So I've been doing more and more running in the 83 Wagon. I have a vacume hose leak somewhere, so the engine will sputter occasionally and require a bit more rev to get it up and going. But lately, it seems worse than usual. Especially when I go up hills at higher RPMs the engine will sputter and the tachometer will jump all over the place. Is this the distributer on the way out?

Sounds like the distributor could be the culprit. Easy way to check is to pull the cap off and see if you can move the rotor from side to side. There should be some up and down and a very little to no side to side. If you can wiggle the rotor from side to side a good amount the distributor is done.

 

Also check your vacuum advance. Pop the hose off that goes to the vacuum advance diapram. Put a long hose on and suck on the end of it. With the cap off you should be able to see the diapram advancing the timing. If its not moving (like what happened on my car)..time for either a new vacuum advance or a jy distributor.

Check the intake manifold gaskets for a leak there.

 

The tach problem could be due to a a bad disty but before replacing it I would first check the alternator output and make sure noise from it isn't causing a problem. You can use a digital voltmeter in the AC volts function and check the voltage while the trouble is occurring. The AC voltage should be below 0.1 volt.