good idle...no rpm

[Matt in Alameda]

First of all, thank-you all for your suggestions and comments. In my case, I have an converted Ford crab electronic distributor. I put a known good carb on it and it started and ran not great, but good for eight blocks, then crapped out and it had all the old bad symptoms. Good idle...no RPM above 800 ....and this morning it won't even start.....I think I will order a brand new carb,...after all, rebuilts are 75+ years old to start with......and I may get a new crab ......I am not sure what to do yet....I am real tired spending so much time and $ to get ZIP...Also I am worried about the fact that I have the Accell radio supressing spark plug wires going through Stainless Steel tubes( is this OK?), and the Pertronix flamethrower is mounted HORIZONALLY ( someone said these have to be vertical, others say horizonal is fine)in an aluminum 'cage' that is attached to the aluminum manifold with a brass mount....and in one place I have a brass support holding the plastic wire separators in place...even though all brass is isolated from the aluminum with rubber insulators...I think the voltage is so high that I may be shorting out the coil or getting a cross fire.........The irony is that everyone raves about how beautiful the engine is.....and it is,.... but as long as it does not run it is getting uglier by the minute to me.....Oh well I will figure this thing out,....Matt in Alameda