TurboIIGuy

Okay the car is a 1984 GSL, 12a motor of course.
it's got 91,000 miles on it but only about 45,000 on a rebuilt 12A.
It is completely bone stock, this car has no mods what-so-ever.
I bought it of an old lady, it was in perfect condition, so I have just left it alone so far.
The problem, I was driving around and my idle started jumping up and down after going over bumps.
I downshifted at one point while driving, just after the problem started, and a handfull of sparks flys out from under my hood near the driver side head light.
I pull over quickly and I pop the hood in a panic, and the positive battery terminal cover is on fire, I slap it out with my hand and the terminal, which is an aftermarket gold plated one from a stereo shop, is glowing red it's so hot.
So I figure that out pretty quickly obviously my terminal was making contact with my hood, there's a weld mark now, and it was doing so on bumps, when I downshifted the battery jumped around and made solid contact with the hood and there you have it.
After that insident I go to pull away from the curb and my car has almost no power, oh crap one of my ignitors is out again, so I assume.
I pull of the trailing wire coming from the coil to the dizzy and it's throwing spark when I put it near metal but, the leading is not throwing any spark. fine no big deal, it's happened before.
So I decide to park it and leave it alone until she's perfect again.
I had to take her for a drive today, about 8 miles, and it wouldn't stay on at idle till it warmed up, I figure it's because an ignitors out.
I'm driving the car and it has a noticable loss of power but it also starts making a noise, it sounds like it's sucking in just massive amounts of air and has no acceleration speed. I floor it at 2500 rpm and it just wont move, only ever so slightly. It sounds like a damn lawn mower but it's not running on a single rotor, I have had that happen in the past, I know what it's like.
So it keeps getting worse as the drive goes on and I get to my friends house and pop the hood and guess what, my ehaust manifold is freeking GLOWING RED!!!!!!!
The windows on the carb are at the midway point, the accelerator pump is working fine. The pump has proper pressure, so what could it be. Obviously it is a fuel problem since it's running lean, but why??? out of nowhere like that, that's odd.
Coould I have fried something important when I had that battery accident, or did my carb just coincidently take a leave of absence???????????????????
Let me know what you guys think.
I'm going to get another ignitor from a buddy this weekend and I'm going to swap carbs this weekend also.
I just want some info at hand to be prepared if it doesn't fix anything.
Remember the car is an 84, bone stock, all emisions still connected.

partsguy74

Catalytic converter is probably clogged. When your exhaust gets that hot, it's usually the cat.

Dude, get a battery hold down.. :-)

TurboIIGuy

I understand the possibilty of the cat being clogged but I also know that when it is the problem that it usually starts small and builds up, the clogging or collapsing that is, and you can tell when there is a problem that is getting worse.
As far as the battery goes, I do have a tie down but there was only maybe a millimeter of clearance from the post to the hood which I didn't know.

Kentetsu

Dude, you said it yourself I think. You're lead ignition is out, right? When that happens the spark fires later than desired, leaving more heat for the exhaust system to deal with.

I know this from personal experience when I lost a lead coil. I'll bet your whole engine was ticking and **** too, like it was overheated, even though the temp gauge read ok. Don't drive it until you replace your lead ignitor, or at least swap them around. Good luck!

John64

Get a smaller battery, optima red top 35 works awesome. Pull the cat and see if its clogged!

JOhn

Rx7carl

Good possibility. Or you crushed and exh pipe hitting those bumps. Doubt its the carb man. Get a new battery cause you probably warped the plates inside it by shorting it out. And get a battery hold down. Oh and fix the ign and youll probably be fine.

cdrad51

I've had the same symptoms. Muffler bearings were worned out. Replace them.

Felgar

Definately cat could be the problem...

But lacking spark is a killer too. I think what happens is that quite a bit of fuel gets through unburned, and then it burns in the exhaust system. My exhaust was smoking pretty good when I tried to drive my car with no lead spark. Do the spark first and if it doesn't clear up then my money's on the clogged cat.

Kentetsu

It absolutely won't run right without the lead ignition. Since he stated that he does not have lead ignition right now, why is anybody talking about the Cat?

Fix the ignition and she'll run like a raped ape again (assuming she did before).

eViLjAy

Thats ******* awesome!!! Just wondering where these are located