I wanna swap my old 350 from a points and condenser style distributer to HEI. How would a fella go about that? Seems easy. But we all know…… nothing is easy.
Some vehicles have a tight firewall and you must pound it in to gain clearance for the large cap HEI.
Finding a reliable large cap HEI is not as easy as going to the parts store.
Seems the aftermarket monkeys are using dielectric grease on the modules.
You buy a new module from NAPA or other store and that dielectric grease is in the box with it.
Planed failure!
I just shake my head and say WT heck.
Buddy got a crate 350 and installed a new oreilly HEI and every 300 miles the module goes out.
He now has an original GM one in there i loaned him and many thousand miles on it NO Fail.
Keep the Points body and step up to something better than the HEI.
Pertronix points conversion works very well and I have not had one fail ever and some are over 15 years old and thousands of miles.
But if you have an HEI you need to just get a dedicated hot wire to it from the accessory side of the fuse block.
14 gauge would be a minimum wire size and 12 would be great.
No resistor of course you want full voltage to it.
You will need different plug wires or change the boots because most points caps are female and the HEI is male.
DO not gap the spark plugs wide as that is hard on coils.
.035" is plenty wide.
DO NOT toss the points distributor.
Keep it and all the stuff that goes with it and keep it in the vehicle so when the HEI fails on you when you are away from home you can do the swap right there and be back on the road.
Yea I have been there.
In my 78 Nova I had both distributors out and plug wires laying on the fenders when an old guy pulled up in a old Ford truck and said: I was going to ask if you needed any help but you are in it way deeper than I would go good luck.
HA.
Finding a reliable large cap HEI is not as easy as going to the parts store.
Seems the aftermarket monkeys are using dielectric grease on the modules.
You buy a new module from NAPA or other store and that dielectric grease is in the box with it.
Planed failure!
I just shake my head and say WT heck.
Buddy got a crate 350 and installed a new oreilly HEI and every 300 miles the module goes out.
He now has an original GM one in there i loaned him and many thousand miles on it NO Fail.
Keep the Points body and step up to something better than the HEI.
Pertronix points conversion works very well and I have not had one fail ever and some are over 15 years old and thousands of miles.
But if you have an HEI you need to just get a dedicated hot wire to it from the accessory side of the fuse block.
14 gauge would be a minimum wire size and 12 would be great.
No resistor of course you want full voltage to it.
You will need different plug wires or change the boots because most points caps are female and the HEI is male.
DO not gap the spark plugs wide as that is hard on coils.
.035" is plenty wide.
DO NOT toss the points distributor.
Keep it and all the stuff that goes with it and keep it in the vehicle so when the HEI fails on you when you are away from home you can do the swap right there and be back on the road.
Yea I have been there.
In my 78 Nova I had both distributors out and plug wires laying on the fenders when an old guy pulled up in a old Ford truck and said: I was going to ask if you needed any help but you are in it way deeper than I would go good luck.
HA.
Thanks for always offering great advice thanks.
I agree with swampratt. Pertronix electronic ignition conversions are the way to go. Literally install and forget. Setting the gap within tolerance can be tedious and frustrating with the little shims, but worth it. New distrib for conversion old distrib with points for back up
I side with Fuel Injection/throttle body and Electronic Ignition systems.
Do your research.
@swampratt was supposed to have been born in 1925.
Do your research.
@swampratt was supposed to have been born in 1925.
Where is the dielectric grease being used and why does it cause failures? I've been putting it on a lot of stuff for awhile.
I’ve ripped out my point distributor on every vehicle since I turned about 20. Hei swap them. Dedicated keyed power and drop it in. Easy prays and reliable. Avoid these crappy chinesium models. I got one from Jegs awhile back and it was American made.
