Yeah, I was wondering why there was such a big discrepancy (...big word...hard to spell...).
I bet you're right (I hope you're right, too) that you might have botched the second test by doing something different.
By the way, good on you for continuing to work the problem and not let it work you.
And good judgment call on the whole misfire thing. You should be able to measure the resistance for each individual spark plug wire (and the coil to dizzy wire, too) to test to make sure they are within spec (if you know what the manufacturer spec for resistance per foot is supposed to be). Just remove each one, one at a time, and put a mulitmeter probe at each end of the wire, measuring continuity (should be 1/ohms, where ohms is resistance, or maybe just straight up ohms...i guess it depends on the mulitmeter you've got).
Then with your good spark plugs, see if that misfire symptom you saw on 3/4 goes away or not.
Also, before I forget, did you check to make sure that the vac line that goes from the vac advance port on the carb goes directly (no BVSV or check valve inline) to the primary vac advance port on the dizzy? I guess when you guys do the desmog, the only BVSV you keep using is the one for the charcoal canister...I think that's what Jim was talking about in a post above. The check valve is going to slow down the vac advance response at the dizzy. And the BVSV is supposed to only allow vac advance above certain engine operating temps, but in reality only serves as a headache...
