Car Jerking/losing Power After First Starting To Drive

[plantmeister]

I have a 195 that's practically new in the box, but my mechanic friend insisted on putting in a 160 because of the Florida heat. I'll get him to swap it back.
I did take off the old ignition coil and it was pretty dirty, but the prongs looked okay.

I tested ohm resistance on it versus a new one and they both came up 0.2 between neg and pos, and 8000 between terminals and spark plug post, so I'm leaning toward the short coming from elsewhere; maybe the TFI as you guys mentioned. I bought a Duralast Gold distributor with a lifetime warranty; would that be okay? I've been reading online that motor craft ones can cost $600 and I can't spend that much on one.
I also ordered a replacement TFI harness to fix the one that partially melted
Here's inside the harness, hard to tell if it's corrosion or lithium grease:

 

[mikestang63]

I have a 195 that's practically new in the box, but my mechanic friend insisted on putting in a 160 because of the Florida heat. I'll get him to swap it back.
I did take off the old ignition coil and it was pretty dirty, but the prongs looked okay.

I tested ohm resistance on it versus a new one and they both came up 0.2 between neg and pos, and 8000 between terminals and spark plug post, so I'm leaning toward the short coming from elsewhere; maybe the TFI as you guys mentioned. I bought a Duralast Gold distributor with a lifetime warranty; would that be okay? I've been reading online that motor craft ones can cost $600 and I can't spend that much on one.
I also ordered a replacement TFI harness to fix the one that partially melted
Here's inside the harness, hard to tell if it's corrosion or lithium grease:

I love when nutswingers tell people a 160 thermostat will make a car run cooler than a 192 thermostat. Think about that logically for a second. If they made a 100 degree thermosat, would your car run at 100 degrees? All the thermostat does is control the temperature of when it opens, not the temperature of the system. In addition, your car was designed with a 192 thermostat because the EEC doesn't go from limp mode until the coolant gets to around 170. IF you were able to cool the car down so the temperature never got above 160, the car would run worsem with premature wear and poor gas mileage.

 

[plantmeister]

I was aware of the temperature needing to reach a certain operating temp, but I took his advice as he'd been a mechanic far longer.

We timed the car again; the other mechanic had set the timing without removing the spout, so now it's back at where it should be. We also found a vacuum hose to the smog pump loose again, so we repaired that. I cleaned the idle air control valve and throttle plate and it seems to be running better.

 

[General karthief]

Your mechanic means well but he is behind the times a little, thats ok, he means well.
Check for codes again to see if anything pops up.

 

[plantmeister]

Your mechanic means well but he is behind the times a little, thats ok, he means well.
Check for codes again to see if anything pops up.

Yea, he's a very good mechanic. Just frustrated by this car continuously breaking down.
I'll see if it pulls any codes

 

[General karthief]

My mechanic loves it when my car breaks down. He always charges me more when I've worked on it first.

 

[plantmeister]

Haha, classic! I wish mine would stop breaking down so I can move on to the body work. This thing is beat up and the rust is coming through the previous owners "spray paint job"