mysterious hot cut-out...

["Neff, Matthew John - MBA" <NEFMJ124@domain.elided>]

Hi, all

The weirdest thing happened while I was driving my '73 Scout to Seattle from
Portland (not that I don't expect these types of things) - after about 2
hours of driving on I-5, while pulling back onto the freeway after stopping
for a soda, she quit running at about 15 mph.This was particularly bad
because it was 11pm and I couldn't see anything. The engine still turned
over, but it wouldn't fire up. I've got a 345 with a Holley distributor with
a Pertronix module, accel wires and coil, and a holley 4160 carb.  So, I
went through the usual routine, checked for fuel at the carburator, check,
checked for spark going to the distributor, check, checked for spark to the
plugs...I couldn't see any spark here initially, so I attributed it to the
fact that my wires have a long boot and the ground was to far away from the
contact, so I checked some other things (loooked in the carb, etc).
Finally, I decided to check for spark again, and found I had spark after
finding a ground that I could get close to the contact.  So, after checking
all of these things (all said, about 20 minutes after it quit), I got in the
scout and tried again to fire it up.  After giving it copious amounts of
gas, it slowly fired up.  

So, I was able to get to Seattle and talk to a mechanic about it.  He said
that it was likely the Pertronix failing, that they don't 'take a dump' on
you, but rather stop working at inopportune moments and work again when
cooled down.  This sounds like what happened, especially considering a time
this summer when I drove the scout to Crater Lake, OR.  She got pretty hot
around Roseburg and started losing significant power.  It also didn't want
to start back up in this situation.

So my questions are: has anyone experienced this type of thing with a
Pertronix before? I've had the thing less than a year, and haven't heard any
complaints from anyone else. And if it is the Pertronix, what should I do (I
know I'll generate differing opinions here)?  What else could be the
culprit?  I've got the points back in now, and have seen a considerable
decrease in performance and economy as compared to the Pertronix. I've been
thinking about having the distributor rebuilt, but I don't know if  I'll
have to buy another Pertronix, so maybe I should bite the bullet and get a
Mallory...Anyway, I don't know much about all of this ignition stuff, so I
really appreciate any help you all can offer.  Thanks

Matt Neff
Corvallis, OR

P.S. I was in line for the ferry at Friday Harbor in the San Juan islands in
Washington yesterday when a guy ran up to me and yelled "Corn Binders
Forever!".  He was the owner of what looked like a travelette, with a
service box on the back, that was parked behind me in line.  The thing had
no grille, sagged a good 6 inches to one side, had a PTO winch up front and
two different color doors.  And it was pulling a pickup box loaded with
firewood.  Turns out the thing has 300,000 miles on it and is one of 5 in
the owners fleet-this rig plus 2 scout IIs, and a couple of pickups all
told.