88 - Corolla owner needs help

[TBob]

Hi all - just bought an 88 corolla
and had a couple of questions. First
off the clutch pedal engages way far
out -almost at the end. I'm sure the
clutch is pretty worn but it is still
working. Is there any adjustment to get
it to engage a little sooner? Also
the car seems to have a slight bucking
problem - it's intermitant. The check
engine light has come on just before this
happend but only once. When I restarted
the car the light was out. My mechanic thought it might be the "EGV?" valve and
disconnected a vacume line to test if that
was the problem. It seems to be better but
still bucks on ocation. - It has new plugs/
wires/cap/rotor/airfilter. Could the problem
be fuel related? Finnaly are there any inexpensive ticks to help out performance
slightly - she's a dog. Oh the car is a 2 door SR5 carburatored<sp>.

Thanks,
TBob

[bondobondo]

it is hard to say if it is a fuel problem or not, my guess is to boot it on the hiway, drive her home, park it and the next day take out the plugs and look at the colour of them, if they are really whitish, it is running lean, and the fuel filter probably needs changing.

for the clutch, my ae92 gt-s clutch also engages way high, probably a whole 1 inch of travel right at the end. here is the test tho, drive it in 3rd getting onto an on ramp to the high way and keep it in 3rd, once you are on teh highway around 80km/h dump the cluch out and shift into 5th missing 4th and once you are in 5th smash the throttle and let the cluch up fast. if your revs go way up and your car doesn't go anywhere or if the revs stay up and you are not moving that fast, then i would say that the clutch is gone. also try stalling the car, and see if the car bucks wildly or does it just die. do the stalling OFF the highway in an empty parking lot..

in terms of power, the 4a-fe puts out a whole 90hp if that, and 100lbs/ft of torque.. she ain't a performance machine.. however there are engine transplant options. however they are around $2000 or more

anymore questions, np