Pertronix II users

TrailBeast said
I had a friend doing a first start on a brand new built 440.
It wouldn’t rev past about 1,200 and missed real bad.
It also ran super rich with black smoke pouring out the exhaust.
They wanted to try another known good carb, but it made no difference.

When I got there I noticed the distributor wires had been spliced and I asked if I could swap the polarity on them and that did it.
It ran great after that, but unfortunately it was already eating a lifter from the screwing around.
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Yup. I've read of and heard stories about troubles with the phasing of pick-up coil wires. That issue does seem to fit as a solution to this problem very well.

But there is all sorts of scatter in other directions for some reason...

With some problems, listening to folks that have seen and heard about the exact problem that is at hand is a good place to start. ;)

Until it's proved otherwise, my money is on your suggestion.