[viperlocc]

Helping a friend out with his '85 5.0
here is what happened: pulled away from a stoplight, switched to second gear, hammered on the gas and it popped out of second and went redline (not sure how far), put it back into second and took off fine. after he slowed down, driving normal 30mph in 3rd, the idle started to act irratic. car felt as if it wasnt getting fuel. idle was fine, just when driving. no difference can be heard from the engine compartment from what he said.
gonna do a compression test today for starters and check the plugs. he did say when he started it back up, it was smoking gray smoke, not alot, but he did mention it sat for 2 weeks. motor has almost 200k on it. windsor jr heads, e303 cam.

[Kobra Killer]

With 200K anything could break.
I would suspect something in the valve train.
Push rods, rocker arms or studs.
Also check for a vacuum leak.

[viperlocc]

heads/cams have about 10k on them....the block has almost 200k

UPDATE/bump

checked the plugs, most of them were pretty dark with buildup on them. Figure the car sat for 9 to 10 months. The only ones that worred me are the 1st one and the 8th one. (1st one is drivers side front, 8th one is passenger side back). Those ones were a little white, no build up, and the 8th one, the electrode was wore down a bit.
The other thing i noticed was the passenger side valve cover, where the breather is, the rubber piece that stops the oil from splashing into the breather was tore. it never was before.
cant start it, hopefully new plugs will get the car started. what timing should be ran with windsor jr heads/e303 cam? someone set it at 16 before, brought it down to 12.

update
new plugs installed, got it started. engine sounded the same as before, little bit of smoke out of the passenger exhaust and a weird smell. After it got to 180* temp, the idle acted irratic, and the engine shook between 1200rpm's and 2500rpm's.
any idea's?

[snoel123]

Did you do a compression test yet ? Sounds like a misfire. If compression is good check fuel pressure. If fuel pressure is good suspect ignition problem.

[snoel123]

Was that smell kinda "sweet" or was it like "rotten eggs"? Also what colour was the smoke that came out the passenger exhaust ? Was it bluish, white, or black.