She lives !!! Set the points at .016 and her dwell was at 42º so I guess I need to go out and close the gap a tad to get her up to 47-48º ?

Anyway, she is mostly popping through the exhaust, even at idle.

If I rev her hard repeatedly, she stumbles almost immediately (accelerator pumps?)

Anyway, out to search for 48º dwell and then maybe a drive to see how she is under load.

UNBELIEVABLE !!! Not only do I have her running, but almost perfectly. All that speculation about the fuel, the sock, the fuel pump, old gas, rebuilding the carbs...pretty much for nothing. It was all a failing rotor? I got the gap much better, (dwell at 49º), and just drove the piss out of her. She ran almost perfectly...only some decel pop (local wrench I showed it to on the ride said clean my idle jets over and over for awhile; also told me to replace my fuel lines). She pulled smoothly all the way up to redline, had great power...what a freakin joy!!!

Ever hear of a rotor on an 050 causing those kinds of problems? I'd have thunk (like whatta I know) that a rotor was either pass or fail, but this one was obviously crapping out bit by bit.

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Glad you got it back on the road and running great. With 20/20 hindsight a bad rotor and a cap that was tracking would cause some of your issues. Don't forget about your loose carb top and jetting. That also had some bearing on your problems.

For the decel pop check for exhaust leaks. You suck in fresh air through the leak and that mixes with unburned fuel, ingites, and causes your pop.

Fix those spacers and tighten up your exhaust and drive the heck out of it.

Thanks. You've been great...great "garage side" manner!