Outside air temp has been around 90*F or so lately. When I start the car cold, it idles a bit rough at around 600-700 based on the dash tach and my ear. When it warms up, it comes up to about 900-950 and hunts very very slightly. Seems like it will idle like that indefinately. When I drive it cold for the first 10 minutes or less, it runs great. After that, it cuts out under light acceleration. Sometimes I can keep it running by pumping the gas, sometimes not. When it finally picks up RPMs, it pulls pretty well (as far as I can tell through the slipping clutch) then it bogs again slightly. Usually if I can get it to 20 MPH or faster, the momentum of the car will pull me through these moments of loss of power. I have the most trouble with this when I taking off from a stop. It also seems worst after I have driven the car a bit and then parked it for a half hour or less. CHT? Vacuum lines? Timing? Valves, Tune-up? Points? Grounds? Combination of any or all of the above? I'm out of money and running out of patience.

You will need both of these to make this a nice running car. Stick with it though, it will be worth it in the long run and you will love driving it.

Whoa slow down slugger, one thing at a time, adjust your clutch cable 1st, then go put some good fresh gas in it and drive it around, it sounds like it had been sitting for a while.
My 74 had sat for several months, the more I drove it the better it ran.

Injected? If so, go to Paul Anders' site and start troubleshooting your injection. Sounds like a leaky MPS could be the culprit...

I'd definitely start with the clutch adjustment (hopefully that's all it is), and while you've got it up there adjust the valves (cheap insurance, and all you need is valve cover gaskets), Pelican Parts has a descent article for this procedure. Drop it down, take it for a drive, and check the plugs, they'll say alot about how the A/F is. If yours still has the stock FI, I'd nip off the first 1/2" or so of each vacuum line and reattach them. Every one of my lines were cracked towards the end (I actually replaced "all" of the vacuum and fuel lines, but you're on a budget ). One of my biggest vacuum leaks was one of the big rubber connectors from the plenum to the intake runner. Squirt a "little" carb cleaner around all of the vacuum connections and listen for a change in the rpm. You may also want to consider moving your fuel pump up to the front trunk, could be vapor locking (that is if it hasn't already been moved).

If you are running FI, check out "pbander's" website on fuel injection, VERY informative troubleshooting tool!

http://members.rennlist.com/pbanders/

and remember, it's all AIR/FUEL/SPARK. Don't let the little bastard piss-off/confuse you

The pbanders site is all about D-jet. will the troubleshooting also apply to my 1974 1.8 L-jet motor?

No. Do a search for L-jet. Lots of info out there. Start with the oil filler cap. If it is not screwed down tightly or if the seal is shot it will create a vacuum leak.

Ok now youv'e done it, be prepaired for everyone telling you "its a Vacuum leak" ...
My L-Jet ran like shit when I first got it, it turned out to be 2 or 3 little things, but NO vacuum leaks...go figure....


Oh did I mention this car is 4 Sale...

Don't know what exactly the problem but when I jiggled the connector on top of the air box, the idle smoothed out so I got in and drove it around for an hour and it runs perfectly now. Must have either been a bad connection at the plug or maybe a bad wire in the harness right behind the plug. Did the clutch adjustment and it helped a lot but still slips a bit under hard acceleration. I'll chock it up to wheel slip in my 70hp car. At least until I can afford the $355 clutch kit from PP. I should probably try to save enough for a new exhaust before I do the clutch too because it will likely disintegrate when I try to remove it.

Just as I suspected, a vacuum leak at the electrical connector