A friend of mine offered to sell me an 87 NA FC but he says it doesn't rev above 2000RPM. Has any heard of this problem or have any tips on what to look at?

 

Sounds like a TPS sensor or something similar

 

I finally got some more details from him about the problem and I guess I misunderstood his initial description. This is what he just told me:

It revs up fine in neutral but when it's in gear it doesn't have enough power to drive and it dies. He also says it will die after about 5 minutes of idling.

Is this pattern familiar to anybody?

 

Automatic or manual?

I would start out by first checking for trouble codes. You can make your own code checker for about $3. See...
http://teamfc3s.org/info/articles/errorcodes/main.html

Also, it is possible that you are dealing with an exhaust restriction. You can try pulling the oxygen sensor, and leave the hole open, and then try it. If the symptoms improve, you likely have a clogged catalytic converter or other exhaust restriction.

Try checking the oxygen sensor voltage after the car is warmed up. It should be more than .55 volts (rich). It should stay rich through acceleration. If a vacuum leak is causing the car to die, it would show up as a low (less than .4v) sensor reading under acceleration (lean misfire).