Been watchin' this thread from the side lines. First off, welcome to CHR! Lots of great people here and tons of technical expertise. I'll add my 2 cents re; Accel products have never been my favorite and I have had similar issues with an Accel distributor in a 400 SBC. I used it because the kid I was working with bought it and was real excited about it but it never timed well. Replaced it with a stock HEI and the problems disappeared.

IMHO - the stock HEI is good for all but the most extreme builds. If you can get a stock GM unit and install a new quality cap and rotor your issues may cure themselves. You're headed the right direction with 8-10 initial and all in at 32-36.

Summit has an OEM replacement for under $100 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-850001r/overview/ or an MSD for $120 - http://www.summitracing.com/parts/msd-8362/overview/

I hear ya on the corrected cap but have not had the best of luck there either. The OEM cap or an MSD unit seems to work the best

Good Luck,
Glenn