the car is an 86 cavalier 2.0 liter TBI with 43K miles.
when i give the car half throttle or when i give the car full throttle i get the same results. there is no difference between the two. what can i look at to give full throttle the umph it should have? barring and 350 engine swap
the throttle plate is full open at full throttle. i haven't checked it at half throttle as of yet. that'll happen today.

 

no codes right? make sure the tune up is good, then i'd check fuel preasure and the cat.

 

did a full tune-up recently.
will check the pressure and how would i check the cat? nothing rattles in there and i don't have a tester for the cat.

 

take it somewhere to be checked if you can't. i've read on here how you can sort of test it by checking engine vacumn but i forget the details. exhaust shop here does it for 10 dollars, hard to beat that price.

 

you can check the cat with a temp gun! simply check the temp of the cat while the car is running also check the temp of the pipes around it if it is pluged the pipe behind the cat will be quite a bit cooler as compared to the temp of the cat and in front of the cat

 

Since I don't have a temp gun I guess I'm stuck with the exhaust shop. Thanks!

 

looks like i'll be getting access to a temp gun. does it matter how long the car's been running? what temp difference should be considered acceptable?

 

Cold air induction may help... ::shrug::

 

thought of that
it does have cold air. i even checked for proper operation of the thermac valve.
fuel pressure is fine. so now i'm leaning towards partially clogged cat.

 

usually letting the car run untill it is to operating temp.
if not pluged the temp behind it should be around the same as the cat

 

these are the numbers i got.
from front to back of cat there was 100 deg diff. 400 to 300
from 4 inches in front of to 4 inches in back of the cat i got a 200 deg diff.
does it sound plugged to you?

 

I really can't judge the numbers, I'm not sure if they should fall off that much though. One thing I'd try doing is revving the car up with someone in the drivers seat and hitting the cat with a mallet. The air flow and vibration could dislodge something. If performance improves you know what's wrong.

 

i was thinking of disconnecting the exhaust at the downpipe and taking it for a drive. sure it'll be loud but there'll be no restrictions.