My Z34 has no low end.

[Octavarium454]

Well, I guess maybe this is what you get for buying a car for 300 dollars. It is a black 1992 Z34 Lumina. The thing took a forklift to the driver side (at least thats the only explanation I can come up with, as it was parked in a factory parking lot) and the alternator was bad along with the plugs.

So I finally got the alternator and plugs in (both a blast to work on) and the some of the passenger side replaced but now the motor seems to lack any low end power. Lets just say I lost a race to my brothers 95 neon.

Now, I have never owned a 3.4 litre motor before so I guess my question is if this is normal for this motor? I might of pushed it a little hard for not running in 3 years but I will not stand for my car being beat by a neon!

[z34phoenix]

well these motors are known for not making low end power. but top end is very good. i would look into the timing belt and trany... unless there is a compression issue.

as for making the car faster, a gear swap is a very good boost. a long with swaping to the 96-97 intake manifold set.

[Octavarium454]

Now that I think of it the tranny fluid was low, but I'll see what happens after driving it to school a couple days. I like the idea of the intake manifold, and I plan I putting a new exhaust on the car from the cat. There has to be a problem however so I'll look into the timing, or the trans.

Thanks for the advice, and in such a timely manner.

Well it looks like I'm going to the junkyard to find me some 96 monte carlos.

[latemodelnewbee]

Not trying to justify getting beaten by a neon but the you have to be careful Mopar let out some weird ones by “accident”. I had a 95 that ran a 16.1 et showroom stock and falling on its face in 3rd gear also tapped 145mph out in west Texas (verified by a state trooper friend) even though it was supposed to be governed at 110. None of the suspension, brake, or driveline parts matched up with a normal neon. The only give away that found about the weird ones was wheels full of rotors all the way around. I would have kept it if I could have a readily available supply of wear items.

[HayesPerformance]

It wouldn't hurt to really check over the whole car really well, I would check compression, check for any vacuum leaks, give it a good tune-up ( plugs, wires, air filter, pcv, etc, etc. )and YES, check the timing belt!

[Octavarium454]

Well let me be a little more detailed on the problem. The car acts like I am easing on the accelerator from between idle to 3500-4000 rpms. Then all of a sudden the motor wakes up and flies between 30 mph and 75 mph. After that it again acts like I'm going easy on the pedal. Because of this my 0-60 times are in the 10s.

Now let me give you the details on how I lost that race with the neon...

To start with that neon had a 5 speed manual, so when the race began I was expecting to start off behind him. So the race starts, and I pull in the lead right away. I HAVE VERY LITTLE LOW END AND I BEAT A MANUAL OFF THE LINE! So I was extremely pleased because I knew that once I got up to the higher rpms I knew that car was toast. WRONG! Approaching about 85 miles an hour, I see that neon, approaching fast and not slowing down. I end up losing the race to my hometown at the point where I should of been dominating.

I now plan on selling my 300 dollar Z34 if performance does not improve. I figure that I can make about 1100 hundred dollars off it in profit and then go by a 350 camaro. But I love my Lumina, so I'm in kind of a messed up situation.

*UPDATE* I for some reason randomly put the E-Brake on when I had it on stands to replace the alternator. Maybe it didn't release when I pulled the handle. Could explain why the car has somewhat decent performance between 30-75mph.

[RedZMonte]

like stated above i would defiantly go over it very well.. I can say that in colorado 5000+Ft elevation my car is a turd (as is every car) from a dig. but in min. where i bought the car i could roast the tires. My car in colorado is a dog untill about 3200rpm then i revs fast and hard, this is kinda typical with the automatic's. but it does from what you described sound a little off... I would definatly have the timing checkd...