grounding issue
 

I am having some arching at the cap and at the plugs. I changed the plugs and wires out twice thinking it was them. They are still arching as I can see it in the dark. Does the ground come off the negative baterry terminal and go to the chasis somewhere? There is only one thick black wire coming off the ground terminal and I replaced those two positive and negative cables along with the starter last fall. My friend thinks I dont have a good ground. I have some stranded 12 gauge wire and thinking of running it off the ground and putting it under one of the strut tower nuts. Would that be alright or does it need to be put elsewhere?

Negative battery cable should ground at the left strut tower, then proceed to the engine ground point which bolts down behind the starter flange. The stock cable has a copper lug partway along the main negative cable, designed to bolt right there.

check and replace the distributor cap if necessary. i've seen them develop tiny hair line cracks and cause arching issues.

Thanks guys for the replies,

I just got the cap and rotor and replaced them. Looked like some carbon wear on them. Although, there wasnt many miles put on them to begin with. When I bought the car in 09 it had 147k on it and now it just turned 160k. It seems a little smoother and revvy. It was raining out so no test drive yet. I traced the ground from the negative cable. It does go down to the left strut tower where there is a break in the insulation and it attaches via bolt. Then, it continues down up on top of the starter and looks like it is bolted to the tranny housing. Its not on the starter. I dont know if this is correct or not. My friend replaced both cables a couple of years ago, starter last fall. I have replaced the plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and ignition coils now. I hope its not arching. I will have to check again when it is dark out.

This is correct; it's normally on a bolt that holds the engine and trans together, and that's recessed under the starter's mounting position.

Photo:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...emoval/060.jpg

Thanks for the photo illustration of the ground. Mine isnt in that spot its up above the starter on where the tranny and engine hoook up. I will have to go under there again with my friend and have him look, since he did the work. I will show him this photo, too. It does rev pretty smooth at idle and not mis-firing before I did plugs, wires, rotor, cap, and coils. These cars are definately tempermental when they arent kept up to par.

My next goal is to get that nikki off of there and find either a used Sterling or holly 465 setup. I found a good mechanic in my area, Mass, that works solely on rotatries and gonna have him look into it for me. This mechanic owns a shop called Wankel Works in Leomonster, Mass. You can find him on facebook, too. Seems like a nice guy with a passion to the hobby.