About a month ago I bought a 1994 bonnie with a bad tranny for $200. Thanks to Bill Buttermore'* articles I was able to construct an engine hanger & swap out the tranny with a used one with 57,000 miles on it. ( the car has 115k on it but looks perfect inside & out) Once I put the tranny in & drove it, I fell in love with the car. As far as I know, it only has 1 slight but annoying problem. After sitting for 4 or more hours, it will start right up & purr like a kitten, but, when you try to drive off, it bucks & kicks & wants to stall. It'll go under full throttle, but that'* not normal. Once it'* driven for 2 or 3 minutes, it'* perfect. After being cold, I've even let it warm up for a minute or 2 & it does the same thing. If I let it idle for 5 minutes or more before driving, there'* no problem, but,again, you shouldn't have to let it idle for 5 min before going anywhere. Any ideas as to how to fix it would be very much appreciated, since I plan to keep this car for a while. Joe
By the way...this is a great and helful forum!!!

Interesting problem...

To help point you in the right direction, tell us what you've done to it to resolve the issue so far. How old are the plugs, wires, fuel filter, etc.?

So far, I've changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter. This weekend I plan to change the ignition wires, spark plugs & fuel filter. The car is stock, no mods. Is there anything else I shoud also do this weekend that won't cost much time or money?

Hmm...

I'm no expert on this problem, that'* for sure. The gearheads will pop in, I'm sure.

But, I also recommend cleaning your throttle body. It'd be best to replace the gasket between the throttle body and intake manifold (costs about a dollar). Remove all the sensors from the TB and clean it well with a nylon brush and intake cleaner. Then, reinstall the sensors and gasket and bolt it back up to the manifold.

BTW, to do this process, you'll have to drop your coolant level to a level that'* below the TB.

Also, check to see if your catalytic convertor rattles. If it does, that'* an indication that it'* clogged and is due for replacement. Typically, though, it will run poor when the car is hot, not cold. :?

I would most definatly see what happens after the tune up..Alot of times symptons such as you have mentioned can be from the gap in the plugs being to far out of spec..

I'm thinking you have a few vacuum leaks possible. There'* the usual culprits. Check under your airbox..there'* two pieces under there..about 2 inches long connecting metal from the engine to the charcoal canister, check those lines at the canister itself.

Vac leaks in general can give you the type of symptoms you describe. Look over the whole engine bay and replace any that are dry or cracked.

thanks for the coolant heads up. I'll let you know how it all works out & what I find on monday

Well, after replacing plugs, wires, air filter & fuel filter, I still had the rough running until warm. I took out the sensors from the throttle body & cleaned them. The MAF sensor had a build up of some sort of fuzz on one side of the front sensor (boy are they tiny!!)
After scraping off the fuzz, being extremely careful not to damage any wires on that teeny little coil in there, and re-assembling...no more hesitation. And,to my amazement, this thing can burn rubber without even trying!! The power seems to have tripled with that little cleaning. Thanks to all for your help!! Especially vital49

Yeah, amazing car isn't it? I just picked up a 94 SE less than 2 weeks ago. It had a bad throttle control sensor which wound up needing replacement. Once I dropped in the new one and stepped on the gas... well damn it moved.

any step by step instructions on cleaning the sensors in the throttle body?