Car: 1965 122 w/ B20B, using B18 distributor.

I had a vacuum leak between the SU carbs and manifold. I was able to determine that by way of a suggestion made by alschnertz here: '65 122 Canadian w/ B20B - Runs a bit sluggish...


I fixed that by replacing all 4 carb/manifold gaskets, 2 per carb due to the heat shield.

Here is my issue:

After syncing thr carbs at idle and at fast idle, I placed the air filters back and started the car. Smooth idle. Ok, good. Checked for the leaks by lightly spraying at the previous problematic joints where the gaskets needed replaced with carb cleaner - no change in idle. Ok, good.

On the same day, I hooked up my tach, but accidently grounded the coil negative to the housing of the distributor while the car was running, sparks kinda flew and the car choked a bit then came back to life at idle. Similar to when the contacts close all the way and the car dies.

Well, after getting everything back together, I made sure the timing was set and then took it for a drive. But it seemed really sluggish after getting past 15mph, like it was starving for air when my speed would increase, but when I'd push in the clutch and rev it a bit, it seemed not to choke as bad.

Here are my questions:

Would having grounded the coil negative ruin anything???

If not, can anyone tell me why it seems to run like crap now? Could it be the air filters being dirty or something? It seemed to have run better with the vacuum leak, only needing a bit of help going up a hill or driving faster by pulling the choke out a bit (resulting in obvious increased fuel consumption). But now the choke doesn't seem to have the same effect anymore as it used to in helping it along.

Any suggestions?