So here is a pic of my current engine bay. I just have two random questions.
1. What is the plug wire thingy that is on the carb intake bowl? in the picture its circled in just green
2. When i try to start it to see how its going some smoke comes from this pipe, its circled in green and red.
1. That's the intake air temp sensor. With no emissions equipment it's useless.
2. That's the EGR pipe, you've got straight exhaust coming out there. I capped it off using 2 little nuts and bolts, the original gasket, and some scrap sheet metal. The right way to do it would be to remove the entire pipe and cap it at the exhaust manifold, but it hasn't bothered me enough yet.
I've tried to find a vac leak but i can't seem to find it anywhere, i wonder how it started so good a week ago, well this weekend i want to see if i can get a hold of a timing light and see if the timing is off and try to adjust accordingly. Wish me luck
Vacuum leaks can be very hard to track down. They're not always leaking at a vacuum port, sometimes they can leak at a seal or gasket, too. A notorious place is at the seal between the carb and the black insulator.
A good way to check for vacuum leaks is to spray carb cleaner wherever you suspect there to be a leak. If the idle increases when you spray in a certain spot, the carb cleaner is getting into the engine and combusting, pointing out your leak. Make sure to avoid overspray getting into the carb throat to avoid false positives though.
this may sound dumb, but how am supposed to check the timing like the diagram says if the engine is running like crap?
Not dumb at all.
You do need to be at a certain idle speed to properly set the timing, but you can at least get an idea for where the timing is at even without being able to idle. If you're running at say 1500rpm, you should be advanced a certain amount (the service manual should say, can't think of how much advance there is at that speed atm). At least you can spot wild timing variations.
am i supposed to let it run like that till it warms up? also it dosn't idle at all, it will just die if don't give it some gas.
Dying with your foot off the gas when cold but not when warm is a good sign of a leak too, I've struggled with this one myself.