Anyone tried one of these HEI Distributors?

darc1722 said

I was looking at the new distributor next to my old one and noticed that it lines up different. Please see photo, the original has the rotor parallel to the key that goes to the oil pump gear (they both point in the same direction). The new one is off by at least an inch as the rotor is off by about two plug wires. Is this normal or did I get a bad one?

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Mine was the same way. I had to re-route the plug wires to get the timing right.

I guess that would be bummer if your wires are custom cut to the perfect length. Alternatively, you could rotate the distributor body a corresponding amount, but not sure where that would leave the vacuum advance diaphragm pointing.


It's easier if you make note of which cylinder the rotor is pointing to before you pull the old distributor out of the engine. Then transfer the wires to the new distributor in order going around the cap starting with the one that the rotor is pointing to.