I need to measure a distributor cap and see if all of the terminals are the exact same distance from each other because if you look at one from above, it doesnt actually look like they are the exact same distance which would explain why number 1 is on the terminal to the right of the retainer clip.
I ran my single points without a ballast for a long time. My points would burn out about every 6 months, but it was a hot spark. Varying the points gap and plug gap can change how fast they burn out. One day I got tired of replacing points and broke down and installed a ballast on the firewall with a new set of points so I only had to change them every 2 years.
"A dwell meter would be the best thing for you in this case just to verify the dwell is correct. I wonder if you can disable the secondary points, make sure the primary set is in correct dwell/timing and see how it runs.
Contact point (also known as breaker point) ignitions have been around almost forever, and are fairly simple. As the engine spins the distributor shaft (by a gear or drive dog), there is a cam wheel mounted to the distributor shaft. Just off of the cam is the a single set (or two point sets with dual point distributors) of breaker points that are opened and closed by the distributor cam's contact with the point set(s). When the points open and close, they allow the coil to energize and then release the built up energy through the cap, rotor, into the spark plug wires to the spark plugs. How long the points stay closed is the DWELL.
The dwell is controlled by the design of the distributor (distributor point cam, point design, and adjustment). The point adjustment is simply how close each point set is to the point cam. The closer the points are to the point cam, the larger the point gap (dwell), thus the further away you will have less gap and lower dwell (less time the points are closed).
Too much dwell can cause a late spark, rough running, lack of RPM potential, early point and condenser failures. Too little dwell causes a weak spark, overheated points, "stuck" points, poor engine performance, and more. As you can see, correctly setting the optimum point gap is mandatory if you want reliability and good performance. But, as the points wear, the dwell time will increase, therefore requiring periodic adjustments of the dwell settings so as to maintain maximum reliability and performance of the system.."
http://www.centuryperformance.com/setti ... pg-90.html"With the dual points distributor, the first points set to close "makes" the circuit and will incur any ravages caused by a small amount of arcing when closing. The last points set to open "breaks" the circuit and will incur any ravages caused by a small amount of arcing when opening. Since the make and break functions are done by different contact sets, the two sets of points share the wear and each will therefore wear less with time, causing less variation of dwell and timing, and it can run longer between required adjustment or points replacement. Also the two contact sets can share the electrical current load most of the time, so there can be less heating of the contacts and/or rubbing foot. This reduction of running heat leads to less wear on the rubbing foot as well as the contacts. This may be even more important if you also install a high output ignition coil which draws more current, which may noticeably shorten the life of single points. If the points may last roughly twice as long in service (and they do), it may not be such an increased expense to replace two sets of points instead of one. The reduced labor or inconvenience may save considerably on cost and/or tinkering time...
There is one more notable feature of the Mallory Dual Points distributor. It has an adjustment for mechanical adance upper limit (maximum advance stop). If you set idle timing to 10 degrees BTDC, and there is no vacuum unit, and you want 36 degrees total spark timing at road speed, you can set the mechanical advence limit to 26 degrees. If you have a vacuum unit that can produce 7 degrees advance, and you want to set idle timing at 15 degrees BTDC and limit maximum total advance to 36 degrees at speed, you can set the Mallory max mechanical advance to 14 degrees. This is a handy feature if you do any special tuning (and don't we all?) so you don't have to buy new or modify the mechanical limit stops or advance weights. "
http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/ignition/ig200.htmHere is something else to read (I havent myself yet)
http://www.gofastforless.com/ignition/points.htmI would also check the points contacts and see if they have a lot of pitting or burn marks.
