I finally screwed up my courage and decided to take the 75 B20 distributor apart. The shaft had become so hard to turn that I was afraid it might seize and cause major damage to the distributor. So I unscrewed all the screws, constantly reminding myself that this is a very rare part, and it would lift my 144 out of the points and condensor rut. Turns out the upper shaft (where the rotor sits) is rusted and seized and takes alot of effort to turn. Bottom half was OK. I took the opportunity to lube the bottom shaft up. Quick trip to the bone yard, and managed to get the top half from an 80 240. Bolts in perfectly, and the hardest part was getting the springs back in. Everything is back together, and the distributor shaft now spins effortlessly like as if its magnetically levitated!
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...and the bricks keep on rolling