Just talked to my shop.  The car was running rough and they tell me the points are burned out.  Every set they get does the same thing.  They've ordered some Delco ones but they haven't come in yet.  

  I put a PERTRONIX unit in my 72'. Works very well. Use the same distributor, just change the guts, and coil. It is a High voltage replacement that looks original.

Just like Mark, I had a Pertronix Electronic Ignition in my 74.  It was in it when I bought it and I had it for 10 years with absolutely no problems at all.  Unit goes in the original distributor and you can't tell its got it unless you take off the cap.  I'm sure it would work well on your 74, Marshall.

I'd go the Pertronix route before HEI, too. With the HEI, your chrome shielding won't fit, and it will come really close to hitting the air cleaner base. You could get the shielding for a '75, and it would fit, if ya wanted.
The Pertronix set-up replaces the points with a magnetic pick-up sensor that reads the iggy pulses off of the lobes of the two piece reluctor they provide, that bolts under the rotor. You CAN notice the "modification" if you look hard enough....the wire is different.    No big deal, tho.

If you keep burning points like that, I bet you have full battery voltage going to the points all the time, instead of just when cranking/starting. There is a resistor wire in the harness from the iggy switch to the coil that provides a lower voltage(around 6-8 volts) once the ingition switch is released to to "Run" position after starting. If someone has bypassed that resistor wire, it will burn the points a LOT quicker than "normal". I've had the same set of points in my '74 since I bought it...I had replaced them for the guy I bought it from. Granted, I don't drive it all that much now, but I used to. You might have yer guys check to see if the coil is getting a full 12v all the time with the engine running. If it is, that's your problem....


|UPDATED|6/17/2014 2:32:00 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

MSD Tach drive distributor and 6AL box.  Way better than Pertronix.

I swapped the tach out for an electric one from a '75, and used a '75 harness so the wiring was easy.  Piece of cake.  But, I'm not worried at all about originality. 

Of course, the '75 tach failed this weekend, so a lot of good that did me.

But the HEI dizzy allllmost rubs against the air cleaner.  Another millimeter and it would. 

Marshall, I switched the original distributor of my 72 to a HEI several years ago and have been very pleased with it.  Bought it from MAM and also bought the the 75 thru 77 ignition shielding, but as Joel says, I had to modify it a bit to fit around the air cleaner base.  Looks really good.  Most people would not know it's not original.  It has the mechanical tach drive, so for the first time in many years, the tach works great.  You will also need to change spark plug wires.  This is one of the best improvements that I have made in my old 72.

Dean 

Don't forget to also open up the gap on your plugs to 45-50.!!

crane and msd both have good boxes and dramatically extend the life of your points. i always had good service out of mallory points. if you want to go that way once more.accel points were o.k but required more frequent adjustments be cause of the higher spring tension would wear down the rubbing block faster. i know many people like the pertronix unit but I'm not that impressed with them. you have lots of options all have there merits. when the h.e.i units first hit the street we used to throw them in the trash, but soon after parts to improve them came out making them much better, but they are still big and ugly.

Hello fellow gathering friends.  I love to see you guys hashing out all these little issues with your c3's.  its hopefully going to make my job so much easier when I finally get to tearing into mine.  Shed is almost done then I can move into my little garage and start.  If the rain would stop things would go a little better.