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Start trouble shooting your problem by checking the spark. When the enginestarts running ratty, pull the wire our of the center of the distributor cap, pull the cover back to expose the metal end piece, hold it about a quarter inch away from a good ground, turn on the key and crank the engine over. You should see a fat, bluish spark. If it's orangey or yellowish, you have a problem with the ignition system (points are corroded, mis-adjusted, worn out, distributor bushing and/or shaft ,bad key switch, bad connection between the battery and the distributor, etc are some of the more common problems). You didn't say whether you had a 12V or a 6V electrical system. Some time people use a 6 V coil on a 12 V system and the higher current overheats the coil causing bad running. When allowed to cool down, it will start and run fine but eventually overheat and run poorly. If you are running a 6 V coil on a 12V system, either get a resistor in series with the coil or get a real 12V coil, the latter being recommended. If your spark is a nice fat, bluish one, then check your ignition timing and advance mechanism. You said it begins to miss so check the plugs for gap. Are your plugs the correct heat range?
Is your carburetor adjusted properly? The power jet screw should be out 1-/1/4 turns from full closed and never less than one turn out.(One turn out or less is too lean and will cause the valves to burn. The Continental's depend on charge cooling from fuel evaporation to help reduce the charge temperature and help with the cooling.)
Do these checks and write down the results and tell us what you found. We'll be able to give you some better advice but we have to narrow the problem down.
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