225 hei distributor

got mine total with plugs, wires, cap, coil, and distributor for $179 rock auto. for 210 i could have gotten the better distributor. only thing i didn't order was the coil cover i figured the gm one i had would fit but the mounting holes were located differentely. i dropped mine in right where the old one was and it fired up as soon as i got gas to the carb. i followed the link provided to a t. only thing left is the adjustable vacumm advance but it doesn't look like its advancing beyond 35* anyway. i still have to to the markings on the damper for that so far so goodl thanks everyone for the help.

 

If you are on the fence with this conversion, get off.
I just "popped" mine in today.

When I first got this rusting pile of iron, I was sure Kaiser had made a serious error when selecting the ratio for first gear. I like to baby first gear because I hate changing clutches. I installed a new timing chain and first gear was almost tolerable but still a little rough to start out. With the new HEI ignition, the trans is way down on the list of things to be changed. Still not sure if the previous owner had the right spot for #1 on the distributor. But, it just doesn't matter now. She pulls hard from just above idle to 70 MPH in high gear now. I have none of the knock and ping that I was worried about using a distributor designed for an engine that had an EGR valve.

The job was a little harder than I expected. I didn't have room for the vacuum advance to point straight forward so it took some fudging around. I ruined 1 distributor cap in the process and had the distributor in and out no less than 9 times. I am not looking back and happy I did it.

Too bad there is not an "off the shelf" version of the small cap HEI with vacuum advance.

 

Got mine last year at a local Parts Plus, for less than $100.00.

 

Since my conversion I am very happy with the performance gains of the Hei, But I had to remove my stock cooling fan and install an electric fan. Which now it will run hot at full throttle assaults. Just putting down the trails it does fine, but the snow wheeling it starts to get hot. it never got warm before I removed the fan and installed the hei. I followed the instalation instructions of rich motts to a t.

Did anyone else have a problem with fan interferance and the vaccum advance?

I've tried every postion on the new distributor for the best adjustment and the only way to get the best adjustment was with the vacuum advance pointed forward. I've seen pics of the install elsewhere and cannot find again.

Thanks.

 

thanks. i tried just turning the distributor with the cap off 2 places for the odd fire. so far no luck. i'll have to re-drop it in again. i'll get it eventually here got a lot on my mind this is a little escape for my thoughts right now. but don't know if i can wrap my head around it fully now. i should be able to get it.

Thanks for the advice i'll try and let you know later.

 

There's more than one type of vacuum advance canister. Some have the hose connection out the end which will leave less room than the type with the hose connection on the side.

You may be able to shim the fan out a bit also.

 

Yes. those are options.

i moved the wires as needed. could only move one post and obviously didn't work. the vacuum advance came with the 90* on it I'm thinking the one with the nipple out the top will work. but first i'm going to try and re drop the dizzy 2 places either way and see what i come up with.

I think part of it is that i may need to grind some more of the intake to turn it for more adjustment. but don't want to take too much.

the spacer on the pulley won't work for me unless i can move the radiator more forward.

thanks again for the help.

 

Just a heads up, many of those years are NOT correct. '77 was the crossover year in all GM lines using the 231 V-6 from odd fire to even fire. I suppose some odd fires could have been used slightly later until stocks were used up but certainly not as late as '80.

 

The tech at Performance Distributors (DUI) told me that you can use either of the short terminals for #1, but it has to be a short terminal. I found this 90* fittng on a cheapo brake bleeding kit. I just don't remember where I bought it. It worked out perfect for my vacumn advance. I have almost an inch of clearance between it and the fan using a 2" spacer.

 

That looks exactly how mine looks except my fan is about 1/2 in from the belt and 1/4 inch from hitting where the two halfs of the vacuum advance are pinched together. i don't have that much room in the front to the radiator. maybe an inch but not even a safe inch. for now i just cut the front half off the vacuum advance. i tried every position and the closest it came was almost running no matter how i moved either the distributor or wires.

You must have a different year with that much room in front of the engine. thanks for the help.

 

I'm actually using the front clip from a '73. That's why I have so much room. My business partner is using the same dist. on a stock '70 with about a 1" spacer on the fan but has the vacumn advance that has the tube coming out at a 90*.

 

My dad and I had an argument over this this weekend. He's been wrenching for 40 plus years been through training.....but he didn't understand the odd fire. I even tried it his way the other day and to no avail i couldn't get it to work right. If it were a chevy or a ford it would work but the odd fire is a whole different animal. thanks everyone for the help. i think it should work fine for now. i had a hood and grill off of the new longer jeeps but got rid of the hood maybe now i'm regretting that for the space reasons.

thanks.

 

That is why I ground one of the locking tabs off my first cap, too find the spot that will work. My vacuum can almost hits my radiator hose now. The tab in the location I had ground off earlier, is almost touching the head. I have very little room for further timing adjustment but I do not need it.

I got a little confused with some of the other posts so I want to clarify. The #1 position on the cap does not change, it moves with the new clocking. (I hope I am clear and not too redundant)

 

"Steve - what you say would 'normally' work. The problem lies in the fact that the OF HEI is a modified V8 cap. The posts on top are in the 'normal' position for a V8, but the tangs inside are longer to make up for the fireing position on 6 cyls. The Module and reluctor ring still tell it 'when' to fire, but since there are only 3 points on the distro shaft it plays havoc with the timing."

The terminals on top are evenly spaced. The odd fire timing is acheived by using the different length contacts in the cap along with the reluctor (?). At least that how the DUI dist. is done. I can't speak for the stock odd fire caps. My buddy, Rick just put one (stock GM HEI) in his odd fire using the terminal that's counterclockwise from the extension that the tach and hotwire plug in as his #1 and it runs just fine. His vacumn advance points dead ahead. That's how I set mine up too, just haven't fired mine up yet.