My car is governed at 170. How do I solve this problem? It is a 1985 GSL, in relativly stock form.

 

Replace your fuel filter.....seriously.

 

I replaced it 2weeks ago. My buddy says his '79 was goverened at 170, and he removed teh trany and did something then put it back together. I am from Canada if that makes a difference.

 

As far as i know...no governers. Usually the fuel filter that cuts down top speed.

 

theres no governer on any FB's, canada or not.

 

Agreed. There is no possible way to govern these cars. You need a computer controlled car to be able to govern it.

 

probably just a transmission limited top speed. you need taller gears. gsl-se has a taller 5th if i'm not mistaken... you're talking kilometers right? i sure hope so. careful of front end lift at those speeds (heard this from other guys on the forum, not trying to pawn it off as my own knowledge). get some taller gears, a front air dam and a rear deck spoiler.

my 2 cents (or about 2.38 cents canadian )

 

intresting. The car acelerates fine untill u hit 170 then it is like what the hell, whare did the acceleration go. what elce could it be. I know the carburator is not tuned corectly so that is probly a major factor no?

 

Combination of areodynamic drag and rolling resistance matching the amount of power going to the wheels.......= zero increase in acceleration.
The cure......more power,skinnier tires or drive in a vacuum.

 

if it just loses acceleration like that then yeah, it's probably just from a lack of power. what kind of RPMs are you reading at 170?

 

Man I thought he was at 170MPH I was like DANG!!!! your complaining about getting topped out!!

 

The FB is geared to go about 135-140MPH. Thats about 230-240KM/H or something like that. This is much faster than the stock 12A can take the car, but in stock form most 12A powered cars can reach at least 190km/h. I know from experience that even with just over half throttle you can get 145-150km/h out of these little cars. I know because I did it.

 

If your car is topping out at 170km/h it can only be a few things.... unfortunately some of those things aren't exactly easy to address.

Fuel System (including filter, pump, lines, carb, intake)
Engine (old and tired engine with slightly lower compression needing a rebuild)
Ignition (older wires, plugs, dist cap, rotor, or improper timing)

It's not your tranny unless you're hitting redline at 170km/h, which doesn't make any sense.

MINE does the same thing, and in my case it's probably the tired old engine since I've got a Mallory Comp 70 fuel pump, Rx7Carl rebuilt carburetor and all new ignition components (soon to switch to FC coil with transistor trick). In my case it could also *possibly* be the timing since I haven't been able to check that.

So if you've replaced the fuel filter, the next cheapest thing would be to rebuild your carb, replace your ignition components, and set your ignition timing. If that doesn't solve it, get a compression test done. These engines last practically forever if taken care of properly, but they do lose power over time.

Don't forget to keep checking the fuel filter. After time rust and contaminants build up in the bottom of the tank and clog new filters almost immediately. If this is happening you should drive the car until it's almost totally empty, then drop the tank and have it cleaned by a professional shop.

The tank is easy to remove. Four bolts hold the two straps in place. On top there are three rubber lines (send, return and vent. Please label them), and the fuel filler neck is held in place with 3 screws. Do the filler neck first.

That about covers it.

Jon

 

And as they already said (but I feel it needs re-iteration)

GOVERNERS and LIMITERS are built into the computers in computer controlled cars. Your GSL has no computers. No computers control your fuel, no computers control your ignition, no computers control ANYTHING except maybe a couple emissions control solonoids. The only way to "govern" a car is to tell the computer to cut back the fuel or limit the sparks at a certain speed/rpm. So your car is definitely not governed.

"Removed the tranny and did something" is relatively vague. If he "removed the tranny and rebuilt the engine" that would be different. Or "removed the tranny and replaced his ignition components" or "removed the tranny and flushed his gas tank"... you get the point. The tranny isn't the problem, neither is the rear end. They basically will run as high and as hard as your engine can get them until they blow. If they're still working, they're not the problem

Jon

 

whats the lowest gear they make for the 1st gen all i know of are the autos that r 390s

 

Where the hell did that come from? It's completely off subject and random. But to answer your question, I have no idea.

 

ic. Well i recently had the carburetor rebuilt, but i know it is not tuned properly becuase i can't find a mechanic to tune it, and i am not good at tuning carbs ( i am still in the "student" stage). The fuel filter may need adressing that could be true. The car is running at about 5550rpms when i hit 170kmh. The timing might also be off a little. The strange part is i can give the car 60% throttle and keep/get that speed. Could somone also explain how to check to see if the timing is good, preferably without a timing light.

 

make firends with a mechanic

or wire an LED and resistor in paralell with your leading coil.. it will flash once everytime a spark is fired, and you should be able to hold the led near the timing marks and your homebrew timing light will do the rest... there are some scary electrical considerations here, so make sure the led is well insulated from your hands and dont drop it onto the e-shaft pulley

 

this is going to sounds realy stupid, but whare are the timing marks? better an unwise question be asked, then to stay unwise.

 

The gearing has way more in it than 170km/h. In fact going with a *shorter* ratio can actually raise the top speed as you have more mechanical advantage to the rear wheels to overcome lack of power and wind resistance.

 

For the most part, all 12A's, auto or otherwise, all had 3.909 rear end gears. There is no higher gear available (lower number), but you can get gears that go all the way up to 5.33 or something like that. Even with the highest gears possible, you would still be able to reach 170 km/h.

 

is your tranny quiet when you're accelerating? I have no clue how fast i'm going when I top out, but it's normally around 6,500 rpm's in 4th gear, and my tranny is noisy as hell. I think it's slipping alot (172k on it), so i'm going to swap in my spare tranny (only 75k miles on it).

 

it is pritty quiet as far as i can tell. however, it could be a bit noizy and i am not hearing it, becuase my door seals are very old, and u here the wind at anything above 80kmh. the car has about 190K on it. the trany, engine and rear end are all bone stock. I have the hot air hose removed ( it fell off and I have not put it on yet)

 

yeah it was late and I was thinking he was talking about mph when I wrote about it being transmission limited, then I realized it was km/h and wised up but forgot to change my post...

 

lol. out of curiosity how much does a rebulid for a 12a cost.