Catching up on Fred's ignition tune-up, discovered some odd stuff - help?

[moparedtn]

I admit it - I've slacked some on routine maintenance stuff on Fred's well-worn 440, specifically the electronic ignition.
I managed to actually flood (!) him yesterday on initial start-up, something that's hard to do when the choke is actually
disconnected (hey, I got talent!), so today I decide it's past time to investigate some ignition timing "irregularities" I've noticed
recently....it's been forever since I've flooded a car.
Hell, I don't even remember EVER doing it before...but it spurred me on to get some maintenance done to Fred, something I
have neglected for a handful of years now.

First was making sure he still ran, so I cranked him up 24 hours after "the great flood" and he popped right off (no throttle, just
turned the key) with a great puff of black smoke out the tailpipes; he obviously was holding a grudge for yesterday.

Next, I decided to put in a fresh set of coveted (and long discontinued) J11Y Champions, gapped at .035 as stock.
Point of curiosity #1: Yes, the plugs were quite sooty from the flooding - but they were also exhibiting signs of actual
blistering. What the heck? Those are the stock application plugs, same ones I've always ran in any near-stock 440 I've owned
and I've never seen that before. Possible causes? Concerns?

His ignition is a Mopar electronic ignition setup, capped off with an old school Accel tan heavy walled, brass connector cap and
a set of MSD red cut-to-length resistance type wires; I've still got the little tool for trimming and crimping, just don't remember
how to do it - which came to relevance when I discovered the #7 wires' terminal had been disconnected for some time inside
the boot, leaving charring from jumping the gap in there and some actual rust on the plug tip and wire terminal.
It was hell separating boot from wire as well - wonder if even using the 45* boot didn't give adequate clearance from the header?
The terminal is not salvageable, so...
Point of curiosity #2: Anybody got a nice long spark plug wire they could sell me for Fred's cause?
I've got the old one cobbled on there now, but it ain't gonna hold.
How many years is reasonable to expect from a set of wires, anyways?

Point of curiosity #3: I cleaned up the terminals in the distributor cap and on the rotor with a dremel/wire brush combo.
In doing so, I noticed the cap had a small chunk missing, right where the locating notch is on the mounting edge - and thus
appearing to possibly allow the cap to rotate (within the limits of the retaining clips) on the distributor housing (!).
What the heck? Should I just pass that off as a manufacturing weakness?
I mean, it's really obvious when the cap gets located on the locating tang on the distributor and I surely hope I can manage to
apply the retaining clips correctly on a distributor cap at this point in life...

Finally, the rest of the setup is the usual "old school" orange control box and an MSD Blaster 2 coil, along with a ballast resistor...
and I'm thinking I want that coil outta there at this point, given the looks of the plugs.
I have a nice Accel Super Coil as well as a stock coil to choose from if I do.

The old worn out Edelbrock 750 that's been on the engine since I bought it back in 2017 is a whole 'nother subject that I'll have
to address some other time (right after a lottery win, perhaps), but these discoveries today kind of bug me - mostly because I
now feel a bit of a slacker in looking after Fred's basic needs, what with all the other more major work done over the years....
In any event, I need to locate:
1. A good quality distributor cap (I love the Accels, but they're like $60 now!)
2. A replacement #7 spark plug wire (don't want to toss out the rest of the set, which is in great shape)

 

[68-500]

I put a standard blue streak cap on my car. Its not tan but thats not a deal breaker for me. I can’t help you with the plug wire. Was the Edelbrock new in 2017? I would hope its not wore out already.

 

[threewood]

I'll tell you what, I am using a set of Firecore wires and a GM style distributor cap with male top connections and they are my favorite by far but expensive. Maybe the wife can hook you up for Christmas.

I may have a spare #8 wire in the shop. Let me look tomorrow morning.

 

[moparedtn]

I put a standard blue streak cap on my car. Its not tan but thats not a deal breaker for me. I can’t help you with the plug wire. Was the Edelbrock new in 2017? I would hope its not wore out already.

Not so much worried about the color as the quality really - I've just always used the Accel cap, based originally in the
80's after chatting with one of the original Ramchargers at a Nats (can't remember which), who told me they were
better caps than factory.
All that to say, I like the Accel caps...but I ain't married to 'em.
(I have a spare "parts store" cap that came with the engine - which is typical thin Chinese crap).

Re: the Eddy. Naw, that carb ain't seen "new" in a very long time. I got a thread on here somewhere in which I went
through it originally as I installed the engine in 2017; it's a "REMAN" stamped unit that came with the engine.
The seller thought the thing ran "great", but I soon discovered every damn jet and rod in it was in the wrong place (and
the wrong size, of course) and the typical throttle shaft issues were there, too - but it was good enough once I went
through it.
Suffice to say, it was "wore" before Fred even got going, intended to be a temporary. Well, it's 8 years later...

 

[moparedtn]

I'll tell you what, I am using a set of Firecore wires and a GM style distributor cap with male top connections and they are my favorite by far but expensive. Maybe the wife can hook you up for Christmas.

I may have a spare #8 wire in the shop. Let me look tomorrow morning.

I'm sure all that's great, but the factory setup is just fine by me. If I had done a better job of making up the #7 wire, I'd have
no issues now I suppose...or maybe the heat of the header did some damage?
Although the wire clears the header by seemingly acceptable amounts, the boot sure seemed "welded" to the core and was
a bear to disassemble - and it shouldn't have been.
Thanks!