Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines Distributor time...

I need to start thinking about an HEI distributor for my 292 project. I have 2 that I've found in the wreckin' yards over the last year. One is out of a 1980-ish Chevy Pick-up, and the other is older, I think. It was in a '69 Chevy Pick-up, so I know it was not stock, but it just seems older than the other one. One of them has nylon pads that the weights seem to ride on, the other does not. I would like to rebuild these, more to learn how as well as learn more about distributors in general. Any advice? Where does a guy find parts for them? Are they still available from GM?

When you purchase an advance kit, it will come with the plastic sliders for the weights to slide on. Just make sure though.
SBC HEI kits work.

On the distributer shafts, are they both one piece solid or a two piece shaft?

You need dielectric grease for mounting the module.

MBHD

I was wondering if the weights and springs were different than the SBC's. The shafts are 2 piece, with the bottom 2 inches or so the second piece. Is that what you mean by 2 piece? One of the drive gears seems a little more worn, compared to the other. Are those the same as SBC, too? It would surprise me if they were. Are they available?

I think the weights are the same as SBC, I have had both, just never had them side by side to compare or looked them up to see if there are any difference.

Yep two piece shafts.

Gears are different than a SBC, not interchangeable.

These are available. http://www.ebay.com/itm/171-RS09-DISTRIB...bcad7ec&vxp=mtr

These are cheap, but, can't comment if they are good or not, but it's new.

MBHD

Absolutely the second best modification you can do for the money that you can do for your old inline!! The very cheapest thing, is NOT to buy a spring kit at all, but just remove ONE of the stock advance weight springs. Dont worry, the remanining spring will bring it all back down at idle (they are all cammed together). Just make sure every thing is clean and LIGHTLY lubed (dont want to be slingin' oil/grease around under the distributor cap).$9.98 not spent is $9.98 toward somethin' else!!!

You need a spring kit, don't be cheap as someone mentioned.
An advance kit is cheap & worth while to get.

One spring is most likely too stiff anyways.

You need to see what advance you want/need for best performance.
Taking one spring off leaves you w/only one advance curve..

That one advance curve is most likely Not,, what your engine wants.

MBHD

I see our resident expert who has never tried it has spoken.

Are you stalking me?

Installing an HEI in my 292 was one of the best upgrades I did. I installed a spring kit, IIRC used the fast advance springs. Installed a adjustable vac adv. The vac adv had to be limited, that was in the instructions. I replace the wire to the ignition switch with 10 awg. The 292 ran great even if it was old.

The OEM HEI distributor was for emission control, as such it lost both centrifugal and vac adv over the years. The later HEI distributor have more advance lost than the early ones. The first year for HEI was 74-75 and they had external coils. The OEM HEI does not have the advance of an early points distributor. There is a points replacement kit for the points distributor called Pertronix that will get you a bit more spark. May have to get another coil. I've heard good and bad about the Pertronix, it is not a true HEI.

Search the internet and you find the bent 8 group have a particular set of weights they like. There are instructions for rebuilding, and trial error re-curving. I have copies on one of my computers, se3nd me a PM and I'll try and find them.

Larry

I believe the only HEI's that did not have centrifugal advance were the computer controlled ones.

I have had a couple 1975 external coil HEI & 1978 internal coil OEM, that both have centrifugal advance.

The problems with HEI over time they are neglected & never get taken apart for cleaning & re-lubing & the centrifugal advance mechanism gets stuck & they will not give any mechanical advance.

Just a F.Y.I. I have used standard springs w/one taken off, I have used aftermarket spring kits & have used one spring instead of the two.
Using the aftermarket lightest spring & only one spring does not allow the advance mechanism to return back to 0 advance (too light)

Using a stock spring & only one stock spring is too tight, the advance is slow & does not work as well as the aftermarket spring kit.

When a person is wanting to rebuild a distributor, why give sub performance information? Stalker, quit following me & unless you have useful information stay away from my posts, make up your own post in your own builds, o- forgot, you don't have any builds.



MBHD

Oh I forgot,I need to bow to the king of the inliner keyboard, and get his highness' permission to post. Please pardon my mis-step. Testy-testy!

In other words, why don't you contribute to this forum? Instead of following me around here & giving useless information & comments.

MBHD, you have misinterpreted "The OEM HEI does not have the advance of an early points distributor.". I'm only referring to the number of degrees of advance. Yes the HEI distributor has both centrifugal and vacuum advances both of which were limited over the years.

Larry

Will any decent parts house have the spring kits? Are there different kits or is there an assortment of springs and weights in each kit?

Thanks, guys!

My bad. Easy to misinterpret on the net. Sorry.

MBHD

Yes, IIRC, you should get three different spring rates. Three sets in each kit.

MBHD

A decent parts house would other wise, Summit, Jegs, Speedway, that auction site. There are a few manufactures, but the kits are all basically the same with minor variations. What you should look for are 3 pr of springs, (light, medium, and heavy), a pair of weights, 2 pr of bushings (this is not always the case). The bushings are for the weights and the pivot posts they ride on. The weights are useable but not as well made as OEM. There is also a center plate.

He's a couple of links;

Disassembling distributor.
http://www.rustpuppy.org/ignition2/Ignition%202b.htm

Re-curving. this link isn't the best for curving a distributor.
http://www.rustpuppy.org/ignition2/Ignition%202b.htm
this link is better
http://www.442.com/oldsfaq/ofign.htm#IGN%20Tuning

Larry

My builds were not of this century junior

Also for clarity, do not use dielectric grease when replacing the module. Dielectric grease is an insulator which would cause heat to build up in the module and premature failure.

Rather, use heat transfer compound

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&h...img.DlDYGtOWT0A

It's been so long since I used this grease, but I could have sworn that the GM dealer sold me dielectric grease for my module.

Never had one fail using dielectric grease either.

I would say call a GM dealer & ask what they use for those modules.

It does make sense to use a heat transfer compound, I just think GM used dielectric grease.


If you look on other forums a lot of people recommend dielectric grease & or heat transfer compound.

MBHD

I adapted a junk yard HEI to my GMC 6 many years ago and it is still working great. There was a noticeable improvement in engine starting and performance. I had to modifying the HEI mechanical advance curve (no vacuum connection) to mimic the old GMC/Chevy curve. The GMC and old Chevy 6s advance evenly from 10 to about 38 degrees at 3000 rpm, where they level off. The HEI advance is limited to about 20 degrees - 18 degrees less than needed. I assume the 292 would like 38 degrees advance too.

I followed the instructions given by: http://www.boyleworks.com/ta400/psp/distcurve.html. It took a lot of trial and error to get the advance profile close, but it worked out well for me. The advance kits should do the same.

HEI distributors are known to have the module fail. One of the cures suggested is to remove the coil from the cap thus eliminating heat. There are also better coils available, but not in cap. Here is a link to a thread on chevtalk to remove the coil from the cap and use an external coil.

http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/300403/post/new/#NEW

Larry

That was a good read. Thanks, Larry. I still need to get after this, but I've had a couple set-backs. I need to rename my project 'one step forward, two steps back'. It just takes time and money. When I have one, I'm lacking in the other. My biggest problem is working out-of-town. I'm only home on weekends and just too darn many honey-doos.

I have a stock inline 250 distributor with a petronix kit installed. I'm very much wanting to keep the stock look and use the stock canister type coil but I want to get rid of the vacuum advance and mechanical advance because I will be converting this engine to TBI injection. Is there a way to adapt a TBI distributor module from a later model v6 tbi engine?

I plan on using a megasquirt 3 fuel injection setup to control my TBI and I believe I will need the module in order for the MS3 to communicate with and adjust timing.

I can't use the coil-in-cap HEI from the later model L6's because they are too big since I will have a/c in this car. I know you can get a short cap for those as well but then I still have the issue of those models having a vacuum advance which I cannot use.

Pritch think we've all been there at one time or another.

jesdude, I've only read of one attempt to convert the v6 dizzy, it failed, no details given.

Welcome aboard

Larry

Thank you Larry, I'm glad to be here

I have read about using the v6 dizzy as well and I found out that it would not work with my 292 so that is why I just want to see about using the module out of one and wiring it up to my stock dizzy's petronix kit somehow instead. If i could achieve that then I would have a clean, simple, almost stock looking motor but with just a small wire loom to route neatly and much better performance and maintenance. Plus I know the module's fail from time to time (my truck) and it would be handy to have it externally mounted anyway for easy swaps on the side of the road. I always carry a spare in truck!