Walt---It's not unusual for these engines to have the timing mark
"bounce a few degrees" when running a points-type distributor. It
doesn't seem to be a problem, given that the engine will run with
various timing. If the "wobble" is severe enough so that the points
don't open, then a misfire could occur. If you set the points at .015 or
close to it, it would be rare to have the points not open because of a
worn distributor. If the points should open too far, the coil would
still have time to recover at idle* speeds.
*Since you have the misfire at idle speeds, connect your timing light to
the various sparkplug wires, to see if you can pick up a misfire
pattern.
Dick
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