Brass contacts, HEI cap & rotor
 

Are HEI cap & rotor available with brass contacts? (I assume they are better/last longer than contacts that appear to be aluminum.) If not aftermarket, maybe OEM parts. I hate to bother with a minor question, but I don't have a dealer nearby, and figured this would be an easy one for you guys! ;) FWIW, I bought my GM HEI used in '86, and don't know what it came off of.

I am pretty sure Accel parts have brass contacts. I picked up a Borg Warner Platnium cap and rotor for my HEI a year ago, and it had brass contacts on both pieces. I really don't know how much of a difference they make compared to allumium. Brass proably has a little less resistance than allumium, which would give you more power to the plugs, but i dunno. My cap and rotor were about $25 for both, btw.

I bought one for our two vehicles a couple years ago at Advance Auto,a nd was pretty disapointed. They both lasted 2 years, and that was it. They were so corroded that he truck died and I replaced it, and not even a month later mine went too.
They claimed life time money back too....bunch of B.S. they told me when i called that since they were not installed by aASE certified mechanic, that I was at fault for them going bad.

What a bunch of hooey!

Thanks for the replies, guys.

What's the general concensus here - is OEM better quality? I'm basically stock (no HiPo anything), but I don't want to be replacing cap & rotor every couple years. Anyone else willing to toss in their .02?

aluminum contacts wear out WAY faster-the current rips them appart faster... The accell caps have a brass button between the coil & the rotor whereas the chapies have a carbon button (carbon ones = more resistance). the borg warner ones i undertand are good too but i'm unsure what the coil button is made of. i change my cap & rotor every year & a half or so.

I have 3 HEI vehicles. I get my caps from Summit. They are MSD, come in red or black (I always get red of course) and cost around $10.00. Yes, they are copper.