Moss Motors, Ltd

Starting the 69B roadster for the first time in a long while... shame on me.. it's been 2 years... and it finally started, but is running really rough.  If you pull plug wires 1 and 2, there's no change in the idle, but pull 3 or 4 and a definite change.  When you pull the wires from 1 and 2, there is an arc at the distributor... don't know if this is normal or an indication of what the problem is.

 Had the car completely tuned with new rotor, cap, wires and plugs about a year before I quit driving it and only drove it around 200 miles since then.  Plugs, when I pulled them were a little black... steel brushed, and regapped  before putting them back in.

 Dual Carbs are stock, with K&N air filters which were put on the same time as I did the tune up.... so... any ideas what' going on with 1 and 2 and how what I can do to diagnose this?

Hmm, it could be a number of (non serious) things. Since it's worth having a spare distributor cap anyway,you could try a replacement or or wash & dry the one you have, also try a replacement condenser. Check also the points gap, just in case, and that you get a good spark from each plug wire. If everything electrical is in order, then there's the carburetors & float chambers. It might be the case that the old fuel has gummed things up a little here, and the engine is running starved of fuel as a result. It's quite easy to take the tops of the float chambers and clean things up, ensure the float valves are not stuck closed (sometimes a rap with a screwdriver handle will cure a stuck float valve) A problem on one carb will obviously affect two cylinders.

I'm afraid all my suggestions are somewhat general, but I hope they might give you some scope for investigation.

 Good luck,

Ed 

I would try replacing the plugs - they are no longer new.