car seems like its hitting a rev limiter in third gear and bouncing at 5500 rpm, the other first two gears goto 8000rpm just fine, any ideas what this is / how to fix it. 1983 12A car, tried searching forums but to no avail

 

cause the 12A has no POWAHHHHHH

 

lol yea tell me something i didnt kno, but really why would it not go past 5500 rpm in third gear?

 

Here's a shot in the dark but it may your cats are clogging up or even just the fuel filter. The engine goes under a heavier load as you go through the gears and that may be why you don't experience the lack of rpm until third gear. But before we go diagnosing further, tell us more about your set-up and what you've done to check things out so far.
Is the car stock? Have you checked the fuel filter, plugs etc...

 

car to my knowledge mightve had a mild street port done, it had the rats nets removed from it, and it was sittin for what seems like a few years. Fuel filter does sound like itd be clogged if the gas in it was bad and stuff (probably is) gonna drain the tank this weekend and replace the fuel filter. Was just gonna do a tuneup on the whole car because I know it needs it. Thanks alot, hopefully thats the problem.

 

Sounds good. Let us know how you make out.

 

Just take the damn thing out of 3rd, you still have 2 more gears,lol.

 

1st gear at full throttle gives good power + 2nd gear at full throttle with good power + 3rd gear no power = clogged fuel filter. $2.50 and you're back on the road again.

The fuel filters that come on these cars are just barely adequate when brand new. Even a little bit of crap in them will result in a loss of performance when running hard through the gears.

 

if its not your fuel filter of your exhuast, its an ignitor

 

Fuel filter is my guess. It's always the fuel filter if 3rd gear is involved.

 

+1 on fuel filter. Or dying fuel pump. Or both.

 

What bass and others would want to know about the engine. Does it have the stock exhaust and carb or a header and aftermarket carb like a side draft or a Holley?

But as others we are assuming that it is stock so the fuel filter would be the educated guess.

If there was an aftermarket carb then we would want to know if it had a stock fuel pump on it still.

 

Check the float levels in the carb!!!

 

For me, it was 4th gear, then 3rd, then 2nd, then nothin.

Fuel filter is also an easy fix and you may as well start from the easiest and work your way to the hardest.

 

Why? Do you think that his valves are floating?

J/K

Normally if the float level is low because of mis-set floats then the engine would be running out of fuel in the lower gears also.

But not bad thinking for a guy with "Smooth *****" and frequents the lounge.

 

My vote is for fuel filter first, then check the cats. It seems like we get one of these every year with the person swearing up and down all of that is OK.....and then they replace one of them and then the car is suddenly cured and then they start asking bridge port questions...

 

LOL! Same thing was happening to my Fb earlier this year but it was after my friend had rebuilt the carb for me...we went for a test drive and she did great in 1st and 2nd gear but she fell flat on her face once we hit 3rd. IT was due to the floats not being set properly the first time after the rebuild. Once that was fixed....she ran great!

 

when my ignitor started going out on my first rx7, the first symptoms were it "stuttering" in the higher rpm of 3rd gear.

 

check the screen filters where the fuel feed line meets the carb. these were clogged on my brothers fb and it had the same problem.

 

haha getting back on subject i guess, changed fuel filter, fixed the problem, and it starts easier now lol go figure. never pinched the line when i pulled it so theres some wasted 87 in my driveway if someone wants to scoop it up lol, thanks for the help