Technical 1965 Chevy 327 Distributor upgrade

I have a 1965 Chevy 327 in a 1939 Ford Coupe - with stock distributor. I replaced plugs, points and condensor with A/C Delco items. Coil is stock replacement items - I bought a dist. cap and rotor from Corvette repo buisiness - repo heavy duty Corvette items. Points and condensor are stock units.

Engine has solid cam - I have GMC shipping tube the cam was packaged in - from the 1970 overhaul engine build. Old and can not read part number - the cam has 16 inches of vaccum idling at 1,100.

Car was my Dad's - want to keep period look. No room on firewall or larger HEI type distributor. Any suggestions for upgrades. I see small cap electronic dist available. Any suggestions from folks more knowledgable on 327 Chevy engines. I usually wrench on Winsor small block Fords.

Thanks,

 

Yes small cap, Pertronix set up to replace your points , magneto or dish in your cowl area .

 

Pertronix upgrade is a good way to go, or the small cap distributor. Either one will work. A SBC does not care if your distributor comes from a 283, 305, 327, or 350 all will work with each other. We done the pertronix in the 57 Chevy we built due to no room on firewall. Used the stock distributor from the 283 factory motor in the 350.

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I got my conversion from Crane Cams about 20 years ago. Except for differences in the wiring you would never know.

 

^^^ me too-in wife's 55 for many many years-no issues

 

Dual point , maybe bend up some hardline in place of the rubber fuel line. My .002

 

I have been hot rodding SBC, from 265" to 400" to 409" W motors.

I have used Mallory distributors, single point SBC, dual point SBC, MSD ignitions, Pertronix…..I have
always come back to a good old SBC single point distributor, set up correctly with a good advance curve.
It has never failed me yet, and oh, by the way, I do redline at 7,000 and have gone to 7,500 with no
issues.

Have fun with the build.

 

Forgot to mention, I'm speaking from 60 + years of wrenching on them.

 

I'm with the KIS points hands down if your distributor is still in good condition.

 

The stock GM distributor is pretty much bullet proof when you use quality points, condenser and cap......no real reason to change it out. Make sure you use a quality coil and plug wires also. Also make sure the shaft "end play" is within spec, and the drive gear is in good condition. I install Pertronix on all my SBC engines, mainly because they can handle 7000+ RPM easily (no point bounce), but not necessary for everyday reliability.

 

What’s wrong with what’s there? A 327 had a “window” distributor stock and they worked from 57-74. If your looking to modernize it, Pertronix 2 with their coil or Bosch replacement and a ballast resistor is hard to beat. If you want “ period correct” pop that Edelbrock off the front of the carb or at least cover it up. That screams 2000 more than anything. How about a black snorkel or chrome L79 repo dual snorkel air cleaner...

 

Pertronix conversions only eliminate the points, they dont add any more energy to the spark.
Thats what an HEI does.

The only disadvantage of points is regular maintenance [setting points]
Buy a dwell meter. [and learn to set the points by dwell]

With Chevy's you can do this with the engine running [about 30 second job]

If you want a hidden electronic ignition, get the points to trigger a Ford TFI unit that is wired remotely. The points will last forever.
The TFI triggers when the points open ,the same as a normal points Ignition ,so there is no rotor phasing issues

 

Just curious, why are you scared of points?

 

All it takes is one failure of a electronic ignition when on the road and you'll think again that you should have left in the points. I agree with the advice of learning how to use a dwell meter and carry a set of quality points, condenser, cap and coil and you won't have an ignition failure that can't be fixed. All three of my cars have points, two are AC Delco and third one is a Roto-Faze. Never been stranded.

 

I had a stock chevy points distributor converted to HEI a couple years ago. The points in my car worked ok and it ran good, I just wanted to try something different. The converted distributor looked pretty good in the car, and you had to really look to see the ignition module on the bottom.

 

hard line is under the heat shield. Will clean up when I pull engine to paint firewall.

 

I like points and had them in stock cars twisted up to 7000 RPMs. Just had to use good points, Accel or Blue Streak by Standard Ignition. All you need to do is carry a good used points and condenser and the tools to swap them out.

 

agree ..... the OEM black air cleaner was 4 or so inches and dropped base - would not fit the new carb. I need a Holley 5 inch base and go back with period correct air cleaner. The crome one is tempary . Might buy a repo L79

 

not scared - just changed them last night - first time in 20 years for me. I am a Ford engine guy - they were easier to reach vs Chevy. Just looking for performance increase and low maint. - but this car will never really be driven alot - perhaps 2,000 miles per year.

 

Between my grandfather and I's fleet of old cars, we are running points in pretty much everything. Have had cars with HEI and Unilights and swapped them back to points.

You can run a MSD 6AL box with points, I have that set up in my 33 pickup and its been trouble free for over 20 years with lots of drag strip passes.

 

Then I would save the condenser and use the points to operate a MSD box like a 6al or 7al depending on how many bells and whistle I wanted.

 

2000 miles a year? you already did the maintenance for the next five years. Worry about the ignition in five years.

 

If I keep the points - any suggestion about hotter coil?


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Why do you need a hotter coil?

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I would say leave it alone. Find something else to work on. Clean it and drive it. Go for 3000 miles a year.

 

You have what you need right now just keep it tuned. Might want to check the clearance on those valves if it is a solid cam. Can you make out any of the numbers on the tube? Just curious.

 

I agree with your choice of cap and rotor and also your standard D106P points. There’s no need for the D112P points with the heavier spring, they will just wear the rubbing block faster.
If you did want to change the coil you might consider the Bosch 00012 coil, it is a 3 ohm coil and you want to remove the ballast resistor if you do get the Bosch. Made in Germany, it is top quality, and if you ever wanted to go pointless it will be perfect with a Pertronix.

 

It's a Chevy, it doesn't need the crutches like a ford motor to run good, leave it alone and you'll be a set for years, I would look at NGK plugs though.

 

No really can not. My dad and his mechanic 1st cousin rebuild the 327 in 1970 - both has passed. Has 16 inches of vacuum.



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