The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Installation of HEI distributor

After reviewing the suggestions here, I contacted Tom Langdon about a HEI distributor for my 235. He, as mentioned here, was having trouble getting parts.
BUT today, Tom himself called to tell me a distributor is ready. It shipped today.
I'm looking forward to improvements in performance. I'll keep you posted.
What are you using for coil?
Plug wires?
Other goodies?

I bought the square coil that Tom sells because he said it was more reliable. I don’t really like the way it looks, so I may change it for a round coil. There are several HEI coils available such as accell, mallory and others. They all come in bright colors that I would paint black so it would look more original. Plug wires are from a 1980 Ford 300 6 cylinder. However, the coil wire did not fit the square coil. Instead I used a outboard marine coil wire as it has GM HEI ends on both sides. Tom also sells the wires and plugs. The plugs he sells are only 1 dollar apiece so you can go wrong.

I also wouldn't like a square coil.
I'll shop for a bright colored one to paint.
Tom suggested a set of V8 HEI plug wires which would allow one to be used for the coil and one extra.
So far, a few reliable brands make black wires.

Let me know what V-8 wire set you find so I can note it for the future.

Also the round coil uses the same wire end as the original coil, so it you go that route the spark plug wire from the V-8 set won’t work. In that case the 1980 Ford 300 L6 wires work perfectly.

You could drop a V8 in her to match the wires.

LMAO

DonBolt Years ago I needed a set of HEI wires,a counterman at a not NAPA store (friend) said go buy a pair of NAPA plug wire pliers I will show you how to make your wires ! We made up a set of neat fitting factory tuff wires right there on the counter. They are still on there. It's important to lube the pliers with HEI grease so they will work right. Now I just get junk yard wires 8 mm cut them down to fit my homemade HEI's use factory ends where you can , install what is needed on the other end,tuff and neat! I just hope we will be able to get the terminals later on. The NAPA pliers really do a pro job. That friend used to work the NAPA counter !! On the coil I use the coil neatly hidden in the cap,use distributors that are the not computer controlled ones. V-6 will work or inline like 292 there is one you just extend the oil pump tang and it will work too!! Have about 5 all done right here at home.

Phak 1 Have all my coils in the cap,learned early to watch out for cap to engine clearance, on plugs I mostly use what is in there HEI is so mean it will fire about anything. They tell you on lpg to use .025 plug gap I don't even do that. you'll see what I told DonBolt on wires.

After patiently waiting (and working on other projects for my truck), I received my new HEI distributor from Tom Langdon. It looks very slick and was packaged very well. To my surprise, a coil was included. It's the square style that Phil mentioned.
I'll order some plug wires.
We'll see how it goes. I'm already intimidated by the suggested methods of installing the distributor.
But I'll tackle that after the holidays.

Don’t be intimidated by the instructions, it was really pretty easy once I got into it. Additionally, Tom is there at your beck and call. He will answer not only the phone, but any questions you may have and then some.

Have you decided on using the square coil?

You don't have to buy one of those expensive coils with the fancy paint job. The OEM coil used on MOPAR electronic ignition systems from the 1980's will have the right primary circuit resistance, and provide the 50KV open circuit secondary voltage a HEI system needs. That's probably what hotrod systems like Mallory or Accell uses, anyway, with a different paint scheme.
Jerry

I was planning to use the square coil from Langdon but Jerry has new information. Thank you.
Is the Mopar coil stock looking? Is it male or female terminal?
What wires are you using Jerry?
Don

I believe the MOPAR coil uses regular threaded terminals on the coil primary. It will have a female socket for the secondary wire. It's black, and resembles the original coil a lot closer than the square GM unit. As long as the primary winding resistance is somewhere around 0.5 ohms, the GM module won't know the difference. Try researching an ignition coil for a mid-1980's Chrysler Corp V8 like a 360, etc. for a visual on that unit.

For instance:
www.ebay.com/itm/402407504117?

Jerry

I also recently got an HEI distributor and coil from Tom Langdon, you couldn’t deal with a better guy!! I went with a set of vintage wires and left my old chrome Mallory coil in the factory location. Mounted the square HEI coil under the distributor and draft tube to hide it, used a black coil wire and glued the fake coil wire to the top of the real coil wire. It looked convincing enough for me

I like that "wireless" coil hookup- - - - -has anybody else spotted the lack of primary wires?
Jerry

Got ya, Jerry.

The actual coil is mounted down by the oil pan (Picture 3). The coil up by the valve cover is a dummy.

Why stop there, might as well put in some non op wires to and from the round coil to complete the game….
Btw: I like your style, I just iso-mounted my square coil low on the inner fender out of view, no faux round coil though

Chuck

Nicely done, and you are right about Tom!