New points, condenser, rotor and cap are cheap maintenance and should be a regular on you maintenance schedule. Remember, these were not like the new cars, a plug cleaning could be expected every few thousand miles and a tune up at about four or five thousand was normal. Most cases in 2009 have engines that are not at the top of their game, which calls for even more PM than when they were new fifty or sixty years ago.
But don't discount the coil as your culprit in this case just because the engine starts and seems to run halfway decent.
The coils are filled with oil as a coolant. Mounting them upside down like they did from the factory not only makes it hard to get at the terminals when you need to but over time it also allows some of the oil to seep past the rubber gasket under the socket. A coil that appears good from the outside but is drying up will perform ok at startup but after the engine warms up it can cause erratic behavior.
As mentioned, inverted the terminals are an inconvenience, although it is incorrect as far as originality, you often see the coils mounted terminal up, which actually makes more sense to me.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
Last edited by Denny Graham; 08/15/2009 1:48 PM.
