str86diesel

I wouldn't worry abou checking the pistons for pressure just yet, I don't think it has anything to do with this issue. Can you give us a play by play from the moment you turn the key?

Details brutha.. what happened before this hiccup? how is she acting with the fuel filter change? Is the Choke on? is the Air Filter been checked?...

Sounds like you got some bad gas. The power and Idle problem sounds like she's running rich. I thought your carb was freshly adjusted? Has anything about it changed? Everyone above is right about changing the fuel filter, it could simply be clogged.

Look like that last guy needed to sign the waver...lmao

That is a pretty sick clock..but it would look better as a Yami glowing in true blue Yami FTW!!

Great advice...

Nah, they won't evacuate. They'll just let the bridge burn. That's just crazy..i remember the bridge very clearly....you can't miss it when crossing over the american river.

yep..white means it was running lean. The issue though, is that the place that tuned his carb, probably set the carb based on his plug temp and gap. Just by eyeballing that, usually gives a good carb tuner an understanding of how much to adjust the carb. So now that he put hotter plugs in, he's probably running lean again..lol Tell him to dump them plugs and get the same type that was just removed. Kev

usually stock plugs are medium or low heat. What make/model plugs did ya'll pull out of the engine?

tell him to look at the spark plugs that he got and get the same temperature. The hotter the plug, the more fuel that is required and his carb wasn't tuned for the hotter plugs. So the shaking is fuel related. If he wants to stick with the hotter plug, then he needs to have his carb retuned.

did your friend install the same temp spark plugs? It sounds like to me, now that the engine is tuned and running on all cylinders that the low speed needle on the carb needs a small adjustment.

Can you explain what you mean by idle's in overdrive?

No trains for me...my dad works on them for a living. So needless to say, I gots my filling of the real thing..lol

you know what's funny..is driving home, I totally pictured your rig. I will never forget dem wheels. I couldn't picture it at work...but it hit me like a brick on the hwy.

Why you gotta bring up the mullets??? Yo man...pm me your addy...i gots a good mullet joke for ya. Bro -....x2 of david, where's the celica??? Damn this brings back memories...

holey crap man...i just saw this post. I remember that car. I also remember the wall that you had in the white one with the JL's... that's back when my bro had the grey civic from hell and weeks had the blue mini truck....lmao

Sorry dude...i've been swamped with friggin Daylight Savings Time crap. So to answer your question...i wouldn't point at a piston being messed up at all. Typically a miss is usually fuel related, whether it be a bad spark plug, or just uneven fuel between the cyclinders. I would start by testing all of the plugs and plug wires.

I actually have the same problem with my Dodge. I swapped out my alternator with a bigger one and had the same issue (except I have a check gauges light that displays). I pulled out the plug and compared the alternators. I've got the issue where my stock alternator has an extra wire going back to the ECM. The replacement alternator fits the stock plug, but if you look at where the plug goes, the aftermarket alternator doesn't have a connection for this signal wire...errggg... So what sucks with my truck is that I am unable to replace my stocker (I've asked all over), instead I have to add a second, but don't have the space in my engine bay due to a fan shroud. So you might be having the same issue and be obligated to run off of a second one like me...

ha ha ha..your answer's a lot nicer than mine. Usually I tell them to stop speaking till they have track time...lmao

Nah man..you are right. The driving skill does have a lot to do with, I am just looking at it from a physics standpoint of torque. There are a lot of items that come in to play if you want to do a true heads up competition. First and foremost you have driver skill, you've got hp/torque, weight of the vehicle, tire pressure, aerodynamics and most important....GEARING..etc. I don't care how good of a driver you are a 4:10 rearend will always had a huge advantage over say a 3:54 off the line. I was discarding driver skill, only for the fact that this was a friendly competition. Typically when you have friends racing, there is more laughter involved than true focus.

Typically when a mechanic says that you have miss, is referring to 1 or more pistons not firing in cycle. This could be cause by a bad spark plug/wires, maybe bad fuel/filter..etc. Typically its not a bad problem, but if not addresses, can lead into lots of expensive repairs. Going off of what you say from a stop, it definately sounds like your miss needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, the only way to really tell what the problem is, is that you need to have someone hook and ODB scanner to your vehicle and run some diagnostics. Also, have them keep the scanner plugged in as you recreate the problem from a stop. That should leave a code in your ECM/ECU, in which will help a mechanic fix the problem. You can go to places like Kragen, Autozone, etc, and they will run a free diagnostics. Keeps us informed...we might even want to start another thread for this alone, so that we can get the problem resolved. BTW, I never heard back from you on the model of that carb...did you figure out the choke on it? kev

The inline 6 comment is a joke between steve and I...as he's seen some video's of my truck on the race track, so I am always giving him hell about mo power. But there are some 6's that you can add some serious and affordable power to. I have a buddy who just bought a chev malibu with the 6 and we have it dynoed right now at just over 340hp (for a family car...lmao). The issue with a 4 banger is torque..they just don't produce a good power/weight ratio, which is due to them being high reving engines. lovellsv - I hate to tell you, but a 4 banger will not keep up with a 302 v8 off the line. Nothing you do will give you an advantage. But as you pointed out, is exactly what I stated before. 4 bangers shine in the upper end of the band, which is why you were able to take in in overall speed and cornering.

ha ha ha..... i need to show you what an inline 6 can do. You'll never go back to a 4.

Guys, He's asking about getting a lil bit more power, not doing an engine rebuild. First the famous question has to be answered...what do you want the car to do, or how do you want it to perform different. There are several items that you can put on the car and get a little bit extra power and not break the bank. As soon as you start talking about cams, turbo's, pistons...you'll start investing a lot of money in the car and only you can answer if it is worth it or not. Bottom line, in order to get power you need to ingredients, fuel and air. You can keep adding air all day long, but if you don't have the fuel to burn, you won't get the power. So being that you already have a short ram intake, i'd look for some type of programmer. My honest opinion (take it for what it is worth), you can definately get some more hp out of that motor, but no matter how much power you get out of it, at the end of the day it will still be a 4 banger. You can get it to leave the line a little quicker, but a 4 bangers sweet spot is in the top end, not the bottom end. Dealing with small/big blocks, you probably already realize this. So then you have to ask yourself, how much money is worth dumping in a 4 banger?

Sorry to threadjack..i just couldn't resist goin back to da hood.. Burrito...boy you gave me a flashback when you said what you did..lol Meade..your post sums up what.....hhmmmm 85% of the worlds population? lol... usually smart people are ignorant as hell.