How about it?? Was there an external coil HEI Distributor in the mid 70's chevy inline 6's?

I went to a buddies house at lunch to check out his latest pile-o-junk car. (77 Chevy Nova) and low and be hold there what appears to be a Chevy HEI distributor, with an externally (Mounted to the side of the block) coil. He said I could have it. Is this thing worth the trouble of yanking and putting in my 72 F motor? or should wait and keep looking for an internal coil?

:D:D:D

Having the internal coil is a little advantage in terms of space, but it doesn't offset the distinct price advantage of getting the one with the separate coil for free. I believe that they are found in GM 250 I6 from '77 to '84 (or whenever they stopped using the I6). Just swap drive gears and you should be good to go.

Originally posted by Pin Head
Having the internal coil is a little advantage in terms of space, but it doesn't offset the distinct price advantage of getting the one with the separate coil for free. I believe that they are found in GM 250 I6 from '77 to '84 (or whenever they stopped using the I6). Just swap drive gears and you should be good to go.

KILLER!! Consider it mine then!! hahaha I love free parts......everything is better when it's free. :D

ditto what pinhead said, double check length, to make sure it reaches the oil pump and swap gears. also the more power you send it the better it is, needs minimum 10 volts. i used a relay for mine to send it the full 12+
i personally prefer the internal coil, for several reasons, but both fire the plugs.

Originally posted by RHINO
ditto what pinhead said, double check length, to make sure it reaches the oil pump and swap gears. also the more power you send it the better it is, needs minimum 10 volts. i used a relay for mine to send it the full 12+
i personally prefer the internal coil, for several reasons, but both fire the plugs.

So what are the "several reason" you like the internal set up better? :D:D

Could I in theory, run the external, and eventually swap to an internal cap and coil later?? :D

Got my HEI at lunch today. WHOO HOOO! Now hopefully I can figure out what the 3 wires go too! ;) :D:D

Whoo hooo.....now the fawker should start when I want it too. :D:D:D

here are some of my reasons for internal coil,
simple compact design,
one wire hook-up,
and the cap is physically bigger, i like that cause the posts are further apart to help prevent arc over especially in water.
and no, you cant run an internal coil once you use the external type, unless you get one of the few with the big cap.
still not knockin it though, HEI is awsome either way you go.

Originally posted by RHINO
here are some of my reasons for internal coil,
simple compact design,
one wire hook-up,
and the cap is physically bigger, i like that cause the posts are further apart to help prevent arc over especially in water.
and no, you cant run an internal coil once you use the external type, unless you get one of the few with the big cap.
still not knockin it though, HEI is awsome either way you go.

WHOOO HOOO!!!! I got one with the big cap. :D:D:D:D Kick ass....I will put it in tonight, and when a bunch of $$$$ falls outta the sky I can swap over.....or hell I might not even do that....:D We'll see how it runs. :D

if you got the big cap, dont worry about swappin out later, the only other thing about internal is the all-in-one design. you gonna like it, noticeable improvement in driveability and smoothness!!

:beer:

don't forget to give an update. I swapped motors and to hei at the same time and noticed a huge improvement in cold statrs and driveability, but don't know what made the difference- the motor or hei!

OK, swap is done.

WOW!!! :eek:

What a difference, Starts right up, idles nice, and a noticable increase in power. VERY EASY SWAP!! I was done, including timing the engine, in about 45 minutes.

Started it again this moring, just to make sure the cold starts are better.....and sure enough....VROOOM!!! I love it. Swap went so fast I still had time to take the dogs down to the river. Tried swamping the thing, but didn't feel good going above fender level without someone else there. :D:D:D

Also went and checked out my buddies HEI setup on his small block. He showed me how to seal the dist, and vent it into the cab. I will finish that up tonight, and post pics and a write up. :D

I've been told that you need to machine off the collar that locates the distributor. If you don't eventually the rotor bug will be pulled into the trigger coil. Aparently the distributor gear rides to high on the cam gear there by causing the cam to constantly pull down on the distributor shaft.

Does you distributor wable around? I've seen some that do. I don't know that it makes a difference but it sure bugs me.

I used an HEI from a company in the midwest. I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It used to be Toys Are Us, but they had to stop using the name. Anyway, it was around $300 and came with the locator machined off and a collar installed in the right place. Ready to go bolt in. It works awsome. It is for sale too (going to a v8), less than a full year old, with plugs and wires for $250.

Dist fits perfect. Checked the wear after the weekend and it looks good. No wabbling, no shaking....:D:D:D

And yeah mine was only $40. :D:D:D Gotta love that!! Pays off to watch out for that stuff....and save yourself a ton o cash!

hey guys i'm getting real jealous over here. i've been running the stock points set up for over five years now. anyways, just wondering if there is a website with pictures and direction to convert that hei distributor over. thanks a million.
Cruiser-B

ih8mud.com has a link to a tech article on it. I just did this to my f motor and have to agree it is a nice conversion. I picked the dist from my local p&p for $50. Stripped it down, soaked it in some carb dip, put it back together with new stuff (ignition control module $12 w/ lifetime warranty, cap, rotor, plug wires $11 w/ lifetime warranty) and have a fantastic electronic ignition set-up for $84! If you get a used one make sure there is no play in the shaft or to save the hassel and smell of the rebuild, autozone has rebuilt dists for $99 with no core charge. Throw in $34 for parts and you have an affordable upgrade.
tom

Here is the article from woodys page.

http://www.geocities.com/calcide/fj402fhei.html

:D:D:D

Great set up!! I love it even more after punishing it over the weekend.

Glo - When you installed the toy drive gear, did you use the measurement from the seating boss of the distributor to the drive gear to establish the position of the drive gear or ??
Mike

thanks for the help, i think i'm going to hop on this conversion pretty soon! guess i'm sick of replacing the points and condensor like it was candy...
Cruiser-B

Originally posted by flexing40
Glo - When you installed the toy drive gear, did you use the measurement from the seating boss of the distributor to the drive gear to establish the position of the drive gear or ??
Mike

You bet. I actually have several spare distributors in my shop, and after swapping the gear from a toy on-to the chevy dist, I measured with my father inlaws caliper set. It was right on. I gotta mention too, that when I removed the toyota gear, there was a spacer above it (Pushing the gear further down) and I left it there when I installed it on the chevy one.