The vacuum advance situation is easy to understand.
Engines operated at part throttle NEED vacuum advance, because the "light" part throttle fuel/air charge requires more time to burn. BUT ... if the engine has a cam in it that has so much overlap, or the intake valve opens so early, that the intake manifold vacuum at idle or the ported vacuum just above idle are erratic, then vacuum advance would also be erratic and make the ignition timing erratic. This is why some pre-1968 Ford "street engines" with big cams only had centrifugal advance.
I purchase the Duraspark I modules on eBay ... as anyone in any state can ... so everyone has the same availability I do. There was a guy in Texas that seemed to have a bunch of them.
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