87 GL lost its umph

[jstrawther]

Any help is appreciated here. It's a 1987 GL, with a carburetor, and a worsening problem where it starts up just fine, but hesitates while accelerating, and generally has no balls. The problem started out as just an occasional bog-down while driving on road trips, like after 100+ miles of high idle, it would start to hesitate and lose considerable amounts of power and run real poorly for a few miles, knocking me down sometimes into 2nd gear, or I'd just pull over, wait a few minutes and drive off. The past week or so, it's gotten worse. About a week ago, I started it up after work and drove the 5 miles back home on the highway pushing 75 mph. She ran perfectly. I had to stop at the stoplight, and I probably sat there for a full minute or so. When I went to take off, the engine had no balls. This is a common problem now, so I wasn't surprised, but it's a pain in the rump roast because I have to sit there for a few seconds and get the RPMs up, then crawl my way through the intersection and find a way to get the hell out of the way. I pulled over and popped the hood, and found the smoke coming from the right side of the y-pipe. The smoke, which I had seen and smelled several times before, led me to think the catalytic converter was plugged or something, but this afternoon I separated the exhaust from the engine and took it for a spin, and it hesitated just the same, which leads me to believe it's NOT the CAT.. So i'm confused! Does anybody have any ideas? I also noticed that when I look down in to the throat of the carburetor when the engine's at superlow idle, the fuel comes out in irregular droplets, rather than in the spray that i'm used to. I appreciate any help, please, because at 203K, i'd hate to think she's ready to start crapping out already.

[subynut]

Could B 2 things:

1: When was the fuel filter replaced?

 

2: The carby may be in need of a rebuild. Mine did that too; after the third one I said to myself "Enough of this nonsense!" and upgraded to the Weber and havn't seen it since.