I see that Summit has put out a copy of the HEI distributor, with coil on cap, that looks just like a DUI distributor. I believe it costs $120 less than the DUI. Without a doubt, it is a Chinese made piece.

I wonder what the diff is with quality and warranty. Does anyone have one?

I've been considering making the jump to a DUI. My MSD run through a DS2 distributor, with TFI coil, is fouling two caps and rotors per year. It's not a big deal, since I get free ones under warranty each time, but it is bothersome. And, please explain: My msd has a 10 ga. hot wire to it. How can the dui, with a iiirc 12-14 ga. hot wire, put out MORE spark energy?

 

I love the results from my dui but I'm not certain that it's not just cheap Chinese components. The coil pack and or maybe the resistor gave out on me this past summer while driving home from the beach. Only had about 25,000 miles on the ignition. Luckily i was able to diagnose the issue along side the road and I thumbed a ride to Napa. The sales associate sold me a late 70's Cadillac ignition kit. Long story short, all the contacts off the original dui pieces were cheap metal, the Cadillac Napa replacement parts were brass.

 

I'm sorry to hear of the break down. I wouldn't wish that for anyone. I believe the DUI (Davis Unified Ignition) made by Performance Distributors, which is based on the GM HEI, is a fine piece of equipment. It is the Summit Racing copy of that, that I am wondering about.

Is yours the DUI or the Summit copy?

 

I have the Davis, not the summit. I'm on the road for work now but when I get home I'll take a pic of the Davis original parts and a pic of the replacements. The Napa guy even said that it looked like Davis painted over the original parts numbers and just added their numbers over top.
im not saying Davis is bad, just that if I were to get another I may consider trying the summit.

 

I don't have either, but it has been my understanding that Davis/DUI was a top quality setup. Hard to argue with actual experience tho like yours.

The Summit copy interests me because everything Summit branded that I've had has been pretty good. I'll take a look.

Summit: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...view/make/ford

DUI: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/d...view/make/ford

 

I'm very surprised the contacts were not brass originally. I too thought the Performance Distributor DUI was top of the line. You are the second person I've read that mentioned the module going out after not too long. I would keep an extra in the glove box. I'll bet that Caddy module you got will last a lot longer than the original one did.

That makes me wonder if the P.D. ones are being made in China. I'll bet they are.
*I checked the P.D. site. All they say is 'we make.' They do not mention where their parts are manufactured. To me, as I've seen with other parts listed and sold by Summit, when the country of origin is mysteriously omitted, it is a clear sign that the part(s) are not made in the USA. It smells fishy.
**2nd note: Just for kicks I called PD.
"Where are your Dyna mods (modules) made?" I asked.
"I think they're made by a firm in Chicago," said the PD guy.
"What is the name of the company?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know who makes the modules for your distributors?"
"No Sir."
"Where are your distributors made?"
"We are in Memphis, Tennessee."
"That is where you manufacture the distributors?"
"We are in Memphis, Tennessee."
"Wow."
Draw your own conclusions. After reading up about PD DUI's on some other forums, I will be staying with my DS2 and MSD set up. And yes, MSD is another matter, ha ha.

 

This is the caddy replacement. It's solid.

this is the Davis coil from their very own website.

I think AB once wrote about this 2 years ago and since it happened to him he keeps a spare in the glove box. As I will now do.

 

There are actually quite a few sites that sell HEI style aftermarket ignitions, but 95% of them are for the V8s.

BroncoGraveyard has one for $170.
SkipWhitePerformance sells them for $40 (and they offer a great warranty).

I've read several forums about people saying they've had great luck with both of those. So... who knows. All electronics have failure rates (even the best), and sometimes cheap stuff can last just as long, if not longer. Sort of the luck of the draw sometimes.

When you go with a higher end manufacturer, you never guarantee that it's going to last, you simply lower the chances of failure.

Granted, I know that DUI also has personal modifications to the actual distributor itself, like internal bearings and such to improve performance. And that might be where the extra cost comes from.

Otherwise... who knows? Might be worth a shot.

 

my 78 2wd f150 with a 351 has a cheap ebay distributor was like 55 bucks 5 years ago still runs great havent changed anything on it. my current 84 inline six has a cheap amazon HEI seems to be good so far. i have alot of v8 ignition setups some very cheap and some very expensive. they have worked and they have fail. the worse was a MSD 7bt that caught fire. i use to think american made parts were the best but manufacturing has change and its made more expensive parts become cheaper and well made clones. idk if any here shoots guns or vapes but you see alot of clones or knock offs that are like improved versions. was just cheaper to make it some where else. china or japan for example.

 

For all I know, the DUI from Performance Distributors may be a great, top notch part. What I don't like is that they try to hide where their parts are made. If they said they were made in China, for example, I don't think they'd be able to maintain their facade of quality. It is that lie, that omission of the truth, that bugs me.

By not saying where the parts are made, they are trying to manipulate public opinion in order to gouge their customers. That is BS.

Lol, I feel better now. Of course, if they're not manufacturing in China I retract the above.

*I find that I feel too strongly about American consumer dollars going to build China. It prevents me from writing objectively about Chinese goods and the American companies selling them.

In an effort to shove some objectivity back into my posts, I should say that I have read on other forums of guys who have used the Performance Distibutors, DUI, for years w/o any issue.

 

might you have a link for those dizzys from skipwhite or bronco graveyard? i tried their websites and came up with nada.

 

Skip White

Skip White Performance Product List

BroncoGraveYard

Distrubutors High Performance-Broncograveyard.com


Granted, they only cater to the V8 crowd.

 

10-4. sorry i'm a little slow these days. a new daughter only allows for 4 hrs of sleep if i'm lucky haha.

Anyone with input on the summit distributors yet?

 

I could not find one the 300/240 on either site. Maybe booming sales caused them to stop offering them.

There are still many sellers with them on Ebay.

I've read both negative and positive about the DUI's of questionable origin, including the Performance Distributors model. Carry a spare module with you.

 

gotta preach a while...I have been involved with overseas manufacturing for 27 years and am old enough to remember when the phrase "Made in Japan" meant 'junk'. What matters is not where something is made, it is how tight the quality controls and specs are. For instance, many of the electronics you routinely use require rare earths primarily available in China. Almost all major computer components come from there - and their failure rate is very, very low. A quality sheet metal stamper there will have a defective parts per million (DPPM) of less than 300 - that means less than .0003% of their parts have ANY defect. Anyone not doing parts for the space program will tell you that is GREAT quality. A friend of mine was approached by a guy in Thailand who made shocks: he expected crap, and it turns out the guy white boxes for Honda (meaning he makes his stuff and ships it to Honda which slaps their logo on it.) Given that most of the highest-quality cars on the road have primarily overseas content... not sure I would bash any one country without good reason.