thank you in advance!

1 Reply

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

Whether it is ignition or not this HAS to be looked at by a pro. It could be as simple as a rotor that is broken or slipped. Or it could be a timing chain that has jumped a tooth. The only wat to tell if it's the distributor is to check the module if it has one while it's hot. I am assuming that this may have a MSD ignition box as well. They have gone bad, everything isn't perfect as it seems if you installed this there should be instructions on how to check things out. If not i'd reccomend online as i'm sure they have it there. That way you can test it. But it could be something else as well.