I said above that the engine started up and ran with the distributor in the position I described in the photos on post #5.
But before it started I had to figure out why I initially had no spark. This was the reason:
View attachment 1716300175
The screw with the square back was rotated, a corner was touching the mounting plate. It was like the points were always closed. The clear plastic retainer tabs are somewhat flimsy. These are new points I bought from Rock last year, naturally they were very inexpensive. Maybe there are others that are built better, with this scenario in mind. But how to know?
BTW, is there a way to check or to know if the rotor cam lobes are worn or out of spec?