I'm trying to get set up to do the HEI swap onto my 258 in my CJ. I was told that "in some cases" the gear off of the 258 distributor would work, you just had to do some grinding. Well, I discovered that tho the hole in the shaft and thru the gear on the HEI distributor are centered, the ones for the 258 aren't, they are offest just a tad to one side. I have three 258 gears and distributors, they are all like this.

So its said a gear off of a 304/360 would work. A friend of mine was nice enough to send me the 360 distributor gear I need to make my GM HEI distributor compatible with my 258. But it still doesn't work! The hole is offset just like the 258 ones.

In all the articles I've read about the swap, NO ONE mentioned the fact that the holes don't line up. What the fawk? Am I missing something here? If you cram the pin in there then the gear is tweaked and when you spin the shaft it is clearly out of balance. I've given some thought to trying to drill the gear, or driving in the roll pin as far as it will go and then grinding off whatever is left, but that sounds hokey even by my standards. What's going on here? what's the answer?

Boots

Well like I told boots on IM I did this a while ago.

I used the mallory aluminum bronze gear.

It has a hole only on one side.

I think I simply mounted it on the shaft, pushed the pin in, tapped it a couple of times to mark the inside of the gear, and pulled it out.

I then just drilled it (with a hand drill yikes) though the existing hole at the marked point.

Soft metal so it was easy.

I have not had a problem with mine.

I supposed it could be drilled while mounted on the shaft but the holes might get "hogged out".


HTH

MJ

I can't say I had this problem. I ordered my gear (from a amc v8) and only had to chop the bottom of the gear (it was too long), slid right on the shaft and tapped the pin in. My gear was drilled all the way through, even though when I ordered it I was told I would have to finish driling out the gear for the roll pin. I don't remember the holes not being cented, in fact i had to take a while to determine the right way to put it on (so it would not be 180 off). But if I remember right there is a small notch on the stock gear, and that should be lined up with the rotor point, just used that as a reference for the new gear on the HEI setup.

Good Luck

Shawn

back when I had my 258 I went to Collins Bros Jeep, asked for a gear for the v8, and it fit perfect, no grinding or drilling necessary. pretty sure it was drilled on both sides.

The gear off my prestolite ignition looked like it would have worked but I boogerd it up when I tried to take the pin out.

I have built a bunch of those and I just use a gear from a 360 and pop it on. Every one has been perfect. Could this be a problem with the shaft?

Well, knowing my luck, I probably did get some oddball distributor, but I drilled the gear out a bit and stuck it on there and it works great! Big improvement. Guess I'll just have to pay more attention to what I snag the distributor out of next time.

Boots

Remeber all gears are offset just a tiny little bit to hold them in place. I had to start a pin on one side and slide the another pin on the other side and it started for my HEI..