Well it does sound like week/no spark from your description. Any spark you see in the open air will be less under compression, so if you have what you describe as week spark outside the engine.......... I would guess if you haven't changed anything from when it ran great, then it is probably a condensor or a coil. It could be the gap on th e points need filed or readjusted as wear over time will make the gap wider. There are more pieces to it than what I'm about to say, but basically four things "make" the spark, 1. good battery voltage 2. Good clean fully functional points 3. the condensor 4. the coil 1 and 2 are easy to test and correct. 3 and 4 are testable and easy to replace. Since you have some fire it is probalby not a short to ground of the points, but rather a worn out failed part. If you replace all three of the latter parts, you won't be out more than 20-25 bucks, so I would start there. But you will run the risk of getting a bad points or condensor, they seem to have a higher failure rate new, than they should. China I guess.
A couple of things to double check first. Pull the coil wire from the distributor, and place it within an 1/8" of the block, crank the motor and see what kind of fire you get there, if everything is right, you should get a pretty good click, with a nice blueish arch, if that works move it back a little, up to about a 1/4" or so you will get spark. If this test works, then you have a cap and rotor problem or a wire problem. Sorry I should clarify every time I say wire, I am reffering to spark plug wires .
Hope this helps
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