Which Hei Distributor To Choose

The long version is considerably more $

 

Yeh I knew that. Actually forgot that, but thanks to your wisdom, I am now remembering things from my past...........................not all good, so thanks again.

 

We need a sticky. Yes the long version is considerably more money. Is it that big a deal to grind whatever it is that needs grinding to use the short?

 

30 seconds with a grinder.

 

Found this one back in that earlier thread. Seems like a little better price. HEI Distributors : HEI Distributor

I have an old (brand new old stock) GM distributor from my small block Chevy days, hidden away in a parts bin somewhere. I use to convert my old style distributor to run HEI ignitions to get rid of points and get a hotter spark. Would a stock GM HEI distributor work, minus the other plug wires, because this seems to be just that, a V8 distributor minus wires. Not sure if the drive gear would be the same though.

 

Well with all the grinding experience that I have over the years, I should be able to get that done in 20 seconds.

 

The distributor body is probably the same, but the internals are different and the cap is different. Might be able to buy the hall effect guts and convert it... might need a new gear.. they are reman for under 130 bucks...

 

Are you asking if the sbc V8 distributor will interchange with the Buick odd-FireV6? If so, no. The housings are not the same, and the V6 pickups under the cap are different. I'm 3 hours north of home right now, but when I get back in a couple days, I will compare/contrast the differences.
-Donny

 

Thanks Donny. After three hours of searching, I stopped looking for it anyways.

I think that's the way I am going to go.

Right after I finish up my 62 resto, I wanted to get one of my 71 Jeepster Commando's up and running. One 71 is missing the distributor and intake and carb, so I figured that would be a good place to try this out.

 

Just a nit I'm going to pick.

The HEI is not a Hall effect device. Instead, it's Variable Reluctance (VR), just like the Motorcraft Duraspark distributor. This is why the HEI and Duraspark signals (from their component parts) are compatible. You can trigger a HEI module with a Duraspark distributor, and vice-versa. The VR uses a permanent magnet to make a magnetic field that changes when the reluctor moves. The changing field make a current in the coil - just like an electric motor or generator. It's a passive device, ie it does not require an external source of power to create a signal.

The Hall effect requires a current through the coil to make a detectable signal, ie it's an active device. As I recall, the Prestolite BID (Breakerless Inductive Discharge) used by Jeep '75-77 is a Hall effect system. AFAIK these parts are compatible with nothing else. (I would not spend any money on a BID system. There are much better options - my '75 CJ-6 now runs a Duraspark distributor and an HEI module.)

MSD works with VR, not Hall effect. Pretty sure early Chrysler is all VR. These components can be mixed and matched, but not with Hall effect parts.

Pretty sure nobody is using Hall effect for ignition sensors today (maybe Pertronix?) Today it's either VR or optical.

 

BTW it's not so wild to convert a Delco points distributor to HEI (that is, to VR - you wouldn't use many or any of the HEI parts, I predict). Here's an article - Junk Yard Genius.com Kornfield Kruser Ignition Upgrade Page

Pretty sure this is going to be difficult to impossible with the odd-fire engine. The VR detector in the odd-fire distributor has 3 reluctor lobes and 2 magnetic pickups, whereas all the even-fire sixes will have 6 lobes and a single pickup. The odd-fire parts are way too large in diameter to go inside a conventional distributor.

Note that you can convert an even-fire 231 distributor to odd-fire by substituting some odd-fire electrical bits from the parts store and grinding 3 lobes off of the reluctor.

Also note that the MSD capacitive-discharge module can be triggered by the points distributor, so that's an alternative to the HEI.

 

So your HEI is originally for the 225 O.F. and not a converted one?

 

Never was an HEI for a Buick 225. A 231 odd-fire is a direct drop-in and a even-fire one can be converted in a few minutes though.

 

Well aware no original hei for 225 OF but there is a lot of miss-information out there on converting even fire HEI to work in the 225 OF. Granted there are some that are close and will make the 225 OF run but it is not spot on.

 

Looking down on the dist housing with the cap removed you will see the dist cap locator notch. Can you take a picture of that looking down or tell me where the notch is located in relation to the vacuum can.

 

Yes I see the notch. It's location indicates that to be an original 231 OF HEI.