Cap and Rotor - is this normal wear?

[timmycharger]

  In 2002 I took my car off of the road and the engine sat on a stand until a few years ago when I did a refresh on the engine. (bearings/rings) and added Edelbrock aluminum heads.  When the car was pulled off of the road, the motor idled smoothly and ran well.

Ever since my 440 was fired up again after the refresh it never idled smoothly. I never touched the MSD pro billet distributor since 2002 until now while tuning the engine.  I didn't notice the state of the cap/rotor when I had the cap off putting the motor back together but It sure has my attention now.

Before I get into tuning the six pack carbs, I want to be sure my spark is good.  I am running an MSD 6AL, Champion RC12yC plugs and MSD wires.  I bought a set of 3924 autolite plugs that I want to switch to since this motor always ran with Autolites prior to the rebuild.

Is this normal cap/rotor wear? I have looked at some pics of acceptable vs worn setups and seeing conflicting info.
any feedback is appreciated.

[68CoronetRT]

Cap looks good but the rotor seems like its firing way late or way too early which is arching and causing that leading edge to look that way.

I would check rotor phasing first. And adjust if needed. You'd need an adjustable rotor for that.

[timmycharger]

that does make sense, thank you. I watched some videos from MSD on how to adjust the rotor for phasing, looks like the rotor I just bought is "fixed" and cannot be adjusted.  Could the leading edge burning have been from me just having the timing way off?   

[redgum78]

I am no expert on this so really keen to see what the engine guys have to say. In saying that I think it is the trailing edge (440 anti clockwise) of the rotor which is arching. Certainly looks out of phase and from what I understand you should try to set up with the leading edge slightly favored to allow for vacuum and mech advance.

Smart people please correct if I am wrong.

[68CoronetRT]

that does make sense, thank you. I watched some videos from MSD on how to adjust the rotor for phasing, looks like the rotor I just bought is "fixed" and cannot be adjusted.  Could the leading edge burning have been from me just having the timing way off?   

It wont be way off, but it wont be firing very good(Its arching backwards to make the spark happen). Once I got my rotor dialed in I was amazed at how much more crisp the exhaust note became. It wont really change the timing, just make it fire at better time during the event. If that makes sense.

And Yes Redgum78, you want to set it up slightly ahead of the event in order to compensate for the mechanical advance moving across the post.

It should be slightly ahead of the post at idle and with the timing all in you should be arching dead center.

[timmycharger]

Ok, thank you. I read that folks are cutting a hole and aiming the timing light in there to check the phase. I have a new cap coming as well so I will have no problem putting a hole in my old one. 

This is new territory for me, should be interesting.