I didn't take the distributor out. I didn't want to hassle with that, so I changed the points with the distributor still in the engine and just bumped the starter until I got on a "corner" so that I could properly set the gap. I never did have a working vacuum advance. I plugged the vacuum line because the diaphram was leaking. The mechanical advance works fine though. I don't yet have a source for things like that. Most of the parts stores don't seem to have too much for these engines.
To answer an earlier question, no, I don't think there is a ballast resistor, and I am on a 12 volt system. The voltage measured at the coil is the same as the battery voltage, no drop. But it's always been like that, so that doesn't explain the sudden loss of cold drivability either. I haven't changed the condenser, mainly because they are surprisingly expensive. It's about a third as much as an entire Pertronix system, so I'd rather invest in the conversion.
I found those Pertronix units on ebay. It's $70 versus $83 at Summit. However, Summit is a lot cheaper for shipping. They want $9 bucks for shipping on ebay. Sounds to me like it's a little hidden profit. Are they new units, does anybody know?
