JMD is probably the closest here. It isnt a theory about the shaft wobbling, that really happens quite often.

Think about it, the points dont care how far they open as long as they open and then close at the right time.(within reason) They are influenced less by some wobble in the shaft. they are also very close to the center of the shaft, so the wobble is less pronounced. you might lose .001-.008 from wobble, and the larger number is a huge wobble..

The shaft moving around with only a .030" gap will easily touch the pickup even if its only a 2" diameter reluctor. You know how a slightly bent axle will make a wheel wobble a huge amount at its circumference? Same thing, the farther out you get from the center, the more pronounced the wobble.

It works of magnetic fields rather than a hall effect(light), so if when the engine was off for a period of time, if the magnet was in contact with the ferrous part, then it could be temporarily magnetized in addition to hitting the pickup.

Distributors have a steel shaft riding inside an aluminum housing, some of the old distributors had bushings from the factory, and even if they did the bushing still wears.

The reason why points ignitions have resistance wire rather than a full 12V is the points cant handle 12V, so it needs to be knocked down some. Points burn out real quick with more than 6V to them, and the chance of the power jumping a .014 gap is very high with that much voltage. Electronic breakerless ignitions can handle the higher voltage, so they are built to take full advantage of it, and yes they often REQUIRE 12 volts to operate at all. Ford guys have it easy with all of this, its just one simple wire to run and you are ready to go.

 

If it were me, I think that I would give the Pertronix kit one more shot, mainly because it seems to be highly regarded on this forum.

Could be they got a bad batch of magnet rings.

Have you tried reaching Pertronix tech support? They might be able to provide some info as to what is going on.

"For me 6 times is a charm" (Joe Pesci)

 

What kind of shape is your distributor in? If it is still an original distributor and vacuum advance and is in poor shape and/or has never been rebuilt, I'd use this as an opportunity to upgrade. Return the Petronix and you can pick up an MSD ready-to-run from Summit for a touch under $300. My opinion is that if you have to dink around this much to get something to work, it may be time to take a step back and ask if it is worth it. Yes, the Petronix is a good value, but there is something to be said for having a brand new, state of the art, billet aluminum distributor with all new parts.

Good luck!

 

You could also get a rebuilt distributor from a place like Advance Auto for under fifty bucks and install the points eliminator kit of your choice. I prefer converting a stock distributor simply because you can put the points back in quickly if the electronic unit ever leaves you stranded. I've used Pertronix and Mallory and like them both but I tend to lean towards Mallory.

 

It is my understanding that the pertronix is less sensitive to the exact gap than the points. If that is so, then the wobble theory is not what is wrong. The points run just fine, and the pertronix doesn't.

 

It has been ages since I've looked at a points ignition (20 years or so), but I think the points mechanism pushes up against the distributor shaft which could keep it from wobbling around too much. That said, the Duraspark II distributor I pulled out of the 351W had a fair amount of endplay and it still fired just fine.

I subscribe to the time is money theory (this is definitely different from individual to individual), and at some point it may be better to cut the line and try something new, i.e. MSD ready-to-run.

Good luck, I don't envy anybody trying to deal with electrical and/or ignition issues.

 

Iforgot to mention that I would also make sure that the distributor is not worn out before I did this. It might be hard to tell if the dist. is still installed, as the gears would still be in contact with one another.