i know this thread has died of natural causes, but thought i would give an update.

with the new slotted reluctor in, and a hole drilled in the cap, the rotor is dead on the terminal. also, as has already been reported and verified here, the position of the rotor did not move as the mechanical advance came on.

while the FSM says vacuum advance is only about 10 degrees, i have no idea if that is also the case for the mopar electronic distributor i have in there, but it looks like it. with the engine running and the timing light shining, using a mighty vac i brought in all of the advance and the rotor was still in a good position to the terminal.

so, don't know if this was my issue yet, but this is certainly one thing out of the picture!