Lets start at the easy stuff, if you want to lube the mechanical advance you need to remove it, first remove your points plate, then the little 10mm bolt in the middle and if memory serves me correct you end up with an advance unit in your hand. This you need to disassemble, clean and lubricate, taking good note of how it came apart because it can be put together back to front. To lube it I just used a light grease that we have at work, it is designed for such applications, don't ask me what it is, I can't remember what it is called. In regards to your no vacuum, first of all check your gauges by sucking on the hoses, then check your hoses for splits, check all your fittings for snugness. For your engine to be running it must have some vacuum, if it didn't, it wouldn't be running. There must be something not quite right for you too be getting a no vacuum reading, I would however believe that you are getting a low vacuum reading that your gauges aren't sensitive enough to read, which could be caused by numerous things, base timing, idle mixture, valve clearance, low compression or leaking valves to name a few. If it was me I would run through a basic tune-up as a start, that way you know for 100% that all the basics are right, and forget everything you have already done to it, to find the issue quicker cover all bases.
