Thanks a ton... you were completely right. One of the cork(I think that's the material) washers has crumpled when I tightened it down and was shorting out. I didn't have any more, so I used some electrical tape and a dremel disk as a temporary fix. Worked great.

I did rip it apart again, because all I wanted was to make sure it didn't have any other issues before I put an electronic ignition in it. Diagnosing ignition problems on top of other ignition problems didn't seem like a good idea. I'm having to make the plate for the sensor, as they don't make one for that distributor, but that's working so far. Just a touch more tinkering.

But either way, I just wanted to thank everybody that had helped... gotta love enthusiasts. Thanks guys. -Ted