Might have had a modest breakthrough.
Did a complete spark check. Coil to distributor wire. Spark at all plugs, for some reason #3 and #6 seemed a hair weaker for whatever reason. Put a new terminal on the coil-to-points wire. Had a questionable connection there.
Startup - same symptoms
Replaced condenser. That turned out to be an adventure. An oversized screw had been installed and head was nearly stripped. Didn't know it was oversize until I reinstalled. Had to reuse it.
Startup - same symptoms.
Loosened distributor clamp (another struggle) and advanced the timing to fire so the ball was just outside the left of window.
Startup - engine runs completely different. In a good way. Smoother. Was able to push in choke cable nearly all the way. Guess the timing was just retarded way too much.
Heat riser still stuck. Try that another day.
