The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop HEI swap..

what do the bolters think?

283, maybe original..

If it clears the firewall I would do it.

If you want it to look original, you can do a pertronix kit in about 15 minutes.

i'm not overly worried about original in every aspect.. my old truck looks close enough to most..

I haven't done any research yet, but assume that one just hooks a switched hot to the hot side, and gets rid of the coil, etc..

btw, the firewall check is a good idea, i have an old one and will check that..

the HEI will fit, at least some trucks, but it's really tight - tried it on my 58 and it was touching the firewall, so I skipped it [tough to get back out w/ the engine in place!!] - might have been ok w/ shimming up the rear mounts a quarter, but I'm useta changing points, so don't care

Bill

mines a '58 as well... i'll do a test run with an old one out of the vette and post the results..

may be a week or so..

Nothing a 2 pound hammer can't fix.

i'm too lazy to swing that kind of shet...

I'll second the above, faster starting, hotter spark, no points. That said you may not get the performance you expect. Seems that starting in about 1968 (points) distributors started losing centrifugal advance and vacuum advance. As an example 63 292 six distributor is 0@600, 14@1500, 28@3700, vac adv 6@4-7 pounds, 23@13-14 pounds a 1976 distributor is 0@1100, 6@2000, 14@2300, 24@4100, vac adv 0@10-12 pounds, 10@13-14 pounds. The distributor can be recurved to get back what you lose. I need copies of the distributor data in a few more shop manuals for a better understanding of how far it goes. I would have the HEI recurved to the 58 distributor. If your compression, cam, carb have been changed then the curve needs changed or live with it.
Larry

I agree with the recurve. A distributor recurve kit with an adjustable vacuum advance canister ought to be on everyone's tune up list.

recurve and do total advance..about 12 to 16 on the base, 16 vacuume, and 20 mechanical

have that on my vette. Accell billit. I think it was only about $150 or $175...

Crane has a conversion kit for the window type dist. that is real neat & simple to insall. I like it better than the petronics for that dist. I get them from Summit.