Mallory ignition questions, Partial success! Options

[VaccaRabite]

My carbed 2056 uses a Mallory Unilite ignition. All summer long I have been fighting intermitant misses leading to the motor dieing at idle. After dicking with the carbs and adding fresh spark plugs, I am now moving to ignition.

So here is how my system is set up.

Bosch blue coil.
Mallory Unilite ignition.
The ignition is behind a resistor block.
MSD spiral wound plug wires.
NKG b5es plugs pregapped (one heat range hotter then stock as suggested in the resent spark plug thread) .

My tach is not dancing when I have a miss. The idle indicated drops as expected, no drama. So I don't think that the coil is grounding out or arcing.

As I understand the Mallory dizzy, it either works or it does not work, and there is not a lot of in-between.

My primary suspects are the plug wires. I am using the MSD spiral wound wires suggested for use with the Mallory, and I have only been using them this season.

Since you are not supposed to use the regular plug wires with a Mallory (as they can somehow cause the optical unit to burn out) buying replacement wires on a hunch is kinda expensive. Am I chasing my tail with this?

Also, I am using the stock gap. I think I am supposed to be able to use a wider gap with the Mallory, which will give better ignition. What kind of gap should I be shooting for? If it does turn out to be the plug wires as the problem area, should I go back to the stock heat range plugs, or stay with the hotter ranged plugs?

Oh, and for the "go back to FI" crowd, my motor is using a cam that would cause D Jet to commit suicide. In this case, it is not an option.

Zach

[ME733]

.........AT what R,P.M have you set your idle at?___________. what is the ignition timing at this Idle rpm?_____________.....what is the total ignition timing ? (all in) _____________.