what is the best disributor for the 400's? i am building 400 from a 79 F250 its mildly built, nothing crazy. i have a ProComp HEI unit that i got off of Fleabay. but the more i look at it the more i dont lke it. its huge and bulky and just kinda ugly. i was looking at the MSD Billet series. are they any good? maybe Mallory?
MSD makes excellent distributors. I like MSD better than Mallory, but I ran a Mallory Unilite for several years with no problem. I needed the smaller Mallory Unilite to clear the raised 351C-4V intake manifold because I had 4V heads on my 400. Currently I have a Procomp TFI distributor, since my motor is EFI.
There is nothing wrong with a Duraspark distributor either.
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DUI, ProComp, MSD, Mallory, and the factory unit are all excellent distributors. I've used MSD and Mallory units personally and they are great units, the factory Duraspark is a good unit too, I almost always switch it out for a MSD or Mallory, but I've never had one fail me.
Eric promotes the factory set up (duraspark) as it has everything a typical motor needs performance wise and has the advantage of retarding timing during start and having the parts in every parts store etc.
I've owned several duraspark systems and nearly all of them have given me headaches...but i'm not really up on trouble shooting. It's one of the most frequent problems on the site...problem could be anywhere in a rather complex system compared to others.
So far i really like the HEI system that is no available...yea, it's a bulky top and you will likely need to raise your stock air cleaner or carb...but thats not a bad deal anyway...then you have ONE wire from the ignition..Two if you hook up a tach. It's also a very popular system so parts are everywhere as well as internals and they are cheap enough you can buy 3-4 complete units for what a complete msd would cost. And you could go with the curved distributor as stated above for a bit more.
If money were not an object i'd probably have the msd with adjustable timing in the cab.
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'77F1504x4, '75 f250crew4x4, '79 Bronco 429, '83 bronco, '72 Torino with 351cj, 70 1/2 falcon, 75 stangII. all projects, 2 on the road. One pissed off wife!
what is the best disributor for the 400's? i am building 400 from a 79 F250 its mildly built, nothing crazy. i have a ProComp HEI unit that i got off of Fleabay. but the more i look at it the more i dont lke it. its huge and bulky and just kinda ugly. i was looking at the MSD Billet series. are they any good? maybe Mallory?
If size is a problem, we also offer a very nice Duraspark distributor:
Thats the first I've seen the Duraspark from you guys, but if the Pertronix on my 72/360 ever gives out, I know what I'm going to replace it with. That is a very nice unit.
has anyone used the mallory 85 series HEI. summit sells it for 180. I'm still
debating what to install on my 351c once I get to that stage on my build.
What is so wrong with factory eletronic ignition? I'd never had a problem with the duraspark or duraspark II systems being reliable.
If you need more ignition power just use something like the new Crane cams ignitions boxes. They have much more moderen eletronics than most of the MSD stuff.
I have one in my 63 F100 351W. All you need is one hot wire from the key and if you have a tach, a wire for that. It's a nice set-up.
It fires much better than my Duraspark from a 84 F250 did, because with it ibstalled it burns cleaner and I have to turn the idle screw down with them both set @ 12* BTDC
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