Fuel Starvation in 1st gen 1983
 

Car is an 83 FB with a carbureted 12a with 180k miles. Guy I bought it from said the car has only been driven like once a month for a year or two.

Just got the car and trying to figure out whats wrong but am at a loss. Bought the car and drove it 40 miles from where I got it with no problems except there was a point on the highway where the car wouldn't accelerate past 60mph in 5th and was sputtering for a minute but after happening once, didn't run into this problem again.

Then when I got it home, parked it for an hour or two and when I took it out again, the car stalled out in 1st at around 1200 rpm. Now when I turn the car on, whether Im in neutral or 1st, if I slowly press on the accelerator, it dies around 12-1400 rpm. If I floor it though, it stutters around 1200, but then continues on and works fine as long as I dont let it get back to the 1200 range. If it does get back to 1200 it will stall. This doesnt matter if Im moving or not, I have had it stall when going like 5mph.

I replaced the fuel filter so far and dont know where to go now. The fuel pump is making noise and seems to work fine. Possibly a problem with the carb?

I need this car running by tomorrow if at all possible...

welcome to the board. :)

if it won't idle below 1200 (and with your foot on the gas), then start checking for vacuum leaks.

I have only had that issue when idling cold, other than that, my car can't ever push past 70...trying to find a solution.

Its sitting now idling around 700 rpms, the problem is when I slowly push it past 1200 rpm or so. I am beginning to think it is not fuel starvation problem at all and more of an ignition problem. The engine seems to be stumbling at idle so I think my plan today is to change my plugs and plug wires just to rule that out.

I have to take the car on a 300 mile drive to get it to school to work on it, is it a bad idea if I just turn up the idle to past the point of where it wants to stall out around 1200 so I can get it to school? It seems to run fine under a heavy foot.

state your model. if you have a carburetted model, check to see if your secondaries are opening.

check the mixture?

Its not a vacuum leak and I messed around with the idle mixture on my carb so it stumbled the least/ran the best. Just put new gas in the tank and adjusted the throttle screw to keep my idle at right under 1200, which seems to have alleviated the problem for now.

Also, I checked the plugs and they look fine. Maybe its my timing / vacuum advance? Im really not sure, just throwing out ideas...

i just read your original post again. somehow i had it in my head that this problem started out intermittently. yes, timing is a valid possibility. put a light on it and see where it is.

. Sorry, 1982 GSL, im new to rotary and carb

do you have a FSM? if not, you should download one.

try and see if this helps you any: https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...pening-904898/

Sounds more like accelerator pump. If it is leaking, torn or clogged it does not get initial enrichment. Main reason I say that is that if he slowly presses the throttle it will go past it. I think 1200 rpm is the transition from idle to main circuit on primaries. Secondaries are not even in the picture yet. Now at 60 mph I could see it being the secondaries, I would address the 1200 rpm stumble first.

Rebuild carb. Clean gas tank. Not necessarily in that order.

:) that's definitely another good idea for the OP, Gershwizzle. the secondary-thing i mentioned was for Rxmagic. he said he can't get his car past 70.

Lol thanks guys, sorry for the confusion, sometimes I'm a bit of a forum pirate. (Hijack threads)

Got a timing light today. If I'm understanding this correctly, there are marks for where the stock timing should be on the eccentric shaft pulley and I should paint a line on the belt as a reference point when I'm using the light? Then depending on where the line is in reference to the marks, i take off the distributor cap and adjust accordingly? And I should be shooting for 0 degrees of advance at the leading spark and about 20 at trailing?

Sorry if these are basic questions, I've only ever done simple car maintenance and have a lot to learn.

I think he meant that you should identify the marks on the pulley and paint them so they are easily visible.