[CajunSpike]

Spent the night on the boat.
Removed that too long coupling bolt. The scrape marks on the end of the bolt confirmed my theory of what the vibration in fwd gear was. The bolt was just barely scraping on the back of the trans.

Found the original bolt, installed it tightly with fresh lock washer.

Reinstalled the engine box ventilation fan.
Loosened the distributor timing lock bolt.

When morning came around, I hit the starter. As usual it took a little choke and it spun to life. Did some timing adjustment and settled on a spot where it sounded the best.
Dropped it into fwd gear. Boat moved fwd and there was NO obnoxious sound from the engine/tranny. Just sat there and spun the prop shaft peacefully. Engine did not sputter or stall when put into gear. Reverse behaved the same.

The Pertronix kit seems to be working right. Bought the kit for $70 and the coil separately for about $50. Later found the same coil for $12, model UC12.

Went thru the cabin and picked up all the tools and trash. Cleared off the cabin table and put up all the stuff that was laying around.

I've been thru all the major engine systems but been lucky to only find trivial(for the most part) things to fix. The A4 itself works when it has what it needs.

Trying to decide if its worth the effort to repair/replace the fresh water tank. The tank water drain line is completely broken open.

Also there are a few electrical things that don't light up when they should.
That's going to be just checking power feeds I think.
Thanks for all ya'll help, comments, and input.