If they're just oil/fuel fouled, you can often clean them back to reasonable use.

 

I usually take them out, hose them down with starter fluid, and replace. Also, keep the receipt whenever you buy new plugs. The NGK's have a warranty, and some autoparts stores will replace them for free if they are fowled.

 

Ah then I will do the same. Thanks for the info Lizard. I will make sure I keep the receipt next time. If I need to take them back though, I am sure O'rilley has it on file but I don't know if that would be good enough or not to get new plugs. I did get NGK's just not too sure on the part number or anything. All I remember is my GF came home with them saying it was the best they had and it had NGK R on the box lol.

 

I've heard of people doing it with 7 plugs, and my friend tried it successfully with a set of RX-8 plugs at Advance Auto. Those things are about 20 bucks a piece! I can't remember offhand what the 12a plugs are... bureq14? Someone else can check me on that.

 

Bur8eq-14

 

Thanks! I was close... I remember the FC plugs are 7's and 9's.

 

Yep that's it lol. After I get the plug I am missing I will clean them off with some starter fluid and see how it does, if it doesn't make a difference then I will buy new ones. Everything else ignition wise is new other than the coils, so I would think that the only cause of bad ignition would be the plugs or the coils. But got to start with the cheapest thing first.

 

Could be your igniter - I doubt these are new since they run about $150 each if you try to buy new ones.

Double check Kentetsu's suggestion about checking the leading ignition, he had this figured out a long time ago.

Pull a leading plug, ground it out and have someone turn it over while you are watching the plug gap. Be sure you are getting a steady sharp blue spark jumping the gap.

If not, you are not getting leading spark, so try switching your igniters.

 

This is an interesting case, it sounds slightly similar to mine. I've had my carb apart several times, until I found Sterling's walkthrough. I now know for sure that everything is in place and correct. I'm still having issues though. I'm suspecting high fuel pressure or ignition problems. You may want to take a look under your car and see if the p/o put an aftermarket fuel pump in. Always do a tune-up first when you have running probs (plugs, wires, cap, rotor, filters) and use Denso or NGK plugs, not the Bosch or Autolite(yuck!).
Edit: you already did a tune-up >.< sorry didn't read that part.

 

Thanks to the way our cars are set up (doubled up on a lot of ignition stuff), there are some very simple things that you can do to narrow down the search.

1. Switch the coils around. Test to see if situation has changed.
2. Switch ignitors around. Test to see if situation has changed.

You can continue this process with anything else that you have a double set of to further elliminate possibilities; Spark plugs, plug wires, etc.

 

Okay, I will try that Kent. Last I checked, which was around the same time I got new plugs, I checked the ignition and I was getting spark in my leading and trailing plugs. But I will check again and I will switch around the coils. Also where are the ignitors located, and what do they look like so I can also check those?

Justin it does have an aftermarket fuel pump, which I am thinking only produces up to 4 psi. It appears to be the same fuel pump I saw at Autozone that was universal. And it also has a regulator hooked up on it.

 

Ignitors are small black boxes (2) hooked to the side of yor distributor. There will be electrical plugs sticking out the top of them. Check in the FSM or Haynes/Chilton manual to see which one is which - I cant remember.

 

Oh okay thanks. As soon as I get this part, I will check into that and I will let everyone know what I have found out. Right now I don't think the neighbors would like me too well if I am smoking them out every time I turn the car on to test something. Along with the car revving so high, it is a little loud with no cats.

Is there also another way to test the coils and ignitors? I have a multimeter I can use to check whatever is needed.

 

Test method for the coils is in the FSM and Haynes manual. I can look it up if you don't have access, it's just disconnecting the coil and measuring the Ohms IIRC. To test the igniter you need some wire, a battery, and a bulb. It's also described in the FSM and Haynes manual.

 

Oh okay thanks Stevan, I have the Haynes manual laying around somewhere and I will check it out this weekend and come back with my results.

 

Well, I went to take a look at the ignitors real quick. I guess I couldn't wait until the weekend to fiddle with it, or even really over 5 minutes after I posted that. But I took off the sensor going to both ignitors and the one facing the engine didn't look bad but the one facing more towards the radiator looks like this.

I am guessing that's bad lol.

 

Those little fuel pumps are crap. I tried 2. The first one leaked considerably and the replacement they gave me put out very sporadic fuel pressure and caused the car to run like crap. I got my money back and got another Carter pump.

 

I just pulled out both leading and trailing plugs to see if they are getting spark. Both of them are getting spark, but no telling if it is a very great amount. So It seems tomorrow my day will consist of putting the plug that Ray sent me in the carburetor, taking a wire brush to that ignitor to try and get all the rust off of it, and testing to see what happens. If it still doesn't sound right then I will swap the leading and trailing ignitors and see what happens. If it still makes no difference then I will do the same to the coils. My only question while doing this is if my leading ignitor is bad and I swap them, what kind of difference am I looking for? What exactly could happen when the leading is ignitor or coil is good and when the trailing is bad?

 

Bad trailing is hard to spot other than with a timing light. There's a difference in engine note but it is subtle and takes a practiced ear to pick it out.

Make sure you clean that ignitor's socket, too.

 

Okay I will make sure I do that. But let's say the ignitor currently in the trailing is good, and the leading is bad and I swap them to put the good one in the leading and bad one in the trailing. Would the car actually smooth out more since the trailing is harder to notice? If it is bad then I am definitely going to replace it. I am just trying to figure out what I will be looking or hearing for once I switch them around.

 

The rust on the ignitor is on the retainer for the connector. It doesn't matter.
The car will run fine without the trailing, I have deleted mine.
Just unplug the trailing ignitor, and see if it runs, that will tell you if the leading is good.

 

Yes if you have a good igniter on the leading and everything else is OK the car should run almost normally - the trailing ignition and plugs don't add much power. In fact some people don't even hook the trailing ignition up.

Edit: sorry didn't see Stevan's post first.

 

Oh okay, then I will do that. It would be easier than taking both of them off and switching them around. Thanks

 

If you are getting spark on both leading and trailing, then your ignitors are fine.

You may be getting weak spark on leading. I would swap the coils (sorry to repeat myself) and see what happens. It only takes a few minutes.

 

Okay, so far today I have discovered that my leading ignitor is fine just as Kent said lol. I unhooked my trailing ignitor and it made no difference at all. I obviously of course put that plug back into the carburetor and it is running about the same as it did before I rebuilt it. I have a video of it on my phone but I have to wait until later today to post it. It is idling anywhere between 1800 and 2100 rpm (the throttle linkage is probably the cause of that) it will hesitate and then rev up again, and if it revs around 5k it will produce lots of white smoke. It was hard to get it started the first time but the 2nd time I tried it started right back up. There was a vacuum hose that somehow sprouted legs and disappeared going to what I am pretty sure is something with the emissions, so I just took plugs and plugged it up. I will be taking this thing off anyway here in a little bit anyway. So I guess it will be time to go do that and also I will swap the coil's around also Kent and see what that does. For the moment the car will not idle without the throttle linkage hooked up. I am guessing that it won't idle at normal rpm, every time I take it off the car dies. But I have all day to experiment with different things and if anyone else has any ideas let me know. It is actually starting to eliminate at least a few things. And the coil's will be next on the list to check today, which I completely forgot about so thanks for bringing it back up lol. Anyway enough rambling and enjoying the AC, time for work!



Okay, I swapped the coil's around and found out pretty much the inside and the connections to both the coils looked just about like the picture of the ignitor other than it had a few more colors to it like brown and green. I cleaned the connections on it swapped them and I noticed the car ran much more smoothly but the hesitation got much worse. My dumbass went and tried to unplug the trailing coil while it was still running and I have to say I had a shocking experience! I ran to turn the car off so I could put it back on and I then realized that a vacuum hose was off that I didn't remember to put back on. I then started the car and put this hose on and the car bogged down again. The hesitation went to how it was in the first place and the engine sounded rough. I removed the hose, the engine was smooth but hesitation got worse. I am thinking maybe I found the culprit! I don't know what exactly this thing is but its a gold round thing held on by 2 10mm bolts that connects to the air horn. Once again I took another video of it but can not put it on here yet. But I unhooked it and hooked it back in and you really hear and see a huge difference. I am wondering if its possible that has gone bad and is this another thing that I can remove without having any problems?