85gijunk4x4

After owning my 86 for coming up to 2 years i believe now, my vacuum advance has always been blown. It would top out 65-70 and on a steep hill no wind i could hit 80...after 2 years i've only been to 80 3 times lol. good cruise down the interstate on a calm night, about 73ish and backroading you'd be lucky to see 66...Anyway, totally empty, foot to the floor, usually pulls about 65ish. I've talked to somebody before who said his truck ( a stock 22r) could pull 80 down the interstate all day long regardless of conditions. Now i know that statement was probably alittle stretched, but he was an honest person, so that would still lead me to believe i have problems...

Talked to another guy the other day who said his LOADED rig could run 80mph down the interstate all day long...I'm empty and would be lucky to see 70!

Anyway, replaced the vacuum advance, still totally acts the same. Thought maybe thats what was keeping my top speed down (86 22r 4x4 by the way, only 130k on it so it shouldnt be tired)

Since my plugs were fried from the timing being off i also replaced the plugs, gapped to .030 I wanted ngk's but the guy at napa said they didnt have them in stock, and when he owned his yota the best plugs he had were autolights. I really didnt want some cheapo garbage, but for 5 bucks i figured if they werent any good i'd just throw them out lol

Truck ran totally fine before i replaced the plugs and vac. advance. The plugs were starting to get nasty and it would idle pretty bad when cold, be hard to start, and my mpg's were starting to drop so i figured i might as well get a new vac advance too so my plugs would last more then 2,000 miles...

Anyway, starts up quick, idles great especially in the cold, but it totally dogs at low rpms and its driving me crazy. I dont know if its the plugs just being junk, or if the timing is wrong (set at 0 degress, vacuum lines plugged)

When my trucks cold i cant even move it at all untill it warms up...and when its at operating temperature after being on the road 20+ minutes, i really have to hang onto the clutch when i start from a stop. And after the clutch is all the way out and i try to get moving it just dogs and bogs untill it hits about 2000 rev's, then it picks up and takes off like it should.

Its a pain shifting, i have to run the gears way up just so it doesnt bog when i hit the next gear...and i usually cruise in 5th @ 50...now if i'm in 5th at 50 it just dogs itself and slows down little by little untill i have to slam it in 4th and get up to 60.

Anyway, low revs, no power, bogs, sputters, really cant accelerate in gear, starting from a stop i have to let the clutch out real slow with the revs up or it'll just buck and want to stall.

once it gets above 2500ish rpms, its fine, and i can gas it and take off, the engine sounds like it doesnt have a huge load on it, no bogging, totally fine

i'm not even sure what my top speed is now, maybe about the same, alittle less. It was fine before i switched my plugs and vacuum advance. It seems like its starving for fuel, but once it hits high rpms, its fine...and the fuel filter is relativaly new. Just did the valve lash last week. Timing should be fine, but i remember hearing a way to get alittle more low end power out of it...any ideas?

SHOULD I JUST GET THOSE JUNK PLUGS OUT OF THERE?

slow-mo

The timing is correct : 0 degrees TDC with the vacuum lines plugged.

Is this a stock carburetor or aftermarket?

Check the fuel level in the carburetor. If stock, then the fuel level needs to be in the middle of the sight glass.

Check the engine's compression.

85gijunk4x4

stock carb, AAP plugged off, fuel dead in the middle

long-haul

your shift pattern stands out to me. my 22r with stick and 31's goes into 4th just before the speedo says 50mph. I don't get much highway time, but when I do, 5th is a viable option at about 65mph on the speedo. with 31's, the speedo shouldn't be too far off. 80mph is a place my truck has never been, nor hopes to visit.... just too big of a leap for my heap. Hope this helps.

Also, if your intake or exhaust systems are plugged, that could cause the precipitous rpm drop you describe between gear shifts. For example, when my catalytic converter died, my truck acted a lot like you describe. But it sounded funny too, which you didn't mention.

85gijunk4x4

Does sound funny. The only reason I haven't mentioned this is because I didn't really know how to describe it...

I guess the best way would be like it has a different "tone" then usual. Maybe even alittle bit more choppy sounding?

long-haul

might be on to something-- if you sometimes hear a rattle back where the cat is, that could be an issue. When mine went, a piece of the honeycomb in the cat separated out and came loose, inside the cat. when the hunk came loose, it impeded the flow of the air through the pipe on its way out....

there wasn't any way to repair the cat, so it was replaced. a new CC solved that problem for my truck.