The first thing I would do is make sure that I had a good spark. You didn't say whether you have the OEM electrical system (6V positive ground) or a 12V, negative ground system. Some people conver to 12 V negative ground and rather than replacing the coil, they make what I call a "half breed" ignition system by placing a resistor in series with with the coil to reduce the current through the coil. If you don't do that( add the proper resistor) the high current from the 12 V system will burn the points and overheat the coil, melting the internal insulation. The engine will start when cold but dies after about 20-30 minutes and then normally restarts after a half hour coil cool down only to repeat the process.When I bought my TO-30, that's what it had on it. This is not your stated problem. Based on your description, my first inclination is that you have a fuel delivery problem. However, since you don't have a good spark, you don't want to jump to that conclusion. Make sure that your points are correctly set and not burned or corroded. Check to see if you have a resistor in the circuit and make sure that you have continuity through it IF you have one. By all means, check the coil and replace it with the correct coil if necessary. If you do have a 12V, negative ground system get a real 12 V Coil (NAPA IC-14SB ~ $15) with the built in reistance. Make sure that whatever coil you have that the wire from the distributor to the coil is connected to the coil terminal that matches the battery ground(i.e. if you have a 12v negative ground system, the coil wire to the distributor should be on the (-) coil terminal.) If it is connected incorrectly, your spark energy will be halved. Check your distributor for wear in the shaft/bushing by rotating the engine till the points are closed and pushing radially( from the side) on the shaft. You should see no motion in the points. The play limit is 0.002" radial movement My original distributor was worn so badly that the points opened to 0.030" when I did this test. The symptoms were that the engine ran like a three legged dog with a loping idle and would not accelerate and it just suddenly started doing it the day I had to plow the driveway. As unbelieveable as that sounds, it appeared to happen overnight. But that much wear doesn't happen over night. It happened over 50 years! So check your distributor for wear. You can have it rebuilt for ~$100 or you can get a rebuilt one for ~$200. Just a rebush would be much less IF the shaft isn't worn. Make sure that you have a good key switch and in general make sure that you have good continuity through the primary ignition circuit with battery voltage at the battery side coil connection and, with the points closed, near zero volts the distributor side of the coil. If you systemantically do these checks you should find the cause of your spark problem. Then you can tackle the fuel delivery problem IF fixing the spark doen't cure the problem.
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