I Have A 79 F-100 With A 302 And Factory Duraspark Ignition.
Now Building 72 351c For It. I Know I Can Use A 351m/400/460......
Distributor So My Question Is:
- can I Use My Factory 302 Duraspark Ignition?
- Should I Just Upgrade, Found Mallory Hei Distributor
At Summit For $180 And A Proform Hei For $200
- 9.4 Cr/2v/.550 Cam/max Rpm 6500

 

you can use the factory box and wiring, just get the duraspark distributor for the 351m/400 and plug it in. For a performance motor you could recurve the dist. yourself and get an adjustable vac. advance, along with a remanufactured dist. for less than $80.00.

 

the 302 dizzy has a 1/4" oil pump drive, the 351 uses a 5/16" oil pump drive. a 302 distributor will not drop down onto the 351 oil pump shaft.

 

FYI

351C's were passenger car engines only.

1974 351C 2V & 4V engines came from the factory with DuraSpark ignition systems.

1974 was the last yr for the 351C engine.

1975 was the first year for 351M engine = in passenger cars: 1975/79 // F100/350 = 1977/82 / Bronco = 1978/82 / Econoline: 1980/82.

400 engine: 1971/73's have points / 1974/82 have DuraSpark (same module as 351M's used).

Cars with 400 engines: 1971/79 // F100/350 1977/82 / Bronco 1978/82 / Econoline 1980/82.

 

You can swap the dura spark pieces into the C dist. just take everything from the breaker plate up out. Including the breaker cam/advance part thing that hooks to the sprrings. You need to file the hole where the points wire went into the housing. Make it look like the 302 dist. Hardest part is getting the wire clip out thats under the rotor and not having the vacuum advace screws break off. Check the vacuum advance and make sure it's not leaking. When you get them both apart it's an easy swap, just takes a little time and it cost nothing.

 

Thank u for replying, Let me clear it up a bit, I
wanted to use my duraspark ignition box and
factory wiring from my 302. Swap a 351M duraspark
or like distributor onto my 351C. Then wire it all together.

I like the idea of swapping distributor parts from 302 to 351C.
But will it be stable and handle 6500 rpm without missing,
backfiring, stumbling..........

My other option is:
-Mallory HEI distributor $180
-Proform HEI distributor $200
I don't mind spending $200 if its worth it, but I don't
want to spend $500 for a complete ignition system.

No racing truck just occasional chebby killer.

 

I am also putting a 351c in a 79 f150 longbed. you can get hei dist, off of ebay for about 70.00 . I have 2 of then and they work great. 351c never had duraspark at all. they were points from 70-74. there is a guy on the 460ford forum that sells recurved duraspark dizzy,s for the 429 460.

 

the dizzy should handle it but you may need to upgrade the coil to make the rpm?

 

Alright then I'll use a 351M dizzy and and aftermarket coil.
I thought the 74 351C did have duraspark, guess I was wrong.
thanks to all, if it deosn't work
I'll let u know

 

You will have to recurve the 351M dizzy, because it is curved for EGR, unless you have EGR.

 

how do u recurve?
what's involved?
never done it before, but willing to learn
if u can shed some light on the subject
-no EGR

 

I just took a duraspark from a junkyard and replaced my 400 doriginal point dizzy, the stock coil is worth for how much rpm?

 

You can buy a recurve kit which includes several springs of different strength. You replace the springs in your dizzy with springs from the kit to make the dizzy advance faster or slower. You need to make it advance slower if you have no EGR.

 

this tutorial doesn't come up from the main page directory, and may get removed from the sever at some point? so maybe somebody'd like to save it for posterity? it still comes up from a yahoo/google... search for "durasprak recurve" for now...

Duraspark_distributor_recurve_instructions_index

 

the site want's to change the url to Scotty J's main page for whatever reason, the name of his place is Reincarnation Automotive