About a week ago I mentioned it seemed possible to amend the 7 pin more common and generally less expensive GM HEI ignition module (D-1961) to mimic the less common but used in Langdon's MinI HEI distributor (GM D-1959). Chinese parts are common and all over the place but I'm concentrating on GM parts. I bought a used one to make certain the size, pins, etc will work and they will. Unfortunately the unit was not working but it was a gamble anyhow and I do have two on the way which should be working. The good news at this point is the alteration can be done, the unit will swap out okay...only if the two pins on the left side are removed. Otherwise it will not clear the distributor shaft. So we'll wait and see what happens with a working module. Images attached and more to follow hopefully soon.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
"INTERRRRRESSSSTING!" Basically what's being done is eliminating the electronic timing advance circuits, and leaving the coil trigger circuit intact. Then the centrifugal and vacuum advance can take over to control the timing like the earlier distributor did. 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!
Yes, that's the end product, Jerry...it isolates the coil trigger circuit. That's all we need in this application anyhow, don't you think?
The Langdon distributor was a modification of the 1982-1984 S10 type (and a few other GM products with V6 I think used that same distributor). Thanks to the "Cash for Clunkers" program there are fewer of those around now and lack of availability is one of the things that stopped Tom from making more.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
Only a couple of years of the 2.8 L V6- - - -the ones with centrifugal and vacuum advance. 1980-82, I believe. A LOT of machining is required on the housing and a drive gear change is needed to make it fit a stovebolt inline engine. I have modified an offshore clone of that distributor and replaced the Mickey Mouse electronics with OEM Delco-Remy pieces.
"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!
Interesting parts search factoids….Rock Auto lists only the non-vac version of this dizzy for the earliest S10s. (They consider 82 the first year for the S10).
However….if you look at that eBay listing that Jerry attached, and search for one of those vehicle applications (I used the early Buick) you can find the vac advance version. “Autoline D2100” seems to be a number that works. And then if you click on the item detail you get a bunch of alternate part numbers that might be of some use.
There's a much simpler "small cap" HEI setup that I'm working on- - - - -putting the HEI reluctor and pickup coil into the point type distributor for a 230/250/292 distributor, and mounting the module remotely. Those distributor housings are much more available, less expensive, and simple to adapt to work with a stovebolt engine. 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!
Jerry, please take a look at my post of a few moments ago. You and I discussed this distributor quite a while ago. I finally got around to looking at it more closely. It is another 230/250/292 distributor and as far as I can see uses some internal GM components.
~ Jon 1952 1/2 ton with 1959 235 | T5 with 3.07 rear end
The housing of the offshore clone is usually OK- - - -just trash the pickup coil, module, and wire harness, and replace them with OEM pieces- - - -maybe the coil, also. 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!
It's a comparison of two popular stovebolt cams- - - -The Elgin E-293S and the Melling CCS-1. They're both very similar to the 261/Corvette six solid lifter cams from the mid-1950s. The Melling cam has a slightly longer exhaust duration that tne Elgin for better cylinder scavenging without causing a rough idle. 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!
