Goodbye hei ignition system!!!!

[Wrenchbender Ret]

One of the reasons for failure is the cheap parts being sold out there. The economy parts sold & used by the "remans" are often crap.
I have never liked the Petronics that has the reluctor hanging down from the advance plate. They do have one now that mounts in place of the points & uses the stock cam for the signal. I bought one but havn't ran it yet. Im building up a v-8 for my 56. I would use the factory HEI but there is not enough clearance the 56 firewall.

[waspp]

I've always had good luck with the HEI systems but wondered about clearance on my 63. Has anyone used or know about the small hei units from Skip White? I like the external coil and the price is right but certainly not US made.

http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/...px?Item=6701-R

[hd74]

i have a big cap hei on my 454 in a 62 and it clears the firewall

[HEI451]

The PerTronix LS ignition, that reads the points cam, has issues in starting and sensing the points cam. Some reports are that the components inside the LS require some few seconds to "charge up" as the engine cranks over, before spark signal is issued to the coil. Others are of spark fall off, from the signal to the unit from the points cam isn't strong.

I don't really care, as all I do with PerTronix is remove them as they show up, never had one here that still worked, always blown up, more than a few weren't the first of their kind in the distributor. One distributor I had here, had 8 replacements in it, and the owner was fed up, as PerTronix kept telling him it was 'his installation' that caused them to fail. He lived near their facility, and when the last two, that PerTronix installed, failed, I got the job of exorcising his distributor from the evil demon ignition. Over the course of 25 years of doing my conversions, I have a number of 55 gallon barrels full of blown up PerTronix units, but then, I see more than most do, being in the ignition system business.

[benwah]

I talked to someone at PerTronix. Avrage life span is 7 years. I had one in my 68 Dodge A100 pickup, I believe it lasted 8 years for me, I drive it around 1000 mi a year. It left me stranded. I put a new set of points and condenser back in. Cost me under five dollars. If you plan on useing pertronix keep a set of points and a book of matches in the glove box.

[hd74]

if you still enjoy points go ahead and change back to a generator so you can change brushs too

[tincan1966]

I am not a fan of Pertronix. BUT I think it is worth mentioning that most of the complaints are dealing with one of the cheapest conversion kits available and as with any conversion, it's only going to be as good as what you started with. Some of the people I know that have used pertronix kits, were installing them on worn out distributors to begin with, and a couple people I know never rewired the ignition to receive the proper voltage by removing the resistance wire-low voltage causes more failures than anything. If you're going to the trouble to change, purchase a part that is actually designed to do what you need.
My personal choice is MSD, mainly because I have had good service from the parts I purchased. My service truck has the MSD version of the HEI, big cap, with the coil mounted in it. 35K miles and no problems.
I personally would never go back to points, not because of maintenance, but because of limited performance.

[LostMy65]

I had HEI in my 81 for 8 years and forgot it was even in there.
Never had to do a thing.

[purebred]

I dont see the importance of wanting to change to a generator just because you want the original distributor with points. Seems like some people on here just like saying their 2 cents worth even if it don't make sense.

[HEI451]

There is NO reasonable reason to retrofit a generator to an engine, not even going to a point ignition system. GM used both generators and alternators for charging on point ignition vehicles, for many, many years, with no issues between properly functioning charging system venues.

Now, sensible people that have better than average fabrication skills, would do as I have for a few conversions over the years, find a nice, tiny high ampere alternator off a Japanese vehicle, and fit it into the stock generator housing, for that stock, but sneaky, stealth update look.

[pmkrew]

I use a MSD blaster box with my stock HEI distributor, 16 years and still going strong. The MSD gets rid of the stock module and wires into the pickup in the distributor for a signal, great system love it.

[tomfg]

I was hoping someone would chime in that had some "real life" experience with gains in gas mileage by going to HEI.
With the current gas prices, and predicted rising prices, would I benefit
in mpg by switching to HEI?
Thanks, Tom

Originally Posted by tomfg

Just curious, what improvement in "miles per gallon"
would one obtain by switching to HEI from points?
At 11 mpg, it's the only reason why I'm interested.
Thanks.

[HEI451]

Asked and answered above. A better ignition system, and curves, would allow the jetting to be altered to more optimal for economy, although the increase wouldn't be significant.

Want better mileage, go buy a 4 cylinder fuel injected car/truck with an over drive as a daily driver, and keep the classics for special events.

edited by staff

[406 Q-ship]

I have been using HEI's for years in many different vehicles. I have never had one failure except when replacement parts for them starting coming from overseas. I would exclusively use Delco Cap, Rotor, and Modules and when they were the US made ones they would go for years, then Delco sent production overseas and the failures began. I have had the same issue with points distributors, US produced points lasted to the next tune-up but once they went overseas then they were lucky to make it a years (months was closer).

The biggest issue with the HEI is the module must have the dielectric grease under it, and the modules really do not like heat.

I have started using the Crane XR-1 (two vehicles currently) and they are going strong.

[HEI451]

NOPE, the biggies tissue with the large coil in cap HEI's ISN'T the module to body heat transfer, but, the COIL itself. It is surprising just how little heat transfer compound is needed for module health.

[tomfg]

HEI451,
I've resigned myself for using this truck for
a daily driver, so I'm looking at all options
for improving mpg's, including changing
rear end gearing, and I'm doing my best
to have a regiem charge next year!

[argonaut]

I used points on my small block for years, trouble free.
I've also been using a GM HEI on the 396 trouble free, but not for as long.
I like both but would prefer electronic ignition so long as quality parts are used.

[HEI451]

Tom, the way to do it is to first, get the engine to be most efficient at low to mid range rpms. Build a torque engine, NOT a hot rod rev beast.

Then, use a good ratio rear end, with some sort of over drive and lock up converter trans, like the 700R4, 200R, to lower the cruise rpm's.

On the engine tech, think this, air flow isn't the key here, using it efficiently is, so NO ported heads, NO big valves, NO radical cams, and keep the compression ratio at a decent level, 9.50:1 is decent and doable for regular unleaded use.

The less air you move through the engine, the less fuel is needed. And, old racers like me knew that it isn't giant flow volume that makes the engine run good, it is the speed of that air/fuel mix, the velocity. With massive volume flow, there isw air flowing so slowly,m it doesn't work until high rpm's. With speeding the mix up, with high velocity, you fill the cylinder with more volume, by reason of faster flow at lower rpm's fills more efficiently.

Conservative is the key word for fuel economy.

[Lee H]

Use of quality parts in either points type or HEI distributor will significantly improve reliability. Example, a quality US made HEI module cost about $45 dollars. A whole off shore HEI distributor cost about $60 bucks.
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