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My car hasn't really seen the road in the past few years...I start it every so often, but just recently wanted to get it back up and looking great. I broke down the engine compartment to clean all the components, then reinstalled everything. I made a little schematic to help myself with the spark plug wires (sequence) however didn't really make note exactly where they were located (for example #1) on the cap. I got it all back together. It wouldn't start. I took all the wires and rotated them on the cap clockwise thinking I just had the locations on the cap incorrect. The car started but ran kinda crappy. I have true duel exhaust and there was some backfiring from the passenger side. I set the timing which eliminated it...although I was recently told not to set the timing with the vacuum line attached (which it was) so there may be an underlying problem. Since it was running, I tried to drive it around the street...it was "shakier" then normal and I decided to try and romp on it and in doing so...the car really didn't respond well and in looking in my rearview saw a ****load of smoke out the back...I think passnger side. I was told I blew a head gasket. This engine literally has like 5,000 miles on it...but has been in the car for years.

Before assuming anything and tearing down the block again, I tried to see if I made a mistake with the distributor. I took out the #1 spark plug, stuffed a rag into it, found top dead center and checked the cap ....and the rotor was facing the #1 wire. All the wires were still in their proper sequence. NOW WHAT? Could really bad timing cause all that?

Thanks

Anthony, recheck the firing order to be safe. It's 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2. (Right bank is 2 4 6 8 and the left bank is 1 3 5 7) The base tming should be set with the vac. advance disconnected and the vac line pluged. Set it at 4º BTDC. You should take a look at the plugs and see what they look like. Wet? carboned up?
What color smoke are you seeing?

I can't remember what color, although I want to say white. It's been running rich for a while. I'm trying to figure out how to re-jet it, but figured I'd wait till after it's running again since it did run fine. The plugs are black. Can running that rich rob power? Thanks for the help so far.