after replacing the head gasket on my $150.00 85 Daytona Turbo Z, it was gutless. I removed the cat, still gutless. Timing checked better but still gutless and when I floored it, it kicked into neutral.
My buddy, a mechanic, took one look and saw that the kick down mechanism into the tranny was frozen to the gear selection spindle. Took it apart, cleaned it, reassembled and now everything works, just in time for winter.