My friend's brick appears to have a mind of it's own. It will periodicaly quit running. (Similar to Windows 95 :)) Sometimes doesn't restart before vehical comes to a stop, others just misses terriably then starts running again. High speed, low speed makes no difference. New battery, cap, wires, plugs, rotor, ect. No effect. Replaced coil and didn't solve problem. (not sure it was right replacement part and made situation worse.) Put old coil back in. Ran 600 miles with out error(is Bill Gates Swedish?) then started acting up again. Any ideas?

Do you have LH or CIS injection?

Check the obvious. Have you pulled the fuses and checked for corrosion on fuse tips as well as the contact points in the fuse box. These are notorious, just a little corrosion will cause intermittent problems.

Also, 82's are plagued by the crumbling wiring harness in the engine compartment.

Good Luck

Right off the bat, when you say intermittent ignition on an '82 I think of the loose fit of the ignition controller plug pins. Volvo even supplied sleeves for these pins as an acknowledgement of the problem.

After that I hear, but have not personally experienced, the distributor and its magnetic pickup (hall effect or reluctor I'm not sure) have been maligned as a source of intermittent ignition.

/// Which ignition do you have? There are problems with some alternate ignition systems. Poor contact with the ignition module is the most likely source of the problem.

There are other sources including battery cable defects. Look for obvious poor contacts in the ignition system then before you spend big money check the primary circuits, charging and wiring to fuses from the distribution rail. The negative battery cable can be tested by clamping a set of jumpers from the battery post champ to ground. (Use both sides on both ends. The positive system wire can be tested by running a jumper from the positive post clamp to the distribution rail. The positive cable to the starter should not be involved in the running of the engine.

The battery acts as a large filter for alternator output (noise). Some but not all cars will not or may not run on alternator output alone.