depewtee . . . congrats on getting the ticker on that old truck beating again. I figured out a trick for maximizing spark in a similar situation to the one you described - remove all the plugs (to make the motor turn over easy). Also, remove the coil wire from the distributor and hold it close to a good ground. Remove the distributor cap and rotor and get your points plate just loose enough to adjust and crank the motor while watching the plug. Adjust the gap on the points till you get the best looking spark jumping from the coil wire and then tighten the plate down. I have used this technique a couple of times now on old trucks I have dragged home.
The distributor dance is just the vacuum advance rotating the distributor body with engine vacuum.
White smoke from the oil breather? This might be residual moisture in the engine or blow by of some kind. You might want to pull your radiator cap (when engine is cool) and run engine with the cap off and see if any bubbles are coming from the radiator.
Again, congrats - I know your feeling of excitement when getting a motor to fire off that has been sitting for years.
Ken
