Hi again - after realizing how silly it was to spend more time typing than wrenching, I dug into it.

As I figured, whatever my baseline points adjustment was, it was firing basically mid-cap; major misfires.

Set the points to close as late as possible, that got the close to line up almost perfectly with the cap.

And believe it or not, static timing worked like a charm. Set the crank where I wanted it, got the points adjusted, then twisted the distributor to hear the "click" of firing.

Buttoned it up, fired up almost instantly. Wound up a few degrees off, but close enough to run right away.

Road test is next!

//and I'm back!

Runs great, very smooth, seems to have more power down low than before. Wanted to just keep on driving, but alas, bathroom remodeling is calling me back. Ugh.