If you watched the advance move, then it is working. Finding out why the motor is not speeding up is another question. At least you got a reasonable price on the installed part.
You identified the hose connection at the carburetor as a ported vacuum. When running at idle, if you disconnect the hose, the engine speed should not change, because there should not be any vacuum. Connect a timing light, start the motor, and see if the timing marks move when you suck on the hose. If they don't, there is something wrong inside the distributor.
Next question is, ignoring the advance for now, is does the engine have a little more power that before? There are still some other things to check as your diagnosis continues such as mechanical advance, all the vacuum hoses, and whether the base timing is set correctly. Did you talk to your mechanic about his thoughts concerning the possibility of a partially plugged muffler? You should complete your distributor tests before you try to diagnose a bad muffler.
------------------
David
newbie #4153
