I'm sure it will be an over-reaction to the problem, but
here is what I intend to do to address this:

I had a 1953 Yale High Cowl with a Chrysler IND30
flat head six. It's still around, as i sold it to one of the neighboring
businesses here. 20 years ago I had rebuilt that forklift nearly from
bare frame up. Engine was completely rebuilt as well.
It served me well.

That unit always had problems that were ignition related.
Damp conditions, cold, high humidity, etc.
Seemed like it always was running intermittently on less than 6 cylinders, despite being in good tune, with carburetor rebuilt, etc.

One day about 10+ years ago, I had enough.
I went to the auto recyclers and got a GM HEI distributor from
a 90 degree V6 Chevy engine.
I machined the distributor, fit the old gear on the shaft and installed it in the engine with all the junk yard parts still in it (cap, rotor, module, etc). A Saturday afternoon project really....

To this day, that forklift starts and runs well on all 6 cylinders in all weather and temperature conditions. Never has had any further ignition system maintenance done on it.

In the near future, I will do the same for the Slant Six in this 1970 Yale that has been discussed in this thread, and thus will end it's ignition problems as well.

There is nothing wrong with using old equipment in my opinion, as long as it can be made to be reliable and remain low cost to operate.

dk