Wade,
For me, it depends upon the situation. If I have a specific problem and am trying to troubleshoot the issue, I will typically replace or repair one "usual suspect" at a time, for the same reason you cited in your post. But, if I'm confident that I know what the underlying problem is, and yet have to remove some major parts in order to fix it, I'll often try to fix/upgrade/make cosmetic improvements while I'm into the project.
A good example is what I'm working on now. I recently had a power loss issue and, thanks to the feedbackfrom the group here, was able to rather quickly ascertain that my vacuum advance on the distributor wasn't working. So, I needed to replace it. But, I figured that it is probable that I have the original distributor that was put on this car, and that it may have never been serviced before. So, now I decide to remove the distributor and service it as well. All the while, I had been planning for months to finish detailing the engine, so, have now removed both the inatke manifolds and exhaust manifold, heat shield, and carburetors for polishing/cleaning up. Seems likie a good time to repaint the engine block....so tomorrow I'll be steam cleaning the engine and preparing it to be painted. Along the way, noticed a few tired looking, albeit original, braided water hoses....so may as well replace them now. The metal lines could use a good facelift too, so now they're on the list. Since I've had to drain all the coolant, decided to flush the cooling system while I'm there.
It's hard to imagine that a faulty vacuum advance on a distributor could lead me to where I am now
Mike
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