New guy here... some starting problems

[buhx2]

hey I've been lurking here for a while, I picked up a '74 about a month ago with the body in excellent condition (no visual rust, or any rust in the usual places). No pics yet, but I'll work on it.

Anyway I've never really had a problem with it before, but it wouldn't fire up today. And I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I took it to school with me yesterday (a 3 hour drive away) and as soon as I pulled into the city, it would idle for a bit, then stall. I fired it up no problem, and at the next light it did the same thing. The only thing I noticed was when I had my car at home it would idle at around 1100 or 1200 and when I got here it would idle at around 800 or 900. Any suggestions guys on where to start troubleshooting? Thanks in advance.

[buhx2]

Well, it wasn't a fuel related issue as I initially thought (since it kept stalling yesterday). Tried to start it again, wouldn't fire up, so I pulled the plugs and they smelled like fuel. Plugs were a nice golden brown, but couldn't check for spark because my roomate's not home. Anyone have any insight as to what could be wrong?

[Ohtwo]

It could be alot of things. First thing you need to do is tell us more about the car. Which carb? Stock ignition system?

[buhx2]

Well, I've only owned the car for 2 months and I've been away for school for a month of that so I actually don't know the car too well.
But as far as I know, its the stock carb and the stock ignition system. The only mods I'm aware of is a header and exhaust. I bought it from a dealership here, and they didn't know the history of the car or any mods done to the car at all.

I've never had any trouble starting the car until today, so I thought it might've been a fuel issue as well due to the change in elevation. I'm not sure if elevation makes a big difference in air/fuel, but its about 1000 feet lower here than at home. So if the air is more dense, would that mean the car actually isn't getting enough fuel? Or I'm just completely talking out of my ass.

So if I am running too lean or rich, how would I go about adjusting the air/fuel? Thanks.

[Ohtwo]

Well, I've only owned the car for 2 months and I've been away for school for a month of that so I actually don't know the car too well.
But as far as I know, its the stock carb and the stock ignition system. The only mods I'm aware of is a header and exhaust. I bought it from a dealership here, and they didn't know the history of the car or any mods done to the car at all.
I've never had any trouble starting the car until today, so I thought it might've been a fuel issue as well due to the change in elevation. I'm not sure if elevation makes a big difference in air/fuel, but its about 1000 feet lower here than at home. So if the air is more dense, would that mean the car actually isn't getting enough fuel? Or I'm just completely talking out of my ass.
So if I am running too lean or rich, how would I go about adjusting the air/fuel? Thanks.

Lower elevation will make the car run leaner. I dont think 1000ft is anything you would notice.

You said the plugs smell like fuel, which means the fuel isn't being burned in the cylinders. That points to ignition, unless you have serious carb issues. First thing you need to do is check for spark. Im not sure how sensitive your carb is to elevation changes and heat. It shouldn't matter that much.

The idle speed changes could have been from the engine getting hot on the highway.

Any idea when the last tune-up was?

Check to be sure the distributor isn't loose and moving around. That would make it run poorly if at all, and vary the idle. It happened to me once. Unlikely, but something to look at. Theres a bolt a nut that clamp it in place.

[buhx2]

I haven't checked for spark yet, but it'll be the first thing I do tomorrow morning before class. I have no idea when the last tune up was done. I was going to do one, but then I found a 320 parts car and was going to swap the motor into it. So I didn't want to spend money on doing the tune up when I was going to swap that motor in, and I may as well use those parts on the 320 motor after I swapped it this winter. Long story short, I had to drive this car back to school due to a little accident with my winter car, and now I'm here.

I changed the plugs when I first bought the car, but the cap/rotor are in my garage at home.

[buhx2]

Its been awhile, but I've been so busy with school I haven't really had much time to tinker with it.
But the engine is getting no spark to the distributor at all, which means its most likely faulty ignitor? Can anybody shed some light as to what other possibilities it could be?