[Sportwagon75]

Well...I thought I had this elusive little problem solved. But we took the Manta for a whirlwind trip from Virginia to New England over the weekend and the problem persists. The car performed almost flawlessly for 9-1/2 hours each way with the A/C running full blast all weekend. However...when the car has been running at highway speeds in hot weather for 3 or 4 hours, it starts to sputter and lose power. These are the same symptoms I encountered on the return trip from Carlisle. Take it out of gear, shut off the ignition, coast for 100 yards or so, turn the ignition back on, dump the clutch...and the problem is gone for another 5 or 10 miles. Once the sun went down and temperature gauge came down abit...the problem vanished. It also seems to be worse when the fuel tank is low. To give an accurate decsription...if you've ever experienced a point gap that slowly closes up at highway speed...then you know what this feels like. Clipping along fine at 70 and then you try to accelerate up a hill and you get severe hesitation, sputtering and a slow but gradual loss of power. Someone suggested that it sounded like a condensor that was going bad. So I replaced the condensor before we left. Next thing I'll do is install the Pertronix but I still have a feeling that this problem is somewhere else. After the Pertronix goes in, I'm planning a fuel pressure regulator replacement. If that doesn't do it...then I'm looking to the MAF. Does anyone have any other suggestions or insight into this problem?? I've become pretty good at diagnosing 1975 F/I problems but this one has me scratching my head. -SD

PS - The tank is clean. Pickup sock, fuel pump & filters are all new.