Acceleration off idle

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

Lately my roc's performance has taken a turn for the worse.. at least in
the low rpm department. When I start it up, it always takes a few jabs of
the starter to get it going, then it just sits around 900 rpm (the idle
isn't "smooth", but the rpm is relatively constant). When I step on the
gas it spudders ands drops to 400 or 500 rpm before bouncing back up to 1k.

Basically, the only way I can get it to rev 'up' instead of 'down' is by
tapping the gas with my foot four or five times until it bounces up to
1300 rpm or so where I coax it up above 1600 rpm.. Above 1600 the car is
good as gold.. no complaints whatsoever..

This problem is more pronounced when its cold (and always has been) but
lately even with the water temp above the 1/2 way mark it is still
present. This makes it a real pain to stop at intersections and stop
signs. If I don't want to drop the clutch at 1600 rpm and rocket out of
the intersection, I have to feather it up from idle until I have enough
power to get moving. It usually takes at least 5 seconds to start
accelerating above 5 mph - by then traffic behind me is pissed..

So.. the car is an '87 16v with euro intake cam, new plug wires, bosch
plugs, new distributor+cap+rotor, relatively new o2 sensor, new clutch,
fuel enrichment module (which i tried removing), new battery wiring,
new thermo-time switch, and new fuel+air filters.

I've checked crank to cam timing and it's dead on, and I recently set the
ignition timing.

Any thoughts on what the problem could be?

I'm going to take a look at the air flow sensor plate.. I'm thinking it
could be staying 'bottomed out' until a certain vacuum is achieved (ie.
around 1600 rpm) then breaking loose and moving freely. I'll try cleaning
and lubing the pivot point(s).

Thanks for any suggestions..

-Toby

--
'87 16v