So I finally took the 'maro out after 1.5 years of tinkering and toying and having no money and whatnot, and it was really, really fun. Everything was great, save for two things. It had kind of poor pickup above 60ish mph (on the freeway, my speedo isn't right, so I'm guessing). My guess is I need to tinker wtih my carb secondaries. The other thing is that on the way home, when I put the petal to the metal on the empty freeway, the power steering belt popped off. This kinda scared me at first. However, I know that pulley is crooked and wobbled about 1/8 of an inch. Would that make it jump off at highish RPMs? I'm probably just gonna replace it anyway. The rear axle is 3.42s, but I think the throttle response was bad at higher speeds. Anyways, feel free to chime in with your ideas!

EDIT: also, when I give it gas from a dead stop, there's kind of a clunk, then the wheels start spinning and the car starts moving. You can hear it, and feel it definately. Feels like the rear drops a bit, or something. Is this normal for our cars? I haven't really driven this car for more than a couple minutes before today. POSI, 3.42s, crappy old steel driveshaft.

 

Well, I can tell ya what to check on the clunk your hearing/feeling. Check the transmission mount, it's probably busted. Replace it with a polyurathane mount. As for being sluggish, is it old gas or a fresh tank? Power steering belt flying off could be caused by a loose belt and/or miss allignment with the other pullies. I fought and fought with my alt belt flying off till finally getting everything to line up right. Stays on even at 7300 rpm now

 

The gas is a mix between oldish, like 4 months and a 20 bucks of new gas. At CA prices, that's about 2 gallons . Well, it's actually 8, but you know what I mean. As for the tranny mount, do I need to drop anything to replace it? Looks like I've got my weekend cut out for me either way, as I've still gotta wrestle with the P/S pump. Thanks for the input.

 

I would check the universal joints before messing with tranny mounts. Just crawl under the car and rotate the driveshaft back and forth quickly, paying attention to the u-joints. there should be no play between the yolks and the driveshaft. That is where most "Clunking" comes from. For an 18 year old car, they should be checked anyway, if they haven't been replaced lately.