Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. All are appreciated. As an update, I have changed out the points, switched coils, and have gone back and forth on how the distributor sits. What has really been driving me nuts is the timing light flashing when the rotor is 180 degrees off and the timing mark is nowhere close to where it should be. So, back to basics, put back original (new) coil installed original points (also new). When doing so noted that the ground wire to the vacuum advance plate metal terminal end may have been in contact with the cam. (Not sure) but repositioned the wire terminal away from the cam. Removed number spark plug and replaced with a snug fitting wood tapered dowel. Cranked the starter. Plug blew out with a POP! Timing mark on vibration dampener just to right of TDC, and the rotor now points to approximately number wire on cap. Installed test lamp to negative coil terminal and ground. Turned engine clockwise with socket on dampener and watched the lamp go on and off as the distributor cam rotated. So far so good. I also had been having a problem with carbon fouling and ended up cleaning fouled spark plugs, thinking that the cause was a carburetor problem, but only recently discovered that the fouling had been due to incorrect spark plugs. Because of the fouling problem I thought that the combustion chamber would be carbon coated so I went online to search for combustion chamber cleaners. Bought a can of Liquid moly and put it in the gas tank. After running the engine fort a short time, it dieseled badly when turned off. Purchased a borescope. Saw that the top of the pistons coated with carbon, Went back to the internet. Found an article that recommended flooding the chamber with carburetor dipping cleaner. I followed the method outlined and used the bore scope to verify that most of the carbon was removed. Installed a new set of AC 437 spark plugs. Ran engine for a short time last night, with no unsteady idle. I have yet to use a timing lite to ensure correct timing and adjust fuel mixture and idle speed. Happy
