Jeesh that's seems like a long way to go for not much of a performance gain. The old distrib was crusty. I'm surprised the autoparts store brand didn't work. I've bought a few w/o issues, but I did use points. My old 69 coronet 318 2bbl liked about 36* total 8* initial. I bought 4 sets of "blue streak" points on close out. I might have a set in the box if you need one. On a side note that car ran 15.68 with nothing more than 2 gallons of 110 mixed w/ about 7 of 93 Locked the timing in at 38* and flipped the air cleaner lid. I laughed all the way back to the pits. Stayed right at 15.68-69 all day. Red lighted in the semi's.
Now back to topic, since you have vacuum pod problems that's were I'd start looking. Did you knock anything w/ an elbow when you were messing around? Check the grommet at the PB booster.