Ok, so after doing a bunch of suspension work this winter, Ive got the whole handling aspect down.. But I am having some frustrating problems with how the car runs..

I had a bad vacuum leak at the intake manifold that would cause the car to backfire bad, not idle very well, and really not like accelerating. Well today I got around to slapping in a new gasket and O-rings. I was expecting everything be better, and while my backfiring and idle problems ceased, I was still left with a poorly performing car.

So far this year Ive replaced the intake gasket and O-rings, cap/rotor, and plug wires. I also checked the fuel filter which is as clean as new (last fall) I changed the oil in case anyone is wondering..

Thing is, It just really doesnt seem to have much getup and go, and since I put 4.88 gears in the back this winter, I really expected it to have some more beef to it.

Heres the weird part, every once and a while it will come back to life and pull like I imagine it should (all of the time). It has happened in a corner, and also just from a stop. When this happens it has nice power right through the rev range, and usually lasts long enough to get upto speed(or past haha) but as soon as I stop and expect my baby to be all in it, its back as it was.
I dont even know where to look now, Im prety stumped...My only thought is that perhaps the carb is dirty or the fuel pump is on the way out. I am willing to do prety much anything to get it back to 100% but Id like to spend as little $$ and work my way from easiest tasks to hardest if possible. I am open for suggestions so whatever you guys can tell me would be awesome.

The engine is an '83 with '85 intake and carb. Rats nest removed: now seems to make good vacuum(no leaks that I can tell). Other than that its stock with straightpipe 2.25" exhaust to an open muffler, stock manifold for now until someone can tell me where to collect my road race header. Thats about it, anything else I will gladly answer... Thanks

 

Secondaries on the carb only opening every once in a while?

 

That was my first thought, either convert to mechanical secondaries or just bite the bullet and rebuild the carb, you might as well do the entire thing IMO.

 

just for the hell of it try the fuel filter its a cheap fix and if it works then good stuff, i had something like that where a peice of debris would clog up the filter if i gased it but only after the vehicle was warmed up it would do it.

 

iv experinced a bit of gasket stuck in my carb vaccum holes inside the spacer plate
caused disturbing drivablitiy on ocasions
take the carb off disasemble and clean go all out and pay the 40-50bucks for a rebuild this will help if the carb hasnt been rebuilt in a long time while your at it remove all unnessary items off the carb and go mech secondarys.

its a starter.