Well, I have it idling somewhat smooth, or as smooth as possible anyway. In other words

it no longer sounds like a piece of junk, haha.



But, now that it's drivable, I am running into another problem. When you take off in 1st gear

it feels pretty decent power wise, though not what I remember. It will also not rev over 3-4k

or so without bucking and chugging along. 2nd and 3rd seem underpowered for sure.

The revs will not go up past 4k. I didn't go past third much, since I just took it around the block once.

I have no idea what would cause the underpowered feel, and chugging symptoms. I am still

thinking the fuel pump is not up to the task, since the filter has almost no fuel in it all

after running it. Like the gas barely touches the filter part at all. At idle it's sometimes half full.



The good part is that I came out this morning, and not one single drop of oil on the driveway. So, I believe the

cooler leaks are finally history.,,,,BB

 

Just drove all over hell and back, and finally found a fuel pressure gauge at Sears.

At idle with the choke on, it reads 3.5 psi. According to my Haynes book, it's

just below the lowest reading it should show.,,,,BB



Pump tomorrow I guess?

 

Hows your timing?If it bucks you might have a timing issue.

 

Would that only show up in 3k and up? Seems like it would be anytime? Of course

I'm no expert on how these cars react to tuning. It "sounds" okay. Also when sitting still

it will act like it's going to die if you push it past 3500 or thereabouts.,,,,BB



Could the cat be clogged up? It was fine when parked, but maybe the insides

colllapsed over time.

 

The no going past 3500 is intermittent though. Which is weird to me.,,,,BB

 

Check your timing and make sure your distributor hold-down bolt is snug (Not too tight, it's aluminum under there!). Driveability problems due to incorrect timing are related to both engine load and rpm. You can always lock out the advances and see how it runs, but I'd just set the timing and look elsewhere.



I think the intermittance of the problem rules out the cat. My half-bridge would not rev past 7000 at all until I went to a dual exhaust, and every car I've ever driven with a collapsed cat felt like it hit a brick wall at about 3000 rpm. However if you still want to rule it out for sure, unbolt your exhaust behind the manifold and tie it up with a coathanger, then drive around the block. Make sure your neighbors are cool with this first. If it runs better your exhaust is the problem.

 

I have similar problem with a rebuilt nikki car, but mine dosen't rev past 6,000rpm. I checked my timing and it is fine. Is yours carburated also? I get the feeling it's my secondaries getting stuck.

 

I will, as soon as I get it idling again. This thing is nuts. Every third start

it seems to not idle and dies. The next time you crank it up, it'll run perfectly. It's really driving me crazy.

 

Mine is driving me crazy as well with a similar problem, except mine I can get it running great, then it starts raining and all that moisture in the air gets to it, and I have to readjust the mixture just to keep the thing from sputtering so bad I can barely get to 40 miles per hour.

 

thats not right! it might feel different in the summer vs the winter, but it should still run in both!



3.5psi is enough from the pump, it should keep that psi up to, ideally redline, a little drop is ok though



timing should be set to stock, wires should be checked to make sure they go to the right plugs....



its easy to check the exhausts, or cats for clogging or coming apart, they do do that, and it could be intermittant....