When you said vacuum 6" then with choke 15, you didnt say you increased the idle speed. It does sound more like ignition now. All i remember about the balls, is one of them is like a check valve, but i wouldnt think it would run right without them period..?? dunno..would have to look again... now you say youve never put points in,,??? or you never put points in this time..??? do you know what the points look like or are they breaking or did ya check the gap..?? First off it kinda sounds like thats the place to go now...is id put points condenser and rotor in it...and then check from there.... and its hard to tell the way you described how much better it run with the choke on..??? choke on wont fix points.. LOL.. there again... hard to fix a car online by listenin to whirs hammers and bangin described by someone else... hehehe... so ill shut up for now...