[turbobill]

Over the years, I've had many interesting problems with distributor caps, rotors and wires. From rotors that short to ground (spark from the coil but not to any plug wire), open/shorted distributor terminals (no spark at that wire), no spark at a cylinder period (open or shorted wire) to the normal assortment of cracked and/or carbon tracked caps.

One interesting case happened on my '68 Buick Wildcat returning home from Florida. 500 miles from home, it developed an intermittent skip. No spark to one particular distributor terminal. Turns out the distributor bushing was worn enough that occasionally the distributor shaft would wobble and the breaker points to one particular cylinder wouldn't open, thus no spark. An HEI shouldn't suffer the same problem.

This being said, if your timing light is not being triggered by current flow in a particular wire, don't rule out a very high resistance or open spark plug as well. Eveything in that particular circuit becomes suspect.

As for the points verses HEI or other electronic ignition, I only have one old vehicle converted to HEI (a 427 Chevy). It has been reliable, but when I take the car on a long trip, I carry a spare stock distirbutor/coil/wires just in case. To be at the mercy of a tow company/garage on the road is asking for bankrupcy.

Besides, a lot of people drove a lot of miles over the years with breaker points and carburetors, me being one of them.