I recently bought an '83 GSL with a stock 12A. I Have been impressed with the off the line acceleration. It had that pull your head back pucker factor.

This evening, I drove over some really bumpy railroad tracks, and noticed an immediate loss of power, and almost stalled out, the engine recovered, but with less throttle response. I did a really quick check under the hood, but everything seems normal - idle is OK, just seems to have less power. The engine does not have a problem accelerating, just with less power, especially at low RPMs. After searching, I feel like I may have some leads to check tomorrow:

Fuel Issue: I have new fuel filters - can always check condition. Carb perhaps...Secondarys maybe? Shutter Valve?

A new cat was installed before I bought it to pass emissions. I wonder if it is holding up to the rotary heat OK. Maybe there is a blockage. May be a good excuse to install that full RB exhaust

Clutch? Seemed to be just fine before, so doubtful.

Any other ideas? I want my old performance back!

 

Check your fuel filter... if the tracks you drove over were bumpy enough, you might have dislodged some debris from the bottom of the fuel tank, and pulled it through, clogging the filter.

 

Yeah, I will definately check that. Anything else I may be overlooking?

 

Check over your ignition wiring, might have jarred something loose there.....Good luck.

 

Sorry, I don't know whats wrong with your car, but once you get your car running right try the mechanical secondaries mod on your carb and see what that does to your acceleration, it's awesome once they open up, although it does make your gas mileage go down.

 

Well, I checked everything over pretty well and seems to be OK. Jacked the car up, changed fuel filter, poked around the engine for anything loose, etc. I didn't suffer any change in HOW the engine runs, idles fine, runs decent.

I think it may be the clutch starting to age. I noticed a difference in the force it takes to depress the clutch petal. The clutch force was really stiff and I had to think to operate it correctly. I recently installed a new clutch hydo system - the old one leaked like crazy and the rubber line was kinked and about to burst. I checked, and it isn't leaking, so that isn't the issue. Maybe I need to bleed it again...It just seems more like the edge is gone, more "broken it" maybe.....dunno how to describe.

Thanks for the recommendation Drifting Rex....I've been meaning to check into that anyway. Gas milage - smilage. I would rather have a silly smile on my face than a couple more gallons of gas in the tank. The way I look at it, since I bought the rex, and don't have a car payment, that money can contribute toward maintenance, mods, and gas.