Stuart - I thought I took a close look at the outside. You must be right, the '55 manual says there should be something there: see pic:
http://chevy.tocmp.com/1955truck2shop/55ctsm06y41.htm Tim and Jim - I'll try those tools, no TMC 43 seems to be on Snap On these days. I'll do some trouble shooting tomorrow and see what happens - I'm replacing points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires, and plugs. Here's a question - I'm using a 12 volt coil with internal resistor and skipping the ignition switch by running the power off the starter. Is that a good idea? It's a 12 volt system, and I have a key so I can run it through the ignition switch - is there a ballast resistor in the line somewhere? It's a '53 1 ton but the engine is a 58-62 235. Oops - also was wondering about the vaccum advance - it seems broken - the distributor housing can be rotated an inch or so back and forth - that will effect timing won't it?
