Once you get the problem figured out it should be pretty reliable and low maintainence even with the stone age stuff. Check for big variations in timing with a light and see if it moves with the change in idle. It will normally jump around a little, but if the timing changes at the same time the idle changes them chase down the cause of it. Here's the stuff I would be checking after the basics(timing, dwell, idle mixture).
Choke pull-off
Vacuum advance can
Point pivot plate(the thing the points are mounted to).
Worn throttle shaft.
Worn distributor shaft bushings.
When I worked at the speed shop way back when it got to where we just refused to sell Unilite distributors because we got tired of taking them back. The problem with them was that the pickup was VERY sensitive to voltage and they would fail if it wasn't just right. That was a long time ago, don't know if they ever improved them or not. I personally think aftermarket distributors are highly over-rated.
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