New to the group, Two days into ownership, Slow slow car...

[jp5Touring]

I have the IE fuel pump mounted at the gas tank and it feeds two DCOE's just fine.

So definitely could be part of your problem. 

If you go back to the mechanical one I would be interested it as a spare.

 

Nice car from the pics. Good luck with it and Welcome to the club.

[Son of Marty]

Are you sure that's a 75? If so some one has replaced the termo-reactor exhaust manifold with a complete 76 style one but a pre manifold would let your engine flow better, also how dirty is your air cleaner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2021 by Son of Marty

[Shiparino]

Got a lot of stuff to try out here.  Title says 75, but no idea what happened along the way.  I will be looking to dump anything restrictive, so that exhaust manifold will have to go.  I'm interested in checking the carb vacuum secondary and will have to either relocated that fuel pump or just put in a mechanical pump. @jp5Touring, do you use this low pressure pump for the dual DCOE's,.

 

First things first, these god awful bumpers are coming off tonight!

[irdave]

And if the title says it's a '75 call it good.  No need to ask anymore questions.

[Mike Self]

1 hour ago, irdave said:

And if the title says it's a '75 call it good.

Very important in CA.  '75= emission inspection exempt; '76 = emission inspections.  And that's not A Good Thing!

 

Let us know whatcha find WRT the sluggish performance--it may help another 02 owner with the same problem.

 

And welcome (again) to the '02 fraternity/sorority.

 

mike

[Shiparino]

Right, wouldn't have touched it if it was a 76.  Couldn't imagine trying to smog a carbureted car in CA.

 

Got the huge bumpers off, that's a good first session.  Even with the big holes in the car, it looks better.  Will start attaching the sluggish issue by the weekend.

[Conserv]

15 hours ago, Son of Marty said:

 

Are you sure that's a 75? If so some one has replaced the termo-reactor exhaust manifold with a complete 76 style one… 

 

+1

 

But a 236xxxx 2002 — which this appears to be — is a 1975. So either, as Son of Marty says, someone swapped on a 1976 49-state exhaust manifold and aluminum heat shield, or possibly more, e.g., a 1976 49-state engine.

Let’s figure out what engine and head you have:

 

Welcome back to the ‘02 community!

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

['76mintgrün'02]

The throttle lever connection on the side of the pedal box can lose its grip on the shaft if the two halves that get pinched together touch each other.  It is a simple fix to recreate that gap and tighten it back up.  Set the position with the pedal on the floor and the carb fully open.

 

The '76 exhaust manifold flows just fine, if you remove the air injection tubes from the inside.  Pat Allen put one on his test bench and it flowed as well, or better than a tii manifold, iirc.  That thread is hiding in the archives.  I think he surmised that they increased the port size to make room for the tubes.  The tii manifold has nut-clearance dimples that aren't as deep in the later manifold = larger opening.

 

In other exhaust discussions (and possibly the one I just mentioned) it's been said that the exhaust is one of the things that's designed well in these cars.  You will not see performance gain going larger until you're adding 50% more horsepower to the equation.  That said, some people prefer the look/style of headers and enjoy that swap.  Going too big on the exhaust can have negative effects on torque, so I have read.

 

I did swap my '76 manifold for a tii part, mostly because I prefer the cleaner shape.  In the process I learned that the original was cracked.  All that to say -- even if your '76 manifold still has the tubes, that's not the reason for sluggish performance.

 

Dropping 70 pounds worth of bumper weight might help it feel peppier, but I'll be keeping mine as cheap insurance. 

 

The blue coil is not original equipment.  Those have internal resistors, whereas the original coil required an additional resistor.  In the earlier years those were housed in a ceramic block mounted beside the coil, but in our later cars, they hid it inside the wiring loom.  They added a resistance wire that looks like a clear-jacketed speaker wire and it's connected to the coil's + post.  If you still have that and it's feeding the blue coil, you will have a weak spark.  Some people remove the resistor wire completely, but you can simply run another wire to the coil feeding the full 12V.  There are a bajillion threads on this topic in the archives.  The search feature is excellent on this site.

 

I would personally extend the "drive and enjoy/get-to-know-it" time before tearing it down to rebuild it all.  Assuming it's road worthy, that is.  Or have fun making it that way and then take it apart... but then, I'll probably extend that phase forever.  

 

Have fun!

 

Tom

[Lorin]

Sluggish performance possibilities :
 

Not enough ignition advance.
 

Lean fuel mixture. 
 

Not achieving full throttle.
 

Cam timing incorrect. 
 

Massive exhaust restriction.  

[Son of Marty]

28 minutes ago, Lorin said:

Massive exhaust restriction.  

You would not be the first to find your tailpipe/muffler full of nuts. Or air cleaner to boot.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Son of Marty

[jp5Touring]

18 hours ago, Shiparino said:

Got a lot of stuff to try out here.  Title says 75, but no idea what happened along the way.  I will be looking to dump anything restrictive, so that exhaust manifold will have to go.  I'm interested in checking the carb vacuum secondary and will have to either relocated that fuel pump or just put in a mechanical pump. @jp5Touring, do you use this low pressure pump for the dual DCOE's,.

 

First things first, these god awful bumpers are coming off tonight!

 

Yes on the fuel pump Weber DCOE like  low pressure 

[D Seattle]

Hate to state the obvious with all of these really detailed, super great posts.  But you said its not as peppy as you remember from how long ago?   

 

Hard to think any of these cars can be called necessarily "peppy" in stock presentation compared to even the slowest POS made today.  Maybe its just slow? ??

[Lorin]

1 minute ago, D Seattle said:

Hate to state the obvious with all of these really detailed, super great posts.  But you said its not as peppy as you remember from how long ago?   

 

Hard to think any of these cars can be called necessarily "peppy" in stock presentation compared to even the slowest POS made today.  Maybe its just slow? ??

Hey now. That’s  a little below the belt, don’t you think?

[Shiparino]

@D Seattle - Yes that was in my head for sure.  Since getting rid of my 02 back in 87, I've had a lot of higher HP cars, including my daily driver 435hp Mustang GT.  But I do remember being able to get to highway speeds fast enough and passing people on country roads, so I'm sure one or more of these suggestions is going to help.  

 

This forum and this group was exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks for all the ideas/help.

[D Seattle]

2 minutes ago, Shiparino said:

@D Seattle - Yes that was in my head for sure.  Since getting rid of my 02 back in 87, I've had a lot of higher HP cars, including my daily driver 435hp Mustang GT.  But I do remember being able to get to highway speeds fast enough and passing people on country roads, so I'm sure one or more of these suggestions is going to help.  

 

This forum and this group was exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks for all the ideas/help.

Love it!.... yeah, but remember, back in 87 they were all driving slower cars too! ?  Its all relative  Of course, some of the American muscle you had sounds pretty cool.  

 

I had an o-shit, fish out of water, moment when I first got my '75 2002 a few years ago.  On the freeway, following typical distance, and a 'quick stop' in front of me would have had me plowing into the car I was following but for the fact I made it onto the shoulder.  Just car-to-car, my brakes could not stop me anywhere near as quickly as the newer cars at just a normal 'quick' stop, it was not even a panic stop.  I had my foot to the floor and still could not stop in time.   But back in the day, *everyone* had the same quality of brakes so we all stopped at the same rate - panic or quick stop. But, drop a stock 2002 to into the mix, takes twice as far.  Anyway, I was immediately updating brakes all around and cursing myself for not having done it the first time around being cheap.  

 

Great to see you here.  As you can see, there are some amazing knowledgeable and helpful/nice people here.  Its really a unique forum.  I'm just captain obvious.  

 

Take care!  Enjoy the journey.  

D