Sorry for the delay AZTahoe1998, Ironman1979, and SunlitComet. Been a little busy time for me. To summarize my issues- I never had to replace my spider assembly. After a complete tuneup of cap, rotor, plugs, wires, fuel pump, and fuel filter I was still getting the p0300 code and that annoying subtle hesitation. My mechanic friend hooked up to the scanner while driving and found the cylinders misfiring like crazy. We found that the initail cam retard was way too retarded. So we advanced it to close to +/- 0 degrees. That corrected the misfire issue, and got rid of the p0300 code. Unfortunately the hesitation was still there leaving us scratching our heads. Fuel pressure was perfect. That lead us to believe it was the torque converter. Well I got busy with other things and never had a chance to get it to the trans shop to check it out. Since then I started driving it a little more (as it really was just a sunday driver to me) and I really barely notice it to be much of an issue. If it is there it's so slight that I can't really feel it much. When we were trying to diagnose it I was really looking for it and constantly maintaining that specific RPM. Now not such a big deal. One thing I did find recently is a very slight antifreeze leak on the ground. I already replaced the notorious intake manifold gaskets probably 10 years ago. I haven't gotten under there to inspect but I'm thinking it's probably time to do them again. Which also makes me think if my little hesitation may have been the beginning stages of a vacuum leak issue. If it is I'll be sure to do the updated gaskets, updated spider assembly and pressure regulator while it's apart. So that's where I'm at for now guys. Being that the winter is upon us I may save this project for the spring. But I will chime back in with my findings and results. Thanks for the input guys and thanks to you too SunlitComet for all your advice. Much appreciated !!!
