Bizzar Running problem, Coil? Options

[Eric Taylor]

Alright guys, so today was a beautiful day on the coast. I had a really really good drive maybe 100 miles or so half of which were twisties (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif) . But a couple of times the car wanted to die like it lost spark or fuel. I had to pull over once, and I could hear the fuel pump running and but it was idiling funky and running poorly it then died, but fired right back up and ran great. Later on in the final half mile home, it ran really crappy, back firing, idiling low, and black smoke. It was really strange because it would only do this for a few seconds and then just run like a top, idle great, good power, and generally running well. So I don't really know what to think. I'm thinking it's losing spark or fuel momentarilary and then coming back some how. Oh and it's getting terriable milage, like 15mpg from a 1.7. One idea that I had was a weak coil that wasn't sending a strong enough spark all the time, and sometimes intermitent, but it's just an idea I might just be (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/sheeplove.gif) with that one ( Always wanted to use that emoticon (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) ). What do you guys think?
Eric