Well, Gents, I hooked up my hotwire switch and took a test drive. (toggle switch running to battery post on starter and to positive stud on coil)
I still lost power and backfired. It seems to occur when approaching "top speed". This happened when I was running with the key off and my new hotwire setup only.
On the way back from by trip to the next freeway exit I attempted to push the truck faster and immediately experienced the loss of power "bog". When I let off the gas, the truck sort of smoothed out but did backfire as I was moving up an inclined exit ramp.
The primary wiring and switch does not seem to be responsible for the backfire, correct? That leaves coil, dizzy, points, cap, rotor, wires and plugs, right? That's if the problem is indeed, electrical.
I should mention that I removed the points yesterday to study them and reinstalled them gapped at .022. I checked all the plugs again today and they're clean and properly gapped.
The coil is "new" a couple of years ago. Are the new coils as well made as the new fuel pumps and condensers?
Just to refresh people's memories, the truck ran fine in June on a 40 mile run. It sat until a few weeks ago when I discovered the burned points and dead starter. It was driven about 35 miles total on several occasions when I was out there visiting my mom. No problems manifested themselves during those drives on local 30-40mph roads.
