My son is looking to upgrade the 350 distributor in his 55 chebbie from points to electronic. It is a mild street machine with Muncie 4 spd. I have a Crane in my 56 Y Block and works great. When I bought it Pertronix didnt have rev limiter and Crane did. Believe Pertronix III now has rev limiter. pros and cons of Pertronix, Crane, MSD, etc? Thx TC
The stock GM HEI distributor works so well that it doesn't make much sense to go after market on a small block Chev. They are available complete for about $100 where auto parts are sold. Summit and many others also sell a small cap version that uses an external coil. If you need a rev limiter may as well go on to an MSD unit (not very traditional though). Rev limiters on street cars driven with any degree of sanity don't make much sense IMO. Just avoid missing gears on those full power shifts.
GMC Bubba, here on the HAMB can set you up with a magnetic pickup in your OE distributor that can drive a GM HEI module or an MSD box, etc. The one he built for me it a work of art. It was way cheaper than any aftermarket dizzy and looks right.
I've had good luck with the Crane FireBall XR-i points conversion I used in the SBC in my '40 Ford Coupe. I installed the matching Crane coil at the same time. Got both from Summit. Easy to install and relatively inexpensive.....Don.
I still run mallory stuff as a rule. But I have run the petronix and a magnetic pickup is mor edurable and less prone to be effected by a power surge than the lazer pickup that the Mallory uses. Only con I can really give you is that a fella I know once dropped a magnet. Caused him to have a major miss. He called petronix about a replacement part and they sent him one free of charge. Well I guess standing behind you product isn't really a con is it. The petronix unit is a good unit. You really shouldn't need a rev limiter unless you are prone to miss shifts and don't know to lift.
4 speed car and a Hot Rodder behind the wheel - Rev Limiter is a definite plus! The new Ignitor III from PerTronix not only has a digital rev limiter built in (that is way more accurate then MSD's analog plug in chip) but also has multi spark all the way to Red line. If you have any questions about it let me know - I work for PerTronix.
I got the same in my '57 chevy, 327. Works great. Looks stock. FYI a GM HEI will not fit a tri-5 without a hammer to the firewall or 3/4" inch forward side motor mounts.
Outside of an HEI I like the Idea of GMC Bubba's conversions as they use all oem style parts that are available almost anywhere any time the stores are open. That pretty well eliminates sitting on the side of the road or in a parking lot waiting for the brown truck to deliver a red label package with a simple piece that can't be sourced in places except the manufacture or specialty vendors. That stuff is great for racing but who wants to sit and wait for a part in side of the road USA or miss a weekend rod trot or be late getting back home because of a part you can't walk into NAPA and find a replacement for.
A HEI distributor is about as traditional as a Sony Playstation, and if that's not enough they look like ..............
I had a throttle return spring break under acceleration once. that was 2 times too many. I did kill it and save the engine but now run a rev limiter.
I am running an HEI set up with my slightly beefed up SBC and like it a lot...simple, parts available (as stated above) and very good performance... Good luck, Cheers.........
running a pertronix in 327 65 Impala cant complain a bit. havent used crane stuff. normally run unilites if I change the dist out. good price compared to freshening an HEI. I dont trust 30 yr old HEI's - chased ingition problems one time because of it and dont want to spend the time, Id rather tune than diagnose old shitty ingition parts
The HEI came out around the time EGR started. I don't believe there were any stock HEIs that weren't for EGR engines. The problem with that is; the distributor has WAY too much total advance for a non-EGR engine. I know people get away with using them anyway, but it isn't right, and a number of problems than can result. So, if you use a stock HEI on a non-EGR engine you need to modify it. Kits are available to limit total advance and recurve as desired.
One of the ugly things about the HEI units is the wires that cross over the cap. I just bought a cap from Axccel that they call a "corrected" cap. The wires on the drivers side go to #'s 1,3,5 and 7 and on the passengers side to #'s 2,4,6 and 8. All very neat and orderly, someday somewhere somebody will go nuts trying to get an engine running if they wire the cap normally.
The potential problem with those kinds of caps is their greater propensity to arc/crossfire between the conductors molded into the cap. While old or inferior plug wires can do that too, at least you can see it happening in the dark.
Two things to keep in mind concerning distributors in a Tri 5 Chevy. First the firewall clearance, and second the wiper motor clearance. A stock Pertronix in any configuration is too tyall to clear the wiper motor, regardless of what the Pertronix techs tell you. Been there, and they said it would fit, but the plug wires are jammed against the wiper motor and I'm sure someday they'll rub through. The stock distributor cap barely clears the firewall, and a GM HEI is much larger and taller. It wont clear the firewall, so only way to get one in is relocate the engine an inch forward. Only real option is what I did, use a Pertronix kit in a stock Chevy distributor, and learn not to over rev the engine. The retrofit kit works great, and has the same cap, so clearance is fine.
Get the PerTronix Ignitor III conversion kit for the stock distributor - it has multi spark and a Digital Rev Limiter built in, all fits in the stock Chevy distributor.
You have two choices. 1. Buy a dwellmeter 2. Go to a junkyard and buy a HEI The used HEI I replaced my pertronix conversion with turned my plugs brown. I'm very happy.
Try a MSD 8019 EZ-1 just two screws and one wire. about 73.00 dollars from sparktec motorsports.com plus if it would quit on you can put the points back in and be on your way, (same two screws and wire) anyway I thought a HEI was a tight fit in a 55
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