My 84 GL wagon, manual transmission just feels like a fat kid running up hill.

When I'm mid throttle it feels kind of jerky as well as when I put it in first and start moving from a stop. 

 

I had the disty out when I found the owner had it 180deg out of position, upon reinstall I had to adjust it ALL the way CCW in order to "smooth" out the idle. 

Could timing be a issue here?

Granted it sounds carburator-like to me.  

Clutch feels good at WOT, no running away revs. 

 

Really stupid question: Should I check the timing? 

 

Compared to my 84 DL (my wife lets me own two ) this car just feels... "off" 

 

thoughts on where to start? 

 

Thanks, 

 

Erik

"All they way CCW" as in the distrubutor is turned counterclockwise as far as possible?

 

Sounds too me like your off a tooth on your distributor install. Confirm with a timing light or by finding tdc.

 

You could also simply restab the distributor. Mark the distributor body with a sharpie to indicate where the rotor is currently pointing. Pull disty and reinstall with the rotor in the next allowable tooth "clockwise". Then retime.

Edited May 4, 201510 yr by ihscout54

Thanks for the confirmation, I'll get on it. 

So yeah, timing was horribly off. Readjusted it on both cars and they run amazing.

Today I learned that there is no way to adjust that stuff "by ear". Something I'm sure everyone else already knew