Points vs HEI 1969 C/10

[Stocker]

It's been a loooong time, but iirc, stock wires are 7mm and you'll want 8mm with HEI.


If I'm mistaken, it will be quickly pointed out.

[Slik69]

Originally Posted by Stocker

It's been a loooong time, but iirc, stock wires are 7mm and you'll want 8mm with HEI.


If I'm mistaken, it will be quickly pointed out.

Yeah, I have 3 sets of new 8mm wires. {robably be going with the AC Delco's. I can't wait for daylight.

[Longhorn Man]

if the engine is stock and original, and nothing is listed in the option list on the SPID, then it'd be a 307... which your harmonic damper thickness also points to a 307.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Stocker

. . .... it will be quickly pointed out.

All that & a comedian too .

[Slik69]

Originally Posted by Longhorn Man

if the engine is stock and original, and nothing is listed in the option list on the SPID, then it'd be a 307... which your harmonic damper thickness also points to a 307.

According to mortec, it cannot bea 307.


Block cast. no.
3970010....302.....69....4...Z-28 Camaro
3970010....327.....69....2...Trucks and industrial
3970010....350...69-80...2 or 4

[Slik69]

I was told it could be 327 too. The badges on the truck are 8/350. I have not looked this up. 1st Chevy.

[19673ontree]

Originally Posted by cdowns

biggest downfall of points is lack of knowledge and maintenence on the owners part

I thought a lot about this subject and the above NAIL'S IT
people don't like point's because they can't get them set right ,
myself I love my point's , my 67 camaro has run and gave me good service for ten year's with two set's at about $6 buck's each so that's about $1.20 per year , the hei will leave you sitting beside the road with no warning too !

[Boog]

Originally Posted by 19673ontree

I thought a lot about this subject and the above NAIL'S IT
people don't like point's because they can't get them set right ,
myself I love my point's , my 67 camaro has run and gave me good service for ten year's with two set's at about $6 buck's each so that's about $1.20 per year , the hei will leave you sitting beside the road with no warning too !

I'm glad to see you like the points setup. It's not really difficult to set them right. The thing is they wear down and require adjustment now and then to keep them gapped right. There is no adjustment necessary on the HEI dist and they run for many carefree miles. Much stronger spark too!
I'm just curious. In the 10 years of service how many miles did you put on those points?

[19673ontree]

in 10 year's I have put 90K mile's on my 67 camaro with changing point's two time's and it is right now running good with the second set , that's just one car I have drove pre 1970 chevy's for 25 year's with point's ,
one fact that people nowaday's forget is that we drove car's with point's from 1905 till the 1970's with no trouble !

I will say this if an electric HEI type run's it run's good and when it die's it just die's and you replace part's till you fix it ,
with point's when they need a dwell set they give you a warning and let you know , I keep my dwell meter in they trunk of my car or glove box of my truck , and since my dad showed me how to set point's 35 year's ago I actually enjoy the 40 or 50 second's it take's to adjust them ,,,

I LIKE E'M !

[Stocker]

Interesting discussion... I am old-school, grew up in the Sixties and am perfectly capable of installing and properly adjusting a set of points. You can set them close enough without feeler gauges if necessary, that's what matchbook covers are for! Nothing wrong with points if that's what you like.

But as has been mentioned by several, they will deteriorate and some of them are hard to reach. And HEI has some distinct advantages.

If you're concerned about HEI leaving you stranded, toss a spare module in your glove box... In fact, the only time I was stranded by a failed ignition was when I was still on points and the coil failed.

[19673ontree]

my 67 camaro still has it's original delco coil , the build date on it is nov 1966 ,

[Slik69]

I am changing my dist to HEI today, but wanted to note that it took my mechanic all of 5 minutes ton install new points/set them. He has some little device (meter) that he hooked up and set them to 28 or 27.9. Said it was close enough. He said the window is 28 to something.. I forget. I do remember it was relatively easy. I let some shade tree mechanic work on it before hand and he had the point way too open ( to the point that if you turn it 1/4 turn the engine would shut off) and he had the timing wayyyy advanced. It's all dialed in, running excellent, and it even looks like I picked up some mpg, but curiiosity is still killing the cat here that makes me want to use the HEI sstem.

[19673ontree]

LOL!
the little device was a dwell meter , a small block chevy run's perfect at between 28 to 32 dwell , dwell is the time the point's are set on ,

[PanelDeland]

3ott is right about the meter.If you stay with the points you're gonna need one.That is unless you want to pay for a simple job every6-12 months.

[Slik69]

Originally Posted by 19673ontree

LOL!
the little device was a dwell meter , a small block chevy run's perfect at between 28 to 32 dwell , dwell is the time the point's are set on ,

That's how much I have dealt with points. Got the HEI installed today.. will update things noticed and ask some questions about the vac. advance not working properly. We basically bypassed it (blocked-off vac adv.) because it did not seem to run properlu when on. It accelerates better than when installed. There seemed to be a delay then the rpm kicked it.


I got one cylinder that does not change you pull al plug wire. Has a subtle miss. Looks like the plugs is firing though?

[69chevytruckin]

Yeah its way better my points and condensor wore so tore up my dad said the first thing to do is switch to H.E.I and the swap is pretty easy to.

[Slik69]

Did the swap yesterday and did not notice a difference immediately, but as I drove more I did. Seemed to accelerate faster, smoother. Still runs like crap at idle, but it could judt be a tored dog also. I have exhaust leaks everywhere so it's really hard to tell where the power loss at idle is.

[zeeklu]

When you do the swap don't forget to run a new wire to supply a full 12 volts. The old cloth covered wire is a resistor wire and only supplies about 9 volts. Chris

[justcuz]

Ok your block is a 302,327 or 350
Heads are 75 to 86 350/400 heads with 76 cc combustion chambers
there are 3 different valve sizes you could have in these.
I doubt it is a 302 so that leaves a 327 or 350. Based on the size of the dampener I'd guess at a 327. So if you have a 327 with large chamber heads, that thing should run on the crappiest gas you could put in it!

[justcuz]

Originally Posted by c10addict

Not to hijack the thread but I was getting ready to start a post to see how you check the tach signal from a HEI dizzy. My new tach quit working after about 2 weeks in my 64.. all the wires are hooked up properly..

The tach feed off the HEI comes right off the cap next to the 12 volt wire to energise the distributor. It even says tach on the cap. If you do not have a signal to that wire you need to take the center of the cap off and reveal the coil. Track the wire from the connector to the coil, if it is intact then your trouble is between the distributor and the tach, probably where the wire goes through the firewall. Or maybe the tach took a dump, check it with another tach. Also make sure your tach ground is good.

[Pont406]

HEI is better. I didn't see anyone mention that HEI has a different timing curve and might ping on high comp motor. HEIs were set up for a smog motors and they have way too much vacuum advance.

[justcuz]

Oh and for the record I swapped out in an HEI for my point distributor in my 72 and when I had it smogged after that, it reduced the emissions by 40%. An HEI runs 60 thousand volts to the plugs, thats why they run better in the wet! I have a curve kit in mine and it really brings these old engines to life.
Full mechanical advance all in by 3500 rpms.

[Pont406]

wow 40%! I think your nox were high due to over advance timing. HEI was probably set closer to stock timing and as a results lower hc and nox reading.

[justcuz]

No the old point distributor had a bad bearing in it, so I had some spark scatter at 2500.
On my 68 wagon with a stick (it has an air pump) it reduced emissions by 60%The guy said it ran as clean as a 1992 350 and we all know those are FI engines.
By the way the engine in my wagon is a 75 4 bolt 350 out of a 1 ton Chevy truck with a cast iron high rise Chevy intake, a quadrajet, an HEI with a curve, a 415/430 lift cam and dual exhausts with Corvair Turbo mufflers.
It has a 3.08 12 bolt with a 4 speed and gets 21 mpg on the road at 70mph but still has enough grunt to tow my 16 foot ski boat.

[elektrik]

Originally Posted by haysonj

Go to the salvage yard and get one out of a 75 to 86 chevy and should work or buy rebuilt from parts house but you will pay a core charge everything you need is in the dist.

Two things:

1. Can we still do that? Can we still *go* to salvage yards in CA?
2. 75 - 86 Chevy.....Truck? Car? V8? 350 only? I think I would feel a little more comfortable doing that if I knew more specifics as to what model vehicle, etc.