[Spridgets] sputtering

[Robert Duquette]

Both me and the car!

Miss Marple has been running poorly and being neglected.  She sounds like an 
old VW bug.  I'm up to about 150 miles for the year.  She sputters along.  
But, it's not quite that simple.  I did a poor man's tune up ( and got a 
wake up shock from a plug wire in the process ), and she ran well for one 
drive.  ( I cleaned things up.  Filed points, gapped plugs, checked for 
spark, etc )  So, next time I got some time, I changed the points, and she 
ran fine ... for one drive.  Next time I got a few minutes, I changed the 
condenser, and she ran fine ... for one drive.  Actually, this time, she 
started off sputtering, but as the car warmed up she suddenly went back to 
normal.  This lasted the duration of the drive.  Yesterday, I drove her in 
to work, sputtering along here and back.  Today, due to a kitchen accident 
which sent me back to the shower, I was a bit too late to bike in and the 
family car is shy of gas, so I was thinking I could maybe try to figure out 
what's wrong with her at lunch time.  Sputtering along to work, when halfway 
here, with the coolant guage reading 170 at the head and just above N in the 
rad.  Poof!  A cloud of smog behind me and she's running like a top again.

Does anyone have any clues for me?  I'm starting to think that she just 
wants the attention.

Robert the clueless
PS: I also swapped in the dist cap and wires from a 1098 which was running 
just fine when I tore down my Sprite.  It made no difference.