911 still dead, ...wasn't points Options

[ArtechnikA]

background: Friday morning i drove the 911 to work; ran fine. Friday
night wouldn't start - no spark. looked (in the fading light) like
bad points - worn or broken rubbing block. had a spare set of points,
took a couple of days to find 'em. meanwhile ordered the Crane points
replacement module which, through a series of issues, should be here
Tuesday. got back to the car today, replaced the points. no spark.
checked the gap, all that, verified open/close with a meter. no spark.
verified all connections to the MSD box; fine. tested the 'coil' and
it appears just fine - and anyway - tach output from the MSD box is
independent of the coil.

looks like YET ANOTHER sudden MSD-6 failure. i like these when they
work but i'm afraid they're just too fragile for the real world...

so my options are (as i see them right now) to get YET ANOTHER MSD-6AL
overnighted here, or cancel/return the Crane 700 points replacement
module and instead get the Crane/Allison 735 or the X3000 equivalent
(full CD ignition) with the points replacement optical shutter and a built-in CD box.

am i the only one to be having problems with MSD boxes ? (i bought
this one used, might have had a prior 'issue' but was "tested OK' by
AutoTronic (surprise!) anyway - i got my money's worth to this point
but now we're working on what to do next ...) does the performance
advantage (over the Crane) outweigh their fragility ? is the Crane
fragile too? is MSD's reputation justified ? i notice every NASCAR
cup car uses them, but every NASCAR cup car uses TWO, so the failure
of one won't leave them out of the points. Autotronic doesn't sponsor
me, and i ain't runnin' two boxes on a single-plug car just so i won't
get stranded...

open to suggestions here, i want to pull the trigger on whatever i do
ASAP ...

either way (MSD or Crane) i will be using the Crane points replacement module.
i'm using an aftermarket (AutoMeter) tach so operation with the stock tach is not required but this one is ...