Hank it appears both of the offers I made last night were accepted so I'll have 2 of these modules to modify and test. I'm certain it will work. As Jerry correctly said it is just a magnetic switch...at least as it is going to be used in this case. There are other features designed into the module but the 235 won't need them so I'll just concentrate on the switch portion. And I'll also have a working D1959 to compare...although the one I got from Tom Langdon wasn't marked as D1959 but had another GM number. From what I learned prowling around on the GM Parts site it was a later number shown along with many other part numbers as an "indirect alternative application" so my guess is the distributor Tom converted had been repaired once and a different but acceptable GM part was used. I should have these modules by early next week.
And along another line if anyone has a failed Pertronix unit they saved I'll be happy to pay the cost of shipping so I can do some destructive testing to see why those go toes-up. I suspect nobody has one, though. Most were probably bashed with a large rock after the person had to be towed in from wherever they were when it died.
And finally I dug out an HEI distributor I converted for use on the 235 about 12 or 13 years ago. It uses the very common 4 pin module and originally was designed to be used on the 230-250-292. It worked fine but when used on the 235 it allowed oil to come up through the shaft/shaft bore and so at last I'm going to sort that problem. These are inexpensive distributors (still being sold on eBay, Amazon and elsewhere) and they will use some GM internal parts (which may be more long-lasting). Plus you can buy a "rebuild kit" for around $30 which includes the module, a new distributor cap and rotor. This model has the coil in the top of the distributor cap. Aside from that and the lack of coil wire the main differences are two: this distributor mounts solidly and the vacuum advance only pulls the inside movement as needed and it is much larger. But as I said it did work well when I tried it.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
