UPDATE:
I was sick in bed for most of yesterday, going out only to get the distributor cap in case I felt well enough to mess with things today.
Today I got a meter and test light and checked connections. All looked well except I noticed that somehow the point gap opened way up. I guess I didn't have it cranked down tight enough. I re-set the gap to .019" and prepared for another crank attempt.
This time, I could feel it was trying really hard to catch, but just not quite get there. Then, I noticed that I failed to pull out the choke. Once I got that pulled it, it sputtered to life very quickly! I know that I need to make external carb adjustments, but the crank that I got this evening was much better than before.
Seeing that it cranked, I then shut'er down, moved the plug wires to the new cap, and tried another start attempt (with the choke out this time!) It seemed to light off within seconds! I had the ignition checker light hooked up to the #2 plug and it seemed to pulse steadily. Later, I'll hook up my little engine analyzer and check the other diagnostics. (By the way, I was probably justified in being concerned about the center terminal inside the distributor cap. It should be crusty black, but mine was worn down pretty flat- the new one is cone-shaped. I don't think I had cap problems today, but I bet it wouldn't be long before I'd be dealing with that problem.)
I'll deal with the carb adjustments later when I feel more up to it. But I wanted to stop right now and express my thanks to you all, Bill, Stuart, 4ontheFloor, for your help, guidance, suggestions, and patience while I worked through this. I'm really confident that I got the problem solved. Although I changed out points, condenser, cap, and did a carb rebuild, I believe the problem was in the carburetor, probably at the accelerator pump. I don't think my later ignition issues were anything more than me screwing up something that was probably okay to begin with.
Thanks a million, guys.
Bill
Last edited by TxLaTx; 01/14/2008 2:19 AM.
