[Jim Sims]

The hardness/durability of the point arm follower is a compromise between wearing it out and wearing away the distributor lobe profile. It's better to wear out the points than the more expensive distributor. 3000 miles is a bit premature though; I've usually obtained 10,000 miles or so with other systems and I would think the CD system should do better. Are you using Bosch points! I'm told the other "store brands" don't work as well as the OEM parts. I was taught that it was okay to reset points as long as there wasn't a visible cone/crater on the contacts from metal being moved by the spark, but never clean the contacts. However, that was back in the days when labor was cheap and parts were expensive (hey wait, that sounds like my Porsche hobby today). I also adjust to the middle of the dwell specification range for best performance and then wear through the high dwell (gap too narrow) side of the tolerance range. I believe if you want to fully exploit the tolerance range for longest life given the way the Bosch point follower moves and wears (gap narrows as wear occurs) one should set at the lowest acceptable dwell (wide point gap). Correct me if I'm wrong here. Once in Mexico I set the points on a jeep using my finger nail; at first we thought it was the Pemex gas but it was just wear or the point lock screw becoming loose. By the way the points on my son's 73.5 have opposite hand to most other Porsche points. The wrong points were sent to me four times before I used information from one of Early_S_man's posts to tell the supplier exactly what to send! Cheers! Jim