Well, the saga continues, with a surprising turn - it's mistimed. Like 25
degrees advanced! Easy to fix, but...

how did the timing get that far off? it had just been tuned up, with timing
set correctly. It ran okay for about a week, and then suddenly failed. I
explicitly checked the distributor and it was tight, so I didn't even
bother checking the timing - just the points - which were okay.

These things don't have those damn timing belts - it's all gear driven. Maybe
the distributor gear missing teeth?

(For those who haven't been following this saga as closely as I - my '80
engine suddenly started idling really rough, stalling out, etc. The engine
has had its heads recently pulled, valves lapped, sealing rings replaced,
timed and tuned. I couldn't find anything wrong. Took it by a local
mechanic who said it was running rich and I needed a new air flow meter! I
ran electrical tests on the meter - it passed, and didn't seem to be
sticking or anything.)

-rick

Rick Gordon
Bainbridge Island, WA, USA
-------------------------------------
rickgo@halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/rickgo/
finger for PGP public key fingerprint
-------------------------------------