85 camaro innition problem

[Mndwg1]

Seeing a new girl . she has a 85 camaro 2.8l mpfi. Car ran like crap (missing, backfiring,smelling ritch). I (being the man) decided to fix it. Bad idea. found old plugs to be in bad shape (carbon fouling & gapped at .062) so I replaced them with new plugs gapped at .045. While replacing the plugs I the found plug wires wired wrong. I rewired to chilton's specs. car ran mutch better for a mement (i.e. idled & reved fairly well) I closed the hood and that's when it stopped running altogether. I'm stumped I've checked the fuel pressure (because someone said it was her fuel pump) the fuel pump seems to pump ok and I get 48psi at the regulator. I also found the coil had the ground wire cut seemingly quite a while back (it ran in this condition). When the coil ground wire is connected it won't even try to fire. I also had the ICM checked it tested ok. I tested the coil output with an old spark plug and got showers of sparks. I tested the spark at the #1 plug and got irratic and weak spark. Both these last 2 tests were done with that coil wire disconnected. with it connected nuthin'. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ct91rs]

Are you sure that's a ground wire? Most of the coils I've come across are grounded to the intake by their mount.

[Mndwg1]

Originally Posted by ct91rs

Are you sure that's a ground wire? Most of the coils I've come across are grounded to the intake by their mount.

Not really sure. I just assumed. there are two two wire harnesses connected to the coil one from the ICM in the dist. and one from a larger harness that has the power red, 10 to 12ga. and this phantom wire that has been cut for a what appears to be a long time maybe 14 to 16ga. that is black with a white stripe.

[Morley]

Originally Posted by Mndwg1

phantom wire that has been cut for a what appears to be a long time maybe 14 to 16ga. that is black with a white stripe.

That "phantom" wire is the EST wire, electronic spark control wire. that is the wire you are supposed to disconnect to set the base timing. There should be a connector in that wire by the firewall over on the passenger side. If the car won't attempt to run with it connected, the spark control may be bad IF the timing is set correctly. If you have bad/irratic spark on #1 replace the cap and rotor. Also... spark plug gap should .035", the .045" listed on the under hood decal is wrong, GM found that it was too much gap and was causung the ignition modules to burn out.