Electronic Ignition

by Dead Man Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:54 am

was going to convert my old points system to Electronic Ignition, but im unsure on whats best, should I just get a Electronic Ignition kit, or can I just buy a full new distributor set up like this. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-850001R/

by 1973 454 MONTE Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:45 am

i bought one of these for my 73 monte. no complaints yet. now going on 2 years.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-BBC-CHEVY-V8-350-383-HEI-DISTRIBUTOR-WITH-65-K-COIL-WPM-HEI-01-R-/190723503399?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c6801b527&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sbc-Bbc-Chevy-Hei-Distributor-Extreme-65k-Coil-383-350-/200776256679?forcev4exp=true&forceRpt=true

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SBC-BBC-GM-CHEVY-V8-350-383-COIL-HEI-Racing-Distributor-65-000-65k-Red-Cap-/130728093185?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e70006601&vxp=mtr

by Dead Man Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:58 am

those are a good deal cheaper too, I will check into those. seems almost to easy, is it just a drop in type mod or will it go into a full rewire.

by BlackChevelleSS Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:00 pm

I was running that same HEI red distributor in my 70. Lasted a couple of months, went to the track ran 12 passes, made it a mile from my house and the pins the hold the advance weights broke off and slung the weights around completely destroying everything inside.

by 1973 454 MONTE Sat Sep 29, 2012 2:48 pm

from what i've heard there is a different voltage going to the points coil than the hei coil.

in my small block 73 i once had i just put a pigtail to the exsisting wire and was done.
but i bought an NOS engine harness for the 73-454 and it had 2 pigtails out of it for either. so i just used the hei plug and plugged in the tac wire and off i went.

by Dead Man Sat Sep 29, 2012 3:34 pm

thanks for the info guys

by 2fat2fly Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:52 pm

73ssbb wrote:thanks for the info guys

REAL QUICK ARE YOU JUST TRYING TO STAY WITH THE ORIGINAL DIST., OR ?
MSD MAKES A SMALLER DIST. THAT IS FULLY SELF CONTAINED YOU MIGHT WANT TO LOOK FURTHER, JUST IN CASE YOU EVER NEED THE EXTRA SPACE AROUND THE INTAKE, THEY ALSO LOOK KINDA COOL OVER THE HEI happy bowtie

by Dead Man Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:46 pm

well im not sure its been years since ive messed with stuff like this. I know for sure mine is needing some attention, so I figured while I was at it I might as well up grade to something better with better spark and such.

by ant7377 Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:34 pm

If you like the stock look put a petronix unit in there. Mine has been in my 73 for years,you would never know its there and you use your stock distributor the car pulls better too,I have their plug wires and coil as well.

by thatfnthing Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:38 pm

1973 454 MONTE wrote:from what i've heard there is a different voltage going to the points coil than the hei coil.

in my small block 73 i once had i just put a pigtail to the exsisting wire and was done.

The points used a resistance wire to lower the voltage to keep from burning them out prematurely. Therefore, this wire should not be used for the HEI, which expects a full 12 volts. It will still run, but you won't get peak performance out of it. The wire should be 16ga directly from a switched ignition source.

by Dead Man Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:52 pm

awesome, I will just run a new wire, thanks guys.

by BlackChevelleSS Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:25 am

I just recently switched to a msd Pro Billet HEI unit, its a little $$$ but I noticed a big difference in High RPM power over stock HEI

by Dead Man Wed Nov 21, 2012 3:11 am

well the time has come going to order this tomorrow night just want to double check with you all before I hit the buy button, just making sure this is all I will need to convert my points to hei. thanks in advance

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-csum2210

by bigredlaguna Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:20 am

You might want to add a pigtail connector to your order. Remember to delete the resistor in the factory power lead.

http://www.summitracing.com/search?keyword=hei%20pigtail&dds=1

by Joe73 Wed Nov 21, 2012 11:28 am

If you just want to upgrade to electronic ignition without having to use a CDI box, I'd go with this distributor. This one has vacuum advance.
http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/detail.aspx?Item=PE-323-R

If your running a CDI (MSD) box, I'd run this distributor. No vacuum advance on this one.
http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/detail.aspx?Item=6601-R

Or if you like the large GM HEI cap, take a look at these.
http://www.skipwhiteperformance.com/listview.aspx?Product=A&Sub=A

If your not running a big cam or high compression, I'd go with the 2nd choice with the vacuum advance.

I know 2 guys who have been running these distributors for several years with no problems. And the price cant be beat and the internals are interchangeable with other manufacturers.

Just FYI.

Oh yeah, and definitely run a new "keyed" hot wire to power any electronic distributor you go with.

by Dead Man Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:13 pm

thanks for the info, the reason Im wanting to stay with summit I have some credit there Im gonna use lol. but with the link I posted will I need a coil or cdi box running that unit or can I just ad the power wire and be on my way. Im going to call them and ask them will it clear everything after reading that.

by pila Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:49 pm

If you look at the fuse block, you will see some markings for IGN, which is switched power, that you can use for your HEI. A spade connector will slide onto the terminal next to the IGN marking on the fuse block.
You don't need anything like a CDI or other ign box with an HEI distributor, just the connector that goes on the distributor, like bigredlaguna mentioned. That pigtail is also available from Summit.
I've been dealing with Summit since 1983, and they have the best customer service I've ever had.

by Dead Man Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:59 pm

yeah I like them too, thanks guys, about to order everything along with fuel pump, will update after intall.

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