Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines HEI or electronic?

For my freshly rebuilt 250 with ~8.8:1 compression with lump port head.

I really dislike the look of the large HEI cap. I've heard of a remote coil small cap HEI but can't find where you can buy one.

Do you get benefits similar to HEI with an electronic conversion of a regular distributor?

What are these benefits?

Teach me please.

Thanks.

Try Langdon's stovebolt at stoveboltengineco.com

I think most feel that HEI is superior to the conversions. I have a Langdon's HEI dist. with the external coil and it works great on my 230. It's just a 75-76 250 dist.-nothing special. It's really the first mod I've done but it made the car run a lot more consitently than the old beat up points dist.

The cap without the coil in it that fits the HEI distributor is CarQuest # DR 446, Rotor is DR 319X, And coil is DR 35. They also sold an electronic conversion for 62-74 point distributors # LX 808 which is the same as Pertronix # 1162A. I've used Pertrinix, Mallory, and stock HIE. They all work well for a driver but at some point they will all leave you on the side of the road. Carry a spare module.

If you can get past the look, the simplicity of a "one piece" package is worthwhile, IMO. No need to mount an external coil, route a coil wire, etc.

I did the in-cap HEI about a decade ago. It was an excellent decision over the stocker.

Two items that get overlooked occasionally when electronic ignition is installed in the electrical system are:
1) the charging system
2) ignition switch

The older mechanical voltage regulators can generate some fairly big voltage spikes - which the ignition module may not like.
The newer (2000+) alternators are really efficient and are a lot more compact than any of the previous ones - easier to hide out of sight.

The early points type ignition switch some time can cause grief also a) they have many cycles on the contacts and b) they were never designed to handle the current of say a HEI system.
So the fix is to use a relay to feed the ignition system. Just carry a spare relay/jumper wire in the glove box in case it pack it in.

Thanks for the tips. I chose the external coil HEI. I'll have more questions when it's time to install it.

I installed a internal coil HEI in my 292 GMC about 20 years ago. The GMC uses a cloth covered ballast resistor wire, which connects from the firewall plug/connector to the distributor coil. I had disconnected the ballast wire and ran a copper wire with HEI connector in its place. After installing the HEI and setting the timing the HEI module burned out on the third time I started the engine.
I believe it was because of the mechanical voltage regulator as efi-diy pointed out. I removed the new wire and put the HEI connector on the ballast resistor and have not had reason to change it in 20 years. The 1.8 ohm ballast only drops about 2 volts. With 13.5 V from the original ex reg alternator at idle, I still have 11.5 V at the HEI. That equates to just slightly over one Amp and has not caused a problem with the ignition switch in all these years. The slightly lower voltage and the added resistance reduces the chance of damage from a voltage spike.
I did replace the internal coil HEI with an external coil HEI about three years ago to get more clearance for the Sanden AC compressor.
The AC unit is an electronic Climate Control from a Lincoln with two small diameter pusher fans from Cadillacs. One has 208 degree switch and has never turned on.

Still have the same 10DN external reg alternator.

The original HEI module was an aftermarket piece and not considered as reliable as the GM module that I have now. The regulator is now a replacement with semiconductors inside instead of relays.
It all works for me and I don't carry a spare anything.