No its not normal, check your gap between the signal pickup and the stator (reluctor?) ah hell...that thingy with the 4 points on it mounted low on the shaft!!! lol
The gap from the signal pickup to the contact ends of that thingy is supposed to be between .008 and .016, I set mine to .012. Sounds like your clearance might be in the range of ....ummm well .000 to .000 which is a good way to break and burn things. If you want to check the condition of the signal pickup stick the probes of a meter into the end of the plug and you should have a resistance of like 140-180 Ohms.
~Darin <img border="0" alt="[Baby]" title="" src="graemlins/baby.gif" />
**PS use non-ferrous feeler gauges if ya got em...them are the copper colored ones.