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| | | | Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 76 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 76 | Hi.Can any one recommend an electronic ignition for a 265 V8 chevy small block please.Also are they difficult to fit and set up?
Last edited by Stooby; 06/30/2018 1:14 PM.
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 | Just use an original equipment Delco HEI from an early to mid 1980's Chevy 350. Be sure to use the one with a vacuum advance, not the one with the 4-wire electronic advance plug on it. It's a drop-in fit other than needing to run a 12 gauge or larger wire from the ignition switch to the HEI. RUN- - - -do not walk away from the Pertronix or other Rube Goldberg proprietary electronic systems.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 | On an early 265 V-8 is there a problem with the later distributor body and oiling if the correct distributor isn't used? My memory is pretty vague on this if it was just a one year problem with the 265.
Seems if the distributor wasn't correct or installed wrong it could block oil from reaching lifters.
Again I'm very vague on my memory of this, perhaps there is nothing to it. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 | That was a problem with the distributor, not the engine. If the 265 distributor housing was clocked incorrectly the flat spot on the housing didn't align with the passenger's side oil gallery. In about 1958, Chevy changed to a distributor with a full-circle groove in the housing instead of a flat spot so the orientation of the housing didn't matter.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 | Okay, make sense now. I couldn't remember just which it was. Thanks for clearing that up.  | | | | | Joined: Apr 2013 Posts: 6 New Guy | | New Guy Joined: Apr 2013 Posts: 6 | Go to SpeedwayMotors.com they should be able to help you.
I have a 1945 GMC 228 engine 6 volts positive ground and I purchased a electronic ignition from them plus a new coil. The make of the electronic ignition is Pertronix. Came with great instructions took less than an hour to convert.
Weemolly45
Above the 49th | | | | | Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,440 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,440 | Stooby, if you choose to ignore the good advise here and buy a Pertronix or other conversion set up be sure to get extra parts. Just sayin! 
Martin
'62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress)
'47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project)
‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily)
‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence)
“I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one!
Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop!
USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,636 | I have used Pertronix with great success. Follow their directions and use the right parts and you will be fine. Some of the units I've put in are 10 years old now and still doing fine.
Nothing wrong with a Pertronix set up. | | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 | As I have posted many times: I have used a 6v (and, 12v) Pertronix on two of my trucks for many years with no problems.
Make sure your carburetor distributor is well-grounded (grease where the distributor enters the block might make a bad ground). Run a ground wire from coil-to-head-bolt to a distributor clip bolt. Clean attachment points to shiny metal and coat with conductive copper-impregnated grease. My belief is that a bad ground is the main culprit in Pertronix failures/performance/misses.
Nonetheless, I see no better performance/starting, and I now use points/condenser in the truck I should be restoring.
With or without the Pertronix unit , I carry a spare tested distributor on long trips.
Last edited by tclederman; 07/05/2018 4:09 PM. Reason: corrected serious/humorous mistake
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2000 Posts: 5,194 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2000 Posts: 5,194 | Or use HEI and just throw it and run it. Mine still uses the original module from 1978 and I have carried the same spare module in all my cars with HEI since I started driving in 1970's, still haven't needed to install it yet! | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,746 | Tim, how does grounding the carburetor help the ignition system work right? "Inquiring minds want to know!"
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,440 Bolter | | Bolter Joined: Apr 2005 Posts: 7,440 | Jerry, it’s a special carb/dizzy combo. Only available for 1 year and only in NC.🤓
Martin
'62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress)
'47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project)
‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily)
‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence)
“I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one!
Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop!
USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 Bubba - Curmudgeon | | Bubba - Curmudgeon Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 29,269 | I meant distributor being grounded - oops
My grounding-screw instructions were at least correct, I hope? | | | | | Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,214 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Aug 2012 Posts: 1,214 | Oh man, and here I thought a well grounded carb was good for an engine. LOL. Course if you run an electric choke it is.
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,270 Renaissance Man | | Renaissance Man Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,270 | Don't scoff. My Quadrajet is grounded for the automatic choke. (Its actually a E-clone of a Carter AFB, but I am trying not to lose any more friends).
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
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