My son and I were looking at a '76 today that is an auto trans car. The guy said it wouldn't idle - with a twist of the dizzy and tightening the bolt I fixed that. There is the usual bad rubber under the hood but I managed to get the car to idle smoothly. Mechanically it seems fine with the exception of it dieing as soon as I put it in gear. The guy is asking $950 for and I think the body is solid enough for a rebuild/restore. Not having any experience with the auto trans on the Z what should I look for to correct the issue?

 

a 5 speed trans!!!

what was the idle speed at? that seems to be a big issue for auto trans stalling out

 

I like that idea but my kid(who's looking to buy the car) doesn't. Kids these days, spoiled by the automatic trans.

It was holding around a grand to 1200. My '83 idles around 700-900 and the kid said the S30 wouldn't idle so I kicked it up a tiny bit. If I feathered the throttle I could get 'er movin. But as soon as I let off of the gas it died.

 

Did you check the tranny fluid color & level? It may or may not be related to the transmission. If one of the sensors is out of wack, as soon as there is a load, the engine might not have enough "umph" to move. The TPS, AFM, or timing could cause that.

 

That is a definite possibility. The hoses and lines were pretty rotted and the dizzy was loose and bouncing all over before I tightened it down. It idled good but I bet the timing was still way off. The hose from the AFM to the TB was looking pretty bad too. I think we'll trailer it home and then work from there.