Catfish, sooty plugs are indicative of a week spark and/or poor timing, a further confirmation of this is all plugs being sooty. Could also be the choke is not open all the way.
Black oily thickly coated plugs are usually indicative of a bad cylinder and not usually found in all cylinders.
Don just released a good article on testing the coil, IE a good snappy 1/2" long spark is good. The plug wires need to be good, IE no cracks and have a good seal on the plugs. Also no cracks or tracks on the inside of the distributor cap.
What plugs are you using? Have you tried adjusting the idle yet. The idle circuit still works well into the 1500RPM range before the "hi speed (adj jet) is functioning. Get the idle working and then you can load the engine at a cruise speed or even against the dock lines to get the hi-speed adjusted for performance. Best done at cruise. If you are doing adjusting a vacuum gage is a help and valuable for tracking engine performance!!!
Dave Neptune
