I ran it for a little bit with the valve cover off, Dave, and saw the rockers beginning to oil but I didn't watch it long enough to see each and every rocker get oil before I put the cover back on. The temperature gauge in the instrument cluster reports an engine temp of around 180 degrees. So the cooling system is doing its job. I have other coils and condensers that I know are good that I can borrow from other vehicles for test purposes.
I have driven it twice, pfarber, at highway speeds over maybe 10 miles each time with the vacuum gauge hooked up and wired to my dash so that I could watch it while driving. I can see how it can be confusing to keep track of all the different reports of test drives that I've spoken of. My reports of the vacuum gauge needle fluctuating rapidly by +/- 1/2 inHg are based on real road miles driven.
Again, my thanks to all of you that have been helping me to figure this out.

1946 Chevy pickup, 1948 Chevy suburban, 1950 Chevy pickup, 1952 GMC pickup, 1957 Chevy pickup, 1939 Chevy pickup