Hello HAMBsters, While I wait for the weather to get better, I've been taking care of all the little things in the garage I've been putting off for years. One is to rebuild one of the many HEI's I've picked up from junkyards and swaps, so that when the weather gets better I can have a "fresh" one in my driver. Dis***embly and cleaning is pretty straight forward, but I made the mistake of re-reading Dave Vizard's "How to Rebuild Your Small-Block Chevy"*. In it, there is mention of an "HEI mechanical overhaul kit", which "contains the shaft and centrifugal advance/retard mechanism as an ***embly". Now it is in my head that I want to replace this ***embly, but I can't find it at the parts store. The manager at the local Carquest (Mary Ellen, she's so nice and accomodating) says she remembers being able to get it once, but can't find a part number. Have any of you ever chased this part down? Who was able to get it for you? I've also got a NAPA nearby, and, -ick-, a Checker and Autozone. Or is there a website I can visit that will have what I need? Thanks fellas, Guillermo Acosta *Vizard's book is excellent. Very well written, both understandable and detailed and complete, and supplemented nicely with images, tables, and captions.
The "kit" you mentioned is available for the late model (no advance) units etc. I havent seen the early kit for many years. There is a kit to install the nylon bushings on the upper shaft ( weight holes) that work very well. I have a jar full of these bushings and would be more than glad to mail you a few if you want to go that direction. You just cant beat the factory advance weights as the kits us poorly made jap stuff. Same with electronic coils,pickup coils etc...Delco is the "only" way to go as other parts are often polarity sensitive etc...chevrolet is red yellow wired coil , olds-pontiac is white red etc, there are three different pick ups etc.....
The shaft and advance ***embly you mention was available from GM parts as mentioned above,expensive at about 160 bucks last I heard.A new distributor from GM is 220 bucks or so.This is the same advance stuff used in GM hi performance crate motors that come with an HEI using a vacuum advance.This unit gives about 22 degrees of mechanical advance as the engine sees it.
Thanks Bubba, Thanks Trucked. You guys gave me the information I was looking for. 1. It is a really hard to find item, and 2. It is a really expensive item. Time to start saving for a new one. I was hoping there would be some cost advantage to replacing the rotating parts, but apparently a new distributor is probably a better idea. I'll probably keep the HEI's I've got to give away to guys around here who need one... Also on my list of things to do is to work on better karma. great. Thanks, Acosta
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