Normally I wouldn't show off my hack jobs, but this turned out great. My '62 was running like crap & I was getting tired of points, so I went to salvage yard & grabbed the only electronic, non computer controlled distributor there. I got the ignition box, too. Went home & started looking it over. Since the aftermarket distributors are these with HEI control added, I figured I could do it. I'm a Chevy guy, so I have enough parts to build 4-5 HEI's laying around. Biggest question was how to mount the control module & coil. I came up with just leaving everything inside an HEI distributor. I had one that the shaft had locked up, so I cut the shaft off. Pulled the rotor & other unneeded crap out. So now I have the coil & module in a nice sealed enclosure. Got everything wired & turned the key. It started instantly & idled great.
I still have to tidy up the wires & silicone the slot where the wires come out. Another good thing about my setup is that everything is out of the way of the distributor. Now the hold down bolt is easy to get to.
So, check out the pics & feel free to give me crap.
Attachments
extra parts
Scott
'62 W200 w/LA318, 4spd (rescued from parts truck status)
'49 Chevy 1/2 ton- will drive it til I die
"So you removed the voltage regulator as well?"
If you mean the one from yard, yes. Then I realized the ignition box was the blue one, so I took it all. I'm still getting used to external regs with alternators.
It does look crazy, but if it keeps working I'm happy. This is my offroader/daily driver, not a show truck. I have the Dodge stuff if I need it.
Scott
'62 W200 w/LA318, 4spd (rescued from parts truck status)
'49 Chevy 1/2 ton- will drive it til I die
I did the same thing without the gm distributor ... Hot wire fused from battery, spsd relay, hei module, hei coil, Mopar electronic distributor, jumped the resistor, and used the existing distributor wire as a relay trigger. I was able to then change the plug gap to .042 and retard the timing by 2 degrees. Smoothed out the engine and increased the mileage. Everything mounted on the inner fender. By the way it's on a slant six but same setup.
I left my timing at 8deg. Where did you set yours? I haven't run mine long enough to get an accurate mileage #, but about 12mpg so far. 3/4ton 4x4 w/ 4brl with mountain/city driving.
What did you put the module in? A remote coil is about $15-30 (stock application would be a '76 Nova w/6cyl) and I didn't have any sheet aluminum to fab a housing. I haven't seen the aftermarket distributor w/HEI module in person, so I'm not sure how they deal with heat from the module. GM used the distributor body as a heat sink. They even specified using heat sink grease. I figure I'm doing better than stock with no heat transfer from engine. Maybe GM went for overkill?
Scott
'62 W200 w/LA318, 4spd (rescued from parts truck status)
'49 Chevy 1/2 ton- will drive it til I die
its funny a chevy boy actually admitting hei is junk by telling us how many junk distributors he has laying around. all that work and all you had to do was drop in the dodge electronic distributor and hook up two wires and you wouldn't have an extra distributor hanging off your firewall
