I’m out of ideas now. Random misfire, hard start.

[Dlipp_]

Because it's messy, and fragments any information you or others post. It also could be taken to falsely boost your post count to gain access to hidden areas, or to look more legit for spamming purposes. It's also looks like you're demanding our attention.

I don’t personally know anything about hidden areas, legit for spamming purposes just sounds ridiculous lol, maybe some people but not me. Looking like something and actually being something is totally different, like I stated, I don’t want my posts to just get washed away because I know there’s a lot of threads everyday. I don’t know if you can bump them or not. It’s really not as big of a deal as y’all make it to be lol. If I would’ve known this would’ve been like this, I would’ve never made a single post, but there’s always a few bad apples wherever you go

 

[fancyTBI]

but there’s always a few bad apples wherever you

lol

 

[454C2500Longbed]

People are sure comin in hot lately!

I still stand by lurking and reading, getting to know all the regulars before you start posting.

 

[scott2093]

I don’t know if you can bump them or not

bump...
guess I was wrong. I did have something to offer after all....

 

[1996bluegreychevy]

I'm having the exact same problem of the hard starting with my truck and I can not figure it out. Why do these trucks seem prone to this specific problem?

 

[454cid]

I'm having the exact same problem of the hard starting with my truck and I can not figure it out. Why do these trucks seem prone to this specific problem?

All vehicles are prone to specific problems. You would probably be better off starting you're own thread, so people don't get confused on who's truck is whose, besides "exact same problem" often times ending up being different enough to require another solution.

 

[1996bluegreychevy]

Ok sorry... I have made my own thread but it hasnt been helping... I totally understand that the problem that I'm having could have different fixes but I've tried just about everything and still cant figure it out and not sure what to do, just like Dlipp_ that started the thread

 

[Road Trip]

Great input, just didn’t want my thread to get lost in the abyss, so I made new ones, idk why people get mad at new threads, we’re all mostly here for the same reason.

Greetings Dlipp_,

A single 'build thread' serves as a historical repair/upgrade journal, allowing troubleshooters to research all
the changes made/discussions created from an initial starting point to the present state.

When there are multiple threads started on the same vehicle, as a remote troubleshooter relying heavily upon
context you inevitably miss important observations made by others in the forum, so you end up repeating the
same/similar guidance, wasting time and causing more confusion. And everyone in here just wants to help others.
And the fact that you are working to keep another GMT400 on the road *and* you are trying to use a cam
that I find interesting motivates me to want to chime in here.

Here's a good example of how an engine upgrade from a 4.3 to a 5.7 ended up generating nearly 1100
replies across at least 8 concurrent threads over time:

You must be registered for see images attach

The OP of all this wasn't being malicious, but instead just figured that discussions focused upon specific
issues would garner better response than just a single build thread would. (!) Unfortunately for all concerned,
this ended up blocking the true strength of this forum to be brought to bear on why the engine swap was
encountering one unanticipated stumbling block after another.

My interest in this engine swap was due to an anomaly seen in the compression test data, which was unusual and
(at the time) inexplicable. What might have taken an hour or two in a single thread took several hours scattered over
a few days, as I shoehorned this research inbetween the other demands in my daily schedule. Eventually it all came together
and we were able to figure out how we ended up with 'more compression in a single cylinder than the others', but it was a
non-trivial effort. Hopefully this explains why 'people get mad at new threads.'

****

In order for you to get the most out of the GMT400 engine bay that you have invested in, based upon what I've observed in here I'd
recommend that you do the following things:

* Using a mail-order tuner to marry a nonstock cam to a TBI engine is a compromise even in a perfect-world best-case scenario. If *anything*
deviates from ideal behavior, here in the real world the chances of getting it all sorted out is very slim. (And this may help to explain why
folks in the audience haven't jumped in to assist, for when you tell the tuner that some folks on the internet don't agree
with his secret sauce then more heat than light gets generated.) And after a few iterations of this, you can't blame the volunteers in the forum
when they decide against walking into the eye of the storm. :0)

But all is not lost. Instead, take full advantage of all the info in here shared by some first-person, hands-on SMEs. (Subject Matter Experts)

* TBI tuning. Search out anything written by @PlayingWithTBI and study what he shares. If you don't comprehend everything he is
sharing, continue studying until you can follow his lead. He has shared a lot, so you won't be able to digest it all in an evening. But
it will be well worth the effort.

* Overachieving high-output 1st-gen small blocks. Search out anything written by @L31MaxExpress, and study what he shares.
If you don't comprehend everything he is sharing, continue studying until you can follow his lead. He has shared a lot, so you won't be
able to digest it all in an evening. But it will be well worth the effort.

* If you are doing something that is giving @Schurkey heartburn and he asks you to either gather specific data
and/or try a different solution, pay extra close attention. He brings tremendous experience to the table...kinda like
having an elder pop into your shop, and with a few words, can make your immediate future 10x easier *if* you pay
attention to the guidance.

The bottom line is that if you are willing to stop and take the time to learn enough to harmonize your engine bay,
I think that you will have several folks willing to take some of their finite free time to help you get to where you are
going. And in turn everyone walks away better for having participated in this long-distance remote troubleshooting
game.

NOTE: In this forum there happen to be many other SMEs that also chime in and share their hard-won experience, and as you read/study
the contents of this forum they will all become familiar to you. Myself, I lurked for about a year in sponge mode, and then
decided that in order to improve my game while troubleshooting my chore truck I should actually join the forum and attempt to
improve my skillset by contributing where possible, and learn from the experience. (In other words, I consider myself a
student of all this, with a lot of specific gaps in my knowledge that I am currently focusing on fixing.)

****

This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, but your comment about "we're all mostly here for the same reason" rang
true, and I wanted to explain why the dynamics in this forum are the way they are. This forum can be a real resource for a
fellow GMT400 enthusiast. And the best approach is to try to help us help you.

Cheers --

 

[Dlipp_]

Greetings Dlipp_,

A single 'build thread' serves as a historical repair/upgrade journal, allowing troubleshooters to research all
the changes made/discussions created from an initial starting point to the present state.

When there are multiple threads started on the same vehicle, as a remote troubleshooter relying heavily upon
context you inevitably miss important observations made by others in the forum, so you end up repeating the
same/similar guidance, wasting time and causing more confusion. And everyone in here just wants to help others.
And the fact that you are working to keep another GMT400 on the road *and* you are trying to use a cam
that I find interesting motivates me to want to chime in here.

Here's a good example of how an engine upgrade from a 4.3 to a 5.7 ended up generating nearly 1100
replies across at least 8 concurrent threads over time:

You must be registered for see images attach

The OP of all this wasn't being malicious, but instead just figured that discussions focused upon specific
issues would garner better response than just a single build thread would. (!) Unfortunately for all concerned,
this ended up blocking the true strength of this forum to be brought to bear on why the engine swap was
encountering one unanticipated stumbling block after another.

My interest in this engine swap was due to an anomaly seen in the compression test data, which was unusual and
(at the time) inexplicable. What might have taken an hour or two in a single thread took several hours scattered over
a few days, as I shoehorned this research inbetween the other demands in my daily schedule. Eventually it all came together
and we were able to figure out how we ended up with 'more compression in a single cylinder than the others', but it was a
non-trivial effort. Hopefully this explains why 'people get mad at new threads.'

****

In order for you to get the most out of the GMT400 engine bay that you have invested in, based upon what I've observed in here I'd
recommend that you do the following things:

* Using a mail-order tuner to marry a nonstock cam to a TBI engine is a compromise even in a perfect-world best-case scenario. If *anything*
deviates from ideal behavior, here in the real world the chances of getting it all sorted out is very slim. (And this may help to explain why
folks in the audience haven't jumped in to assist, for when you tell the tuner that some folks on the internet don't agree
with his secret sauce then more heat than light gets generated.) And after a few iterations of this, you can't blame the volunteers in the forum
when they decide against walking into the eye of the storm. :0)

But all is not lost. Instead, take full advantage of all the info in here shared by some first-person, hands-on SMEs. (Subject Matter Experts)

* TBI tuning. Search out anything written by @PlayingWithTBI and study what he shares. If you don't comprehend everything he is
sharing, continue studying until you can follow his lead. He has shared a lot, so you won't be able to digest it all in an evening. But
it will be well worth the effort.

* Overachieving high-output 1st-gen small blocks. Search out anything written by @L31MaxExpress, and study what he shares.
If you don't comprehend everything he is sharing, continue studying until you can follow his lead. He has shared a lot, so you won't be
able to digest it all in an evening. But it will be well worth the effort.

* If you are doing something that is giving @Schurkey heartburn and he asks you to either gather specific data
and/or try a different solution, pay extra close attention. He brings tremendous experience to the table...kinda like
having an elder pop into your shop, and with a few words, can make your immediate future 10x easier *if* you pay
attention to the guidance.

The bottom line is that if you are willing to stop and take the time to learn enough to harmonize your engine bay,
I think that you will have several folks willing to take some of their finite free time to help you get to where you are
going. And in turn everyone walks away better for having participated in this long-distance remote troubleshooting
game.

NOTE: In this forum there happen to be many other SMEs that also chime in and share their hard-won experience, and as you read/study
the contents of this forum they will all become familiar to you. Myself, I lurked for about a year in sponge mode, and then
decided that in order to improve my game I should join and attempt to improve my skillset by contributing where possible, and learn
from the experience. (In other words, I consider myself a student of all this, with a lot of gaps in my knowledge that I am currently
focusing on fixing.)

****

This ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated, but your comment about "we're all mostly here for the same reason" rang
true, and I wanted to explain why the dynamics in this forum are the way they are. This forum can be a real resource for a
fellow GMT400 enthusiast. And the best approach is to try to help us help you.

Cheers --

You are a great person and I really appreciate the input. I am too someone who asks too many questions but I like to gather as much info as possible, I’ve read probably 50 forums trying to figure out what is going on. I do have a mail order tune from black bear performance. He’s very knowledgeable but hard to get a hold of. I have narrowed something down though, he just happen to get back to me and say that my tune target timing at idle should be 26-28*. On my scanner I’m looking at 36* timing, cam retard at 0. Now I do not know how to change the timing without changing the retard.

 

[454C2500Longbed]

You are a great person and I really appreciate the input. I am too someone who asks too many questions but I like to gather as much info as possible, I’ve read probably 50 forums trying to figure out what is going on. I do have a mail order tune from black bear performance. He’s very knowledgeable but hard to get a hold of. I have narrowed something down though, he just happen to get back to me and say that my tune target timing at idle should be 26-28*. On my scanner I’m looking at 36* timing, cam retard at 0. Now I do not know how to change the timing without changing the retard.

I'd like to say, don't mistake the character of all the regulars here, they're all great people with lots of information to offer. The way you respond to people has a lot to do with reactions, things compound, hence people getting a little snippy. Everyone is here to help, just remember that. There are bad apples almost everywhere, but not here. Those guys get flamed until they see their way out. Like @peezy555. Lol. Take him as an example of what not to do here. Bottom line, respect everyone here and everyone here will respect you. And listen closely to the old guys (I jest), there is not enough time in this world to learn what some have to teach.