1980 3.0L strange overheat issue

[Troubled1]

I had the head off in the spring to replace a cracked valve. From what I’ve been reading online, everything is pointing towards a worn camshaft. I’m bringing the boat home this weekend and will put the dial indicator on it to check.

 

[Troubled1]

Camshaft checked out ok. What I ended up doing was to crank the engine over until oil came out of the push rods up top. Then adjusted the valves as per the manual (not running). I tried it and it started up right away. I noticed a little slop in the distributor shaft so I filed the points and reset my dwell to 31° then set the timing to 4° and checked for total timing to make sure the springs on the weights were ok. Everything pretty much mirrored what was shown for the timing curve in the manual.

I tried it again today in the driveway with the muffs on it and it fired up right away then died a couple seconds later. It took a couple attempts but it finally stayed running. Should I adjust the setting on the choke housing a little richer? I already have it set 2 notches to the rich side.
The manual calls for an idle speed of 500-600 rpm. Would that be in gear or in neutral, it doesn’t specify?

 

[Troubled1]

Had an interesting thing happen on Friday. Had the boat running in the driveway for about an hour and it ran great. We hooked the boat up to the truck and started loading up for the weekend. My daughter came out to the garage and asked why there was smoke coming out of the back of the boat. Went out and checked and my coil still had full battery voltage going to it. The top of the coil split and there was oil from the coil all over the place.
After I had had the boat running i changed the starter as the one in it wasn’t cranking very good. Both batteries were fully charged. After I change the starter I gave the key a quick flick to see if the starter would engage (maybe 1second). Could the solenoid have had something happen internally to cause power to the coil? Since I only changed the starter I’m thinking that somehow it was sending power to the coil.
I ran it today after replacing the coil and when I shut the key off the engine stayed running. I checked the ignition switch and it’s working as it should (replaced 2 years ago and very little use). Where should I start to find the issue? Remove the purple wire from the solenoid and try it again?

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

Camshaft checked out ok. What I ended up doing was to crank the engine over until oil came out of the push rods up top. Then adjusted the valves as per the manual (not running). I tried it and it started up right away. I noticed a little slop in the distributor shaft so I filed the points and reset my dwell to 31° then set the timing to 4° and checked for total timing to make sure the springs on the weights were ok. Everything pretty much mirrored what was shown for the timing curve in the manual.

I tried it again today in the driveway with the muffs on it and it fired up right away then died a couple seconds later. It took a couple attempts but it finally stayed running. Should I adjust the setting on the choke housing a little richer? I already have it set 2 notches to the rich side.
The manual calls for an idle speed of 500-600 rpm. Would that be in gear or in neutral, it doesn’t specify?

I can at least tell you that your idle should be in the 600 to 650 rpm range.