87 gl wagon ea82 carb'd 5 spd.

I can barely get the wagon over 55, I have a stumble/miss at about mid throttle, The timing and advance seems to be working correctly, car idles fine and in first or second gear I can go to 6k Rpms no problem, but in the upper gears their is no power. I am thinking the exhaust is plugged or maybe a problem withthe EGR. Anyone have a simular problem? or suggestions.

Joe

My brat did the same thing and it turned out to be a caliper wasnt releasing all the way, It finnaly locked up on the freeway.

it must be that ford your parking next to it rubbing off...

 

did it just start doing that?

i would say ignition, like a coil with very weak spark. or timing is off. plugged exhaust could do that, but not the egr.

Pluged exaust wont cause a miss/stumble it would be more like hitting a brick wall and wont climb in RPM's under load.

my carbureted spfi motor in the 87 turbo wagon does the same thing.

 

i can get on it, but at higher speeds it will dook out aroud3-4000 rpm,and it wouls stall.

 

but sometimes it ran fine, off and on

 

it was a hitachi carb from an ea82 on an spfi block, all stripped down.

Maybe I was expecting to much, it took me about 3/4 of a mile or so to get up to 75, but is seems to me that my old 85 4dr dl ea82 with a weber could get up to 85 faster.

Joe

Keep your brakes released, and shift @ 3,000 rpm

if the symptoms are what Miles Fox just described, (the same symptoms I had in my 83 high school wagon) then the question I have for you, is what kind of gas are you using? I used to run arco cause it was cheap... but now i only use texaco, cheveron, 76, shell, etc... cause my wagon would stall out at about 3k to 3500 rpms, (using arco) then i switched to texaco, and it was a noticable difference! (i was able to shoot up hills at 4500 to 5000 rpms!)

(arco "gas" has water in it.. runs in some motors, doesnt seem to run in most)

try that... and maybe a tune up too

How much power does the mechanical fan, and power steering rob you of? and how much does a 4wd wagon weigh than a 4dr 2wd sedan?

I think I may have just gotten use to newer rigs that have better power to weight ratios.

I am going to check into buying another weber and see if that helps.

Joe

if your exaust were clogged enough to keep you from hitting 55 you would be able to stand on the floor ideling and not go past, say, five or six thousand rpms, this is only from my own experiences though, so its open to dispute. But i would be more inclined to say that you have a problem holding compresion with the symptoms. Compression would be lost because of blown piston rings, valve seals, bent valves, something along those lines. Test your compresion, see what it says.

Yeah - #1 do a compression test. There's no sense in messing with the ignition systems etc, it you have no (or low) compression in 1 or 2 cylinders.

 

GD

Compression could also be the culprit. Mine has 75 psi in the #1 cylinder due to bad rings and 150 in the others, and even with a Weber, gutted cat, and hot coil she still won't go over 80. Yours could be similar.

Compression was 125 I have fiddle with diffrent timing settings and it seems to run best at about 12-14 BTDC but I currently have it at about 25 BTDC and it does not ping, I would think at this setting it would ping or have a hard time starting.

Joe

I bought a vacuum gauge today and it says that the valve guides are worn. So how much should I expect to pay to have the heads or valve guides repaired?

Would the valve guides being worn effect the engine performance that much?

Joe

I doubt very seriously that some slop in the valve guides would cause the power loss you are describing.

 

What was vacuum at idle?

 

Did you try the test for a plugged exhaust with the vac gauge?

 

Are your throttle butterflies opening all of the way?

 

I just reread the part about your ignition timing. I think you need to pull the timing covers off and see if the driver's side timing belt is off a tooth.

If the weather permits, I plan on checking the valve timing tomarrow.

The vacuum at idle 16-18 with a fast fluctuating needle and steadys as rpm goes up.

I have tested for a restriction in the exhaust and it passed so I am hoping for the cam timing to be off.

Joe

My carb was acting like a 1 barrel,the vacuum line was not connected right and so the secondarys were not opening up, but now I know what the condition of my engine is in.

It is running how it should now.

Joe

according to my text book from school a fast fluctuating needle means that you have a intake valve sticking open, and 18 inHg is normal vacuum for any engine (new hondas are different with inHg).

So if the intake valve is sticking open or maybe the valve guides are worn, how much should I expect to pay to have the heads reworked.

Joe

Knurling the valve guides and reaming them, and having a valve job done, umm, $250?

 

I still think you have problems elsewhere.

snotrocket- I found one of the vacuum lines that go to the secondaries on the carb was on wrong, once I connected the line top the right port on the carb the engine started to respond how it should. So the engine is running fine but I still have the funny vacuum reading.

Joe

I KNEW it was something else, anyways, if you delve into the heads, I would check a few things.

First, if they are perfectly flat. milling them is inexpensive enough. This might thwart a headgasket problem in the future.

 

Valveguides- Don't know if they are easily replaceable. New ones are cool, but probably would cost more than having them knurled, which, if they aren't worn to badly, is perfectly acceptable.

 

Cam lobes-How worn are they? I'd do some measuring, just to be sure. I don't guess subaru's have problems with lobes going flat, but it's easy enough to check.

 

Finally, have the valve springs shimmed or replaced to get the seat pressure back to where it's suposed to be. Springs always degrade over time.

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

I want to thank everyone that has gave me input in this thread.

Joe