Jonathan, 1) rough running, oily plugs. a) Did you change points and condenser? Cap and rotor? Can you check the point gap and distributor timing again? b) Is there soot in your tail-pipe? c) Has this been since a particular fill-up? Might be bad gas, water, etc. d) The old plugs you put back in- are they oily now? Oily sounds like quenched combustion- bad spark, bad gas? Could also be leaking valve seals and actual oil, but that should show as some oil consumption AND some oil smoke (blue/white) on starting. If you want to know how the engine is doing, do a compression test and look at those recently re-installed spark plugs, and check the valves. 2) Spark plug lost in engine tin. I've done this :) I've got one of those grapper-snake gizmos- four spring steel jaws at the bottom of a flexable spring/tube. Thumb button and two finger hooks like a hyodermic. I wouldn't make a habit of leaving spark plugs in there but I don't think you'll melt your engine because of it... Good luck! And of course, let us know what happens! Bill
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