[cadillac512]

If it were mine, I'd fire it up and while idling I'd pull the coil wire out of the coil 'til I could see the spark jumping...should jump at least 3/8" and be blue and "snap" audibly. You won't get shocked because you'll be holding the dist side of the wire.

If spark is good, I'd play with the choke to see if it helps/hurts the way it runs.
Next I'd look in the distributor to see if maybe the spark is jumping through the rotor to the shaft. It happens sometimes. That can be hard to check because you can't do it running. A different rotor helps rule that out.

And oh...the adapter on the dist for the external coil? The spring that contacts the points strap can bend and barely touch ground. That one got me once...
And yes, don't trust a condenser even if it's new.



Terry