Please help needed fast not sure what to do!

Ok long story short; my neighbor owns a 1970 Chevelle SS 396 automatic and it has some engine problems but is in fantastic shape otherwise. He knows I work on my car and other peoples cars and wants me to fix his car, only thing is I have never worked on older american cars. My dad used to do it and says they're very easy to work on but he's forgotten a lot.

Anyways I took the car for a quick test drive and it has very little power and I think it is a ignition problem. It also seemed to run very rich (smelled gas really bad even my dad said that). Talked to him and I don't think he's even changed the spark plugs in 6 years! So definitely going to replace the spark plugs, wires, and maybe the distributor? Should I stay with stock distributor or aftermarket performance electronic one?

Also the ride was pretty bad the steering wheel vibrated a lot and suspension felt all worn out. What can I do about this, any suspension kits/replacements?

So basically:
What sparkplugs to get?
What ignition wires to get?
Replace distributor?
How to fix suspension?
Can you think of anything else that might be wrong from my description?

Thank You any info is greatly appreciated!

put some dry gas in the tank , change all filters-gas-air-trans-charcol canister-pcv

HEI dump the points.

So basically:
What sparkplugs to get?
What ignition wires to get?
Replace distributor?
How to fix suspension?
Can you think of anything else that might be wrong from my description?

Ya, change all the filters, go with a MSD HEI distributor, there's one you can drop in without hooking up a box, but the box would be ideal. Plugs you can find out at a Kragen, just get a good brand like NKG, avoid platinum bosch... they build up. MSD wires. The original bushings are probably in that front end, so get a frint end rebuild kit from Original Parts Group, and align it after of coarse.
Make sure the timing is right on, and you might look into a carb rebuild, or upgrade, there are plenty of good carbs to replace the OEM stuff. You might throw on an intake manifold while you're at it, but that's up to you how much you want to dig into it.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_9508_chep/index1.html

look at this Car Craft web page. PST is a great company.

The real problem is the carb - clues are poor performance - running very rich - spark plugs keep foulinjg - these are classic syptems of carb problems. Carb is usually very dirty - wont idle well - poor pereformance -= bogs off the line due to accelarator pump being stuck or full of dirt - Rebuild the carb or replace it with a Holley and you should see a differance. Dont go throwing money a distributers untill you know for sure!

if its a real ss in original condition, I would only replace parts with original parts. I wouldn't do any aftermarket stuff to it.

I'm with 400wagon, keep it original unless he has bucks to burn.

However a change to an electronic ignition distributor beats points any day. The rest of the ignition parts should be available off the shelf, go with a good brand like Accel or Blue Streak. You can get a quality carb rebuild by any reputable carburetor shop for less than $200 on a carry-in basis. I have a local place that is great to deal with.

Go through the front end and replace all the parts with Moog or another quality brand. If the a-arm bushings are bad, think about urethane replacements. The "while you are at it" items can be a killer though. If the car is a bit on the neglected side, it might need springs and shocks.

Good luck on your little project, hope we all have helped.

Bob

IF it were my car, here is what I would do
if it's fouling plugs, I would check to see if the choke is stuck (i'm assuming it has a q-jet. Check the timing, new plugs and wires, general tune up stuff. If it has been sitting, that may be all it needs, cars need to be driven to stay running good. I will say again though, keep things stock. An all original car like that is worth some money, especially if it is unmolested. I would keep the original carb and do a rebuild. It isn't terribly difficult and if you do a google search you can find out everything you would want to know about it. As far as changing the ignition, HEI is better than points, but if you were going to switch, keep the original parts and don't do anything irreversible to the car. KEEP IT ORIGINAL-- it worth quite a bit of money.
Just my opinion.

I would rebuild and re adjust the carb along with getting a new set of points, cap and rotor and set everything to spec. This would the most cost effective way to "fix" these two area's. There is always the possibility that there are more serious problems with the motor. This is all the more reason you shouldn't spend time and money "hopping it up" with after market speed equipment until you have it running good stock. Run a compression test and see what you got. All cylinders should be close to the same reading.

If you still want electronic ignition install a Pertronix conversion in the stock distributor. This way you will have all the benefits of a breakerless system but it will still look stock. Let us know how it goes.

i agree. That motor, if running right probably doesn't need any hop ups anyway. Stock it should be making somewhere between 300-400 hp.