The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay need electronics plan

My 283 V8 will be rebuilt professionally this summer. My wiring looks almost all original and is in pretty bad condition. I will sacrifice stock appearance when it comes to some electronics. I'm considering an HEI distributor but I'm not sure about type of alternator and whether to include original type voltage regulator on firewall, and such details. If you were starting this from scratch, and wanted reliability above all, what kind of set-up would you choose?

I agree with 2many. The factory type HEI dist doesn,t clear the firewall on that model if you have the engine in the original position. You can use an aftermarket electronic dist or put a conversion kit in the original. I use the Crane conversion kit. It is easy to install & not expensive.

Really good advice coming at you. I've just installed a Pertronix unit on my 230. Most of the aftermarket wiring set ups are very well identified as to where they go, and with some patience, you should be able to get it done without putting a fire to the shop with the truck inside(intentionally). The weakest part of most all these old trucks is the electronics, so anything you can do to ugrade them is money in the bank.