hey I've been reading about different distributers and I came across a hei distributer and I was wandering if amy one has tried one and how well did they work. Thanks for any suggestions. Oh I have a stock 460

 

I haven't used one yet but I ordered one yesterday for my 429. There have been some past threads on the subject and I haven't heard anything bad about them. It seems to me there were a couple of people that are using them and haven't had any troubles.
Nick

 

cool. Could you please keep me posted on how it works. Thanks nick

 

I will let you know.

 

I have the HEI in and the only trouble I had was with the water neck and the wiring. I had to grind a flat spot on the water neck for dist cap clearance. I also ordered a water neck from napa what has the flat spot already but I couldn't wait for it to show up. I also had trouble finding a wire that was hot in both the on and start positions. I have a 12 gauge wire that is hot with ignition is on and spliced the brown wire from the starter solinoid that is hot while cranking. I suppose this will feed 12v to the accessories while cranking and I am not sure if that is a problem. So far it works. I also added a stleath intake and went from a 2 barrel factory carb to a 750 edelbrock so I have noticed an improvement in performance but don't know how much is from each item.
Nick

 

With pics:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...tallation.html

 

I am just curious as to why you would want to spend a lot of money on a distributor for a stock 460? The stock duraspark is an outstanding dizzy and as long as you keep decent wires on it will perform as well, on a stock engine, as any fancy high cost dizzy. Plus you would never get it through smog checks with a non-stock dizzy on it. I would think it would be smarter to put a good set of headers on it instead. The performance per cost ratio would be a lot higher and you could get it through smog if you needed to.

 

HEI systems have a hotter spark. When the hot idle goes up about 250 rpm after installing it......With the same timing (8 degrees BTDC) and carb settings (Not touched until final tuning). It's kinda obvious that it's much more efficient than the stock system. Throttle response and overall power have also improved. I don't know about his 460......Mine definitely ain't stock. It's an 85. No smog checks here.

The HEI system is famed for reliability. It's also as simple as can be. Easy to troubleshoot and repair if needed.

I converted many GM engines from points to HEI back in the day. It was and still is the best electronic distributor system ever made IMHO.

YMMV!

BTW- The new HEI was only 90 bucks. The accel coil was another $80 and the wires were around $20 IIRC. That's not so much........ is it?

 

I do not doubt your improvement in performance. I just have a problem with someone wanting to bolt one on a completely stock engine to possibly achieve a five percent improvement in power when they can bolt on a set of headers and get 30 percent.

There also exists the possibility that there was something wrong with your old dizzy and you would get the same results by repairing or improving your stock dizzy. Replacing an old style point dizzy with a new HEI is a different animal. Comparing an old point style dizzy with a dura spark is like comparing apples and oranges. If the Dura Spark were so inferior the racing guys wouldn't be using them.

20 bucks for a good set of wires is a bargain.

It is as the old adage says "to each his own." I was only trying to give a different point of view.

 

I see it this way..........


Racers are like everybody else...They prefer to go with what they know. Me included as a non-racer. I have had great results with HEI before. So it's easy for me to go that way. YMMV.

Simple, rugged and reliable. No matter what else..... Those traits make the HEI a better ignition system than any other of it's type. IMHO.

FWIU the HEI just plain burns hotter than a Duraspark or any of the other electronic ignition systems. 50kv compared to 40kv. I'm sure that somebody around here with vastly more knowledge than I can confirm/deny this.

No Ballast resistor....Hook up 12 volts and go Vrooooooommmmmm..........

 

lots of aftermarket coils are 50kv. accel, mallory, msd........... personally i like MSD, have the soft touch rev limiter.. maybe others do too. but thats what i've had some experience with and i have a mallory magneto. (dont recommend it on a road vehicle)

 

Just curious, if the HEI is SSSOOOO wonderfult why do the gm racers junk them and convert a remote coil type system?????

Simple reason is HEAT, an HEI style system builds and holds too much heat degrading the electronics of the coil (thats why racers mount the coils AWAY from the engine, heat slows down and reduces efficiency of electrical parts thus reducing the power NOT increasing. The only advantage of a HEI system is cleaner and simple install not because of performance.

And this claim is just plain outright bogus. the ONLY way an ignition system can increase IDLE is if your old system either was failing (bad coil, or bad plug wires) or you had didn't even bother to check the timing. at idle even my MSD 7al-2 system doesn't put out any hotter spark then stock duraspark. There is NO advantage at idle and NO ignition system can as you put it "increase efficiency". The advantage to after market ignitions is either in part throttle and heavy load situations when the hotter coils actually begin to INCREASE the output, or in race applications when a stock type system begins to begin to fail due to HEAT and the spark begins to degrade because the over heated coils can't keep up (which is why the GM guys dump the internal coiled HEI system do to it degrading the spark above 5000rpm)

 

Speaking of your 7AL-2, did you decide to keep it or is it still for sale? I'm down to the final pieces and the ignition system is on the list. Figured I'd help out a fellow mud guy 1st before I go searching flea bay.

 

Bogus? As in...I lied? As in the idle didn't increase? Mmmmmm.....OK.

You just may be right...The old system may have been degraded. I have heard the whining about coil heat before. As far as street machines..... I've never had to replace an HEI coil. I'm sure some have gone bad somewhere though.

But hey....My bad. I guess I'm a boguser.....Or is that a boogerer? Or a buggerer? Hmmmm...... Not sure. I have to think about that.

Monsterbaby...Your info may be good. But your presentation sucks. Stop taking yourself so seriously.

But hey.....I'm just a boguser...or something like that.


So just to make you a happy camper I'll just pull the HEI out of this truck and go back to the old system.........Just for you baby......


BTW- Yes, I did check the timing before and after. And at the same idle speed too! I even had the vacuum advance line off/blocked. I just got lucky to get it right on the marks I made for #1 and where the rotor pointed.

Duh!

 

As in either your old system was extremely bad to the point it was causing problems or yes you lied either way just switching to an HEI system will NOT increase your idle rpms and the system is NOT all that more efficient and in fact it was such a inefficient system even GM went away from it in the late 80s.

Now as to me calling you a liar I didn't I did in fact tell you WHY it didn't happen just because of the switch, but hey sorry if conscious made you feel like it was a direct accusation of lying. But sorry if you felt that way for hearing the truth about what an ignition system can and can not do especially at idle. It's been not only mine but almost every single person ever in any segiment of the auto industry that in order to see if something REALLY changes things you need to make ONE change at a time. So lets see did you change out just the dist but use the factory coil, wires, spark plugs pickup etc? then changed the coil then after that added the wires, and then change th plugs and finally add in the new ignition system itself to see what part exactly was sssoooo much more efficient? fact is you had a bad part somewhere if it raised your rpms that much and you have no clue which one it was, does it matter? not really but to make the claim that it's because the HEI is SSSOOOO much more efficient is the part that is bogus. That claim is like pulling off an old holley carb that has leaking fuel bowls, plugged jets and bad throttle shafts and replacing it with a edelbrock carb and noticing that the fuel economy goes up 25% then making hte claim that the edelbrock carbs will gain you 25% increase in fuel economy because they are SSOOO much more efficient. That my friend is the part that is bogus. Replacing a perfect good system with a different good system and reviewing the improvement is acceptable, replacing a broken system with a new one and claiming that the improvement is because the new system is so much more efficient is NOT acceptable it leads to misunderstandings and to disappointed people.


Karl I sold the 7al system a couple months ago.