It has a new fuel filter, changed that when i was doing the timing chain and valve adjustment, yes it is installed the right way, made sure of that, was thinking about the coil and lead swap as you mentioned, that would be a summer job, don't have a heated garage, if i was living back up in Timmins I would have a heated garage, just not looking forward to the tank up, tank down, tank up, tank down process for that one, but such is life, and I never thought of one of the coil leads shorting to the frame, i'll have to go over all the wiring around there, coils 2 and 3 seemed to be ok, but number 1 is the awkward one to check, so i'll to go back and take a closer look at that one.
Someone asked if i was sure that it was the engine cutting out, and yes, you get that kick and very brief moment of silence, like whatever cylinder should be firing at the moment, isn't. If it was the final drive or shaft splines going out, that would be a very different feeling and sound, and the way power cuts out and comes back on, it would all be a mass of metal chunks by now, (learned about that the hard way with my Cordoba, without the fine Corinthian leather) on the plus side that back tire has lasted more then one season at this point, instead of a new one every year, they don't seem to last long for some crazy reason
, though i was doing one to two rear tires on my GT for the first couple of years, again, not sure why it was so hard on back tires
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Someone else asked when it started, I think it was when I did the valve, and timing chain, i did the fuel filter, spark plugs, and ignition leads, and crimped the coil leads all at that time, the ignition leads were new at that time, but had been in storage 15+ years, more on the plus side, and i'm not sure how long they would last before starting to degrade.