i found out to day why my 351w wont stay running, the timing keeps getting bumped cause the distributor cap and mout are shot allowing half in of play back and forth has any one hear ever attempted to put the hei set up in there 351w if so how hard is it? would i need my ds2 module any more or dizzy? any help or advise would be great thank u and it is a 76 block with 69 351w heads

 

I have never used one of the HEI setups, but have heard you need to be careful and make sure you have room for it. You also need to run a new 12 gauge wire from the keyswitch to the new dist, you cannot use any of the old wiring for it.

Your problem cannot be simply solved with a new cap and rotor?

 

If all you're trying to do is get your truck running, just get yourself a rebuild dist from the parts store, and drop it in.

If you really want to go the HEI route, then get a good one, not one of the MANY chinese cheep'os out there.

Here is a good example of a quality HEI:
Ford DUI - Street/Strip Version

Here is a review on that same dist:
FORDMUSCLE webmagazine: Performance Distributors - Davis Unified Ignition D.U.I.

If you want a great DSII style dist to replace the one you have in it now, maybe you might want to consider this one:
Ford Duraspark

Hope this helps.

 

The DSII is a very reliable and proven ignition system, why change a good thing?
My recommendation is just replace what's bad and you'll get years of reliable service again.

 

I think I'd just drop a new DSII distributor in the hole as well.

 

Those are some very interesting articles on the DUI's....what's your opinion of them?
What are the advantages? Stronger spark for sure. Neater, more compact package as well. You think there is an advantage for a stock motor or more for a higher compression, performance application?

Just curious to what your thoughts are

 

To be honest, my opinion on this ain't worth squat, as I made the very same mistakes that I have warned of in the above post.

Before I found this forum, I was "told" by a local hack to go with the HEI setup, because I was having a hard time getting a good rebuilt DSII style dist from the local parts store.

So I did, having to still wade through two of those cheep units before getting Jeg's house brand HEI that actually worked. It works great, but I'm comparing it to a truck that was having ignition issues due to bad distributors.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd get the DSII dist offered at the link I posted above. I believe, from all the reading I've done since I've been here, and research at other sources, that the DUI's are great performance units. Thing is, how many of us really run our trucks in the 5k RPM range on a regular basis?

I think their DSII offering is the best case option for what we do with our trucks in the real world.

 

makes sense....kinda where I was parked too!! I'm sure it's a good set up, if you get a quality product, but no real advantage of what is a good set up as well....the DSII

 

I run a DUI from Performance Dist. Love it. They have them for 351's.

 

My $.02 is if you have a points distributor an HEI makes a lot of sense. But if you already have electronic ignition I'd stick with what you have now. I have a Performance Distributor DUI HEI that is supposed to be good for up to like 9,000 RPM. But I only go up to like 7,000 RPM and it's on a Chevy. That is the whole reason to want a DUI distributor because stock HEI distributors are only good to like 5500 RPM, which is fine for normal driving.

If you have a points distributor and want to upgrade, an HEI makes a lot of sense. It's all self contained and you only need one 12 volt wire going to it. Coil and module are in the distributor. So it makes it easy to upgrade to electronic vs. points distributor. But like another member pointed out, it is a bulky distributor so if you're already close to your air cleaner, an HEI may not fit. I personally don't see a need to go from Ford electronic distributor to HEI. On the other hand Peformance Distributors is a good, well respected company, so I wouldn't hesitate to buy one from them. But I wouldn't spend any extra $$$ on a distributor that can handle higher RPM if you keep it below 5500. And if you get a performance curve you may see a decrease in mileage. But Performance Distributors can probably give you a reasonable curve without any problems.