I've run into a strange problem at my first two events this year with my '84 Civic ITC. Haven't changed anything on the car since last fall except for the air in the tires. I basically rolled the car off the trailer after last year (where it ran fine with no problems) performed the basic mechanical maintenance, (oil, filters, brakes, mechanical inspection of suspension & hubs, etc.) and now I have a problem. The car sat outside over the winter here in Wisconsin (cocooned in several layers of plastic/car cover).

At high RPM in 3rd gear (6000-6500) my tach starts to bounce around +/-300 RPM. I can't feel or hear an engine miss, but I can't really be sure. I can't see the problem in second gear, but I also don't spend a lot of time in second gear (downshift, buzz the motor, upshift). The plug wires are MSD and are relatively new as are the coil, distributor cap, and rotor (all stock factory stuff). Plugs look ok. I thought I found a loose plug cap (that aluminum screw thingy on the end of the plug) and tightened them all down but I didn't seem to make a difference.

The only thing that I have ever seen that caused a similar problem was when I had a plug wire fall off during a practice session several years ago. The tach would bounce around all over the place, probably due to electrical interference. That was an obvious problem since the car was only running on three cylinders.

I'll start by changing plugs and wires first since these are easy changes.

I am suspicious of my electrical connections i.e. moisture, corrosion, etc. This will also get checked, cleaned, and sealed with dielectric grease. The car is carb'd so it doesn't have a brain box. I only run the mechanical advance, no vacuum advance.

Anybody had a similar problem and solution?