My car runs fine up until I hit 5th gear.

When I switch to 5th I need to floor is to maintain 65MPH at 3k rpm. Anything less than all the way down and I start losing speed, if I shift down in to 4th I have plenty of acceleration and power.

What could be causing this? I'm changing the ignition stuff right now...already has new plugs,wires and rotor...have to wait for the others to come in because for some reason none of the stores in my area had distributor cap or ignition coils for my car in stock.

Could it be the distributor cap and coils are bad causing it to not have any power or something else?

Transmission and clutch and clutch hydrolics are in excellent condition, the hydrolics were just replaced less than 200 miles ago.

 

Fuel filter, fuel pump, clogged fuel line, clogged cat, in that order. The funny threads are the ones where they immediately say, "No, it's not that, I already checked/replaced that" and then 4 thread pages later, it's one of those reasons.

 

As Mario has stated. I would to inspect the carb and make sure the linkage for the Carburetor secondaries did not come off.

Also verify that you still have fire to the leading plugs.

 

Maybe 5th gear itself is having a problem. Does the car feel like it slows down a bit when you put it in 5th? Like a drag in the system?

 

its a near stock 12A its not going anywhere fast in 5th haha no but really it sounds like its not getting enough gas or air try changing the fuel filter buy a can of carb cleaner and hold the rpms at about 3000 and spray down in the carb and occasionally do a good rev to 6000 to get it flowing

 

Well fuel filter is good I know that, been less than one hundred miles since it was changed, did it when I changed oil/filter.

I'll check the lines and see if I can get a friend to help me with the carb. I don't know anything about them but he's an airplane mechanic and deals with them everyday so I should be able to get some help.

Is there an easy to follow guide for it? The ones I've looked at were really confusing for me since I don't know engines very well.

Jeff, no it doesn't feel like there's any drag. It just doesn't have anything in it.
I'll see if I can think of a better way to explain what it feels like but for now that's about as accurate as I can get.

 

I've been reading the manual to learn how to check these things and while reading I came to the thought of...

Why would it be a problem with the fuel system or cat if I don't have the problem in any gear but 5th? I can get above 65 in 4th no problem.

I'm not saying it's not those since I haven't check yet but for edification, why would I not have issues in any gear but 5th if the fuel line is clogged or the fuel pump is messed up?

And I thought a clogged cat caused parts of the engine to glow because of excess heating?

 

On my prior car, I put a new fuel filter in it... I then painted the car... It then ran like crap on highway like it was not getting gas... Replaced the fuel pump because I knew the filter was new...

It really was the filter, gas had collected paint overspray (yes, had gas cap off with rag shoved in). Check your fuel flow like has been suggested.

 

I have the same problem. Except I get alot faster than 65, I'm well over 110 when I'm in 5th, and it feels like it won't go any faster, but maybe thats just the car need a little more power.

 

Try taking the car out where you can get on it thru the gears(don't get a ticket or in an accident). Which means full throttle it thru all gears. If you start to lose power when you are in 3rd with it still floored then I would recheck for flow out of the tank and do a fuel volume test at the fuel inlet to the carb.

5th gear is your overdrive where there is not alot of applied HP.

Are there any steep hills where you are?

 

Yep, got a bit one a quarter mile from my house.

How high should I let rpms climb because I've never gotten up a decent hill in anything above second in any manual I've driven.

 

Ok, I found the problem and I have no idea what it is.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Picture001.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Picture002.jpg

This little nut thing fell down and when I pulled it back up it was fine, what is it and is there something wrong with the assembly since it can fall down?

 

That's the emergency return spring. It caused more problems for me than it was worth so I removed it. Carl will probably tell you to fix it correctly, and offer to explain it. I'd say to just take off the cotter pin below and wire tie the part of the linkage together so it doesn't flap in the breeze.

 

Ok, so there's a condensor on top of the plate that leads to the clutch, it's back it popped open and the wire is messed up. I bought a new condenser but it's only about 2/3 of the size and isn't rated high enough.

Is this a normal ignition condenser or do I need to ask for a specific part number or what?

The one on there is silver the one they gave me is gold and has a different mounting bracket on it.

 

I've never bothered with that particular condensor. I've seen them on stock vehicles but never bothered to hook one up before. It's like the funny small guage wire on the starter.

 

Wouldn't not having it hooked up make the car run worse than if it's using a leaking one?

 

The condenser has no bearing concerning the running of the engine.