I think I have this figured out, but I would appreciate some input from you guys. Working on a '97 2wd. Skip to next paragraph to bypass the back story. Sat most of the summer while I rode my bike. Went to get it running again and it was dead. New battery, but it just kept turning over without cranking. Took it to a shop and they got it running after replacing the alternator and fuel pump. drove it home and parked it. Rode for a few more days then went out to start it and same issue. Called the mechanic pissed(spent $1000 for the work he did with warranty and labor BS) and he said he noticed the distributor was corroded. Replaced the distributor and she fired right up first time. I noticed that it idled just fine in park, but when you put it in gear I had some backfiring. So I drove it to work and noticed a lack of passing power, but not until I started up a hill where I had to really put my foot in it that I noticed the a problem. Had no power and when it hit about 5k rpm I started spewing smoke and couldn't get over 40 for about 3 miles. Eventually got up to 60 and can maintain that speed even up slight hills.

I crawled underneath and the catalytic convertor it is rattling bad, so I pulled the up-stream O2 sensor and drove home like that(30miles). I have a noticeable increase in power and backfiring). Any input is appreciated! Thanks

 

On my 96 and 98 i pulled the cats out and put a straight pipe. On both of them i experienced the same but on the 98 it was worst. bottom line they are both running and have a hell of a better throttle response.