HEI Swap

[FishinOrFixin]

This dead horse has been beat to death, and I have read all the searches but still never came up with what I am looking for. Anyone know of a kit with HEI plugs and wires that will replace the points distributor. Seller, price, past experience welcomed.

[Lee H]

A kit, no, not that I know of. What exactly do you need? If just plugs and wires, use the stock plugs and gap for HEI, as for the wires, I use 1975-82 corvette wires, they are for HEI and have enough length to route out of the way.

[FishinOrFixin]

I believe plugs are original to the truck, not much money to buy new ones. I want to remove the points distributor and install hei

[jimbosprint]

On my '72 with a 350 I have a Summit HEI distributor and plug wires for a '77 truck (under exhaust manifolds). Wiring wasn't too hard. I removed the coil and the yellow wire that goes to the starter, then I replaced the resistor wire that went from the coil to the bulkhead connector with a standard 12g wire and connected that to the power lead on the HEI distributor.

The spark plugs are the same for HEI or a points distributor. Your choice of plug wires depends mostly on what type of exhaust manifolds or headers you have. The wiring might also be a little different depending on what year and model your truck is.

[FishinOrFixin]

Corvette Dorman manifolds

You know which distributor it is that you have?

The plugs gaps are different between HEI and points. HEI requires more gap..45 I believe

[EdSevered]

Summit has a kit for $160, without spark plugs.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/cm...make/chevrolet

FWIW - I just used one of their Summit branded HEI Rebuild/Tune-up kits (~$80) and it worked very well. The common components in the above kit to the kit I used appear to be the same. I used standard Champion spark plugs, R43TS, I think..

** SORRY, I didn't click that you're looking for the whole disty. Summit does have a bunch of different kits, tho.

-Ed

[jimbosprint]

These are the parts I used. I'm sure there are many other choices that will work just as well or better. I don't know for sure if the plug wires will work for your manifolds.

Summit HEI distributor

Napa Belden plug wires

Delco spark plugs

[FishinOrFixin]

Those manifolds ate the same as stock but 1/2" more diameter.

[jeffahart]

I put a skip white on my 350 and spent almost 3x as much on the MSD super conductor wires. I've not had any trouble with the skip white. And it dropped right in with no fitment issues. I read a lot of bad stuff about the skip white, and I think it was on this forum. But I figured my tired 350 could benefit from this interim solution until I decide on what to do with the engine. And wow, it really made a difference. I've had no problems with the skip white it's been in almost two years. Look on their web site, they will tell you everything you need. Just make sure you get good wires, you want to make sure you actually get the full through-put to plugs.

[jeffahart]

Also, let me say I had a hard time making the decision to move away from points. One thing I always loved about the 350 is the ability to dial in the dwell angel through the trap door in the distributor. Love it and I may go back with my next engine.

[FishinOrFixin]

Appreciate the info. Will look into it.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by FishinOrFixin

This dead horse has been beat to death, and I have read all the searches but still never came up with what I am looking for. Anyone know of a kit with HEI plugs and wires that will replace the points distributor. Seller, price, past experience welcomed.

Never seen a kit, wires have to fit specific manifolds and plugs have to fit specific engine. Older engines take a plug with a flat seal, newer ones a taper seat.

I see you have corvette manifolds, so get 78 corvette wires for HEI.

HEI? Take your pick, all will do you, but be advised most aftermarket HEI distributors have a lazy curve for a low compression engine and work better if you have 9:1 or more compression. Weaker advance springs can be used if you are not happy with performance to get faster advance on low compression engines.

On the gas mileage side of it, hexagon shaped vacuum advance pod indicates adjustable pod and round indicates non-adjustable. This comes into play mostly in cruise situations.

If you want high performance and adjustability, get the MSD pro billet with the adjustable mechanical advance curve, with vacuum advance to enhance gas mileage.

Make sure you run a new power wire, the old wire for the distributor is too small and it's a "resistance" wire. You can simply replace the wire all the way back to the fuse block with 12 gauge red or pink. If you are running a lot of accessories through your ignition switch and don't want to overload your it, then run a 20 gauge wire from the same source and use it to turn on a relay powered from direct battery voltage.

Get plugs to fit your engine. I hope you still have the stock heat shields and plug wire brackets. You can get them here:
http://www.gmcpauls.com/Engine%20&%2...n%20Mounts.htm

[FishinOrFixin]

Now that is some information. Thanks

[davepl]

Originally Posted by FishinOrFixin

The plugs gaps are different between HEI and points. HEI requires more gap..45 I believe

Requires? No. Tolerates? Yes.

HEI has a more powerful spark and therefore they can afford to open the plug gap for a longer arc with a greater probability of a full burn. They couldn't get breaker points to fire reliably much over 0.030 to 0.035, particularly with higher compression.

More's better, it's just hard to build and ignition system because the top of the compression stroke is something like 300-400 psi, which means (excluding temp) about 25 as many air molecules to deal with.