1974 1.8l that I have had for 5 years. Has always started right up and ran strong all the way to redline. Had a fender bender, and took it to body shop. Due to limited parts, it took 6 months! So I go to pick it up and the guy says "yeah....its not running so great." He says that he did not touch the engine bay, but I have no idea how it was treated or stored. (we had a heat wave in Dallas).
So now here is what happens: Starts easily with a flick of the key and idles fine. If you press on gas pedal the rpms will struggle up to 3000 and then, instantly it loses power and falls back down to idle or dies. No matter how much you feather the throttle, it always struggles to 3000 and then loses power. Still starts and idles fine, but not enough power to move.
My thought was that maybe the body shop idiot was flooring the gas when he started and it backfired and damaged by air flow meter flap. I checked the flap and its movement seems fine.
Any ideas? Again, the car ran great when I left it, now it has these symptoms. Fuel pressure regulator?
Finally, does anyone know what pins on the Air flow meter I check for resistance?
Any help is great! Jason