Big block 366 HEI?

[LONGHAIR]

Originally Posted by 2tons of fun

i will spend 10min installing it like i said its not not that hard.

i dont like use the motor to do it because i am afraid that it will jump a tooth or not fall on the pump.

i dont have to get in and out of the bay repeatedly to crank the truck, them find tdc again, and hope its right. if its not i can just lift it up out and give a little turn with the driver and put it right back in.

It will not "jump"....The angle of the gears actually pulls downward as it rotates, and gravity is pretty tough too....LOL

I never "get in and out" of the truck to crank it, remote starter...and there is really no need to find TDC again. You had it once and dropped the distributor in the right place.....just pop the cap on and go.....

[Dieselwrencher]

You make it sound so so easy. LMAO! It doesn't always go that way though.

[OhOneWS6]

Originally Posted by txriverrat

Ok guys here's a picture with the original square drive points dizzy on the left and the new keyway drive HEI dizzy on the right.

Thanks for all the quick replies! I'm going to go ahead and try swapping the gears tonight, and we'll see how it goes.

Never seen that before myself. Definitely post back the results of the gear swap. Could help someone down the road.

[highperf4x4]

Originally Posted by bhoeger70

Now the blade on shaft of the hei drives the oil pump. Does the gear drive the pump on the 366 dist? If it does is the shaft the same legnth, and does it look the same after taking off the gears? I will say I have not seen that on a chevy dist before. I am thinking that changing the gears wont help but I could be wrong.

No Gen1 oil pump is gear driven. They all have a rod that connects them to the bottom of the distributor. This rod stays in the block when you pull the dizzy out as it is installed from the bottom.

[txriverrat]

Pulled the gears off of both dizzys last night, and it's a no go as far as a simple swap. Swapping the oil pump and drive rod looks to be the easiest option at this point.

[highperf4x4]

[txriverrat]

Originally Posted by highperf4x4

Hey, gotta learn somehow, right?

[highperf4x4]

Originally Posted by txriverrat

Hey, gotta learn somehow, right?

Actually I'm just glad that you're doing the rod swap and now it's a normal setup. I would have been happy for ya if the gear swap had worked though.



I have a 76 C60 flatbed with this same engine in it and I can't decide whether to make a hauler out of it or convert it into a Kodiak. Or, slap a dually body on it from a one ton with some frame mods and have the baddest rig in town!

[txriverrat]

I assume the intermediate shaft that I need would be one out of a big block, correct?

[highperf4x4]

yes, small block will be too short, in fact, go to a decent performance shop and tell them you need one for the 366 with a slotted driver.

[mike16]

I could be wrong but I think the 427and 366 truck blocks are tall deck and come with a longer distributor

[Dieselwrencher]

Mike16, read the first part of this thread...................

[bhoeger70]

If it was me I wouldnt drop the pan just to put an HEI dist. in. Get an electronic points conversion and run that and save your self alot of work. Recurve the dist. and it will run great.

[2tons of fun]

Originally Posted by highperf4x4

yes, small block will be too short, in fact, go to a decent performance shop and tell them you need one for the 366 with a slotted driver.

i probably have one that you can have.

[highperf4x4]

Originally Posted by bhoeger70

If it was me I wouldnt drop the pan just to put an HEI dist. in. Get an electronic points conversion and run that and save your self alot of work. Recurve the dist. and it will run great.

I would prefer to install a new oil pump while I was at it anyway. It isn't much trouble to do really.