318 WITH CHEVY DISTRIBUTOR

-
Garys72Duster

Garys72Duster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2017
Messages
558
Reaction score
323
Location
Golden, Co
Just made a deal on a 72 Dart, with the 318 engine. Well it has roller rockers that I can see, alum intake, Edelbrock carb, and a Chevy HEI dist! What the heck? Didn't know they would fit in there! So is this the hot set up, or a 1 of a kind mod? It runs ok, but not much room left back there due to the large diameter of the GM dist and cap. Should I keep it? Or go back to the orig Chrysler electronic ign set up. Confused in Denver.
00O0O_aAuKDAzU9XZ_0CI0lM_1200x900.jpg
 
The dist is not a Chevy dist. It is a mopar dist with an HEI (Chevy) conversion, some aftermarket manufacturers make Mopar dist with the HEI built in, cap and all, looks like that is what you have.

Nothing wrong with it. Not special either.

Unless the rotor or cap is unique from the manufacturer, you should be able to buy the parts from any auto parts store.
 
You can get those for everything now. I have one in the 351M in my Ford truck.
 
If it's running and not causing any issues, I would just keep it. If it craps out and you want to swap, or just want to swap it just because I understand that too.
 
Garys72Duster said:
Thanks! I'll keep it for now, maybe replace it with a Chrysler type, if it goes bad.
Click to expand...

I love the factory Mopar ignition system, I really do. But if I were you, I would keep the GM style if not for only one reason. Parts availability. Any auto parts store you break down near on a Sunday afternoon will have the parts you need to fix that, because it's all Chevy from the engine up.
 
Bodyperson said:
Keep a spare module in the glove box. Bout the only thing that goes wrong with them.
Click to expand...

Yup.......and a rotor wouldn't hurt either. If they are as hot as the sho nuff GM units, they'll burn a hole in the rotor and ground to the distributor shaft. lol Seen several do that.
 
On a side note, I once had a pre-HEI 'Vette breakerless tach drive dist "hacked down" (by a hack machinist) to fit a Chev. One of the members here ended up with it
 
RustyRatRod said:
Yup.......and a rotor wouldn't hurt either. If they are as hot as the sho nuff GM units, they'll burn a hole in the rotor and ground to the distributor shaft. lol Seen several do that.
Click to expand...
Ya I think Davis is getting 50,000 volts.
 
Voltage is not normally what burns up rotors. Normally that is caused by something causing the voltage to rise. You must understand that the plugs gaps, the conditions in the chamber is what determines the firing voltage at the plug. If the plug is resistor or has an internal gap, the system voltage rises some because it is not loaded so much. If, example, a cylinder is lean, or has a problem like a leaky valve, then the voltage rises. If you are using resistor plug wires, voltage rises, and if some of them are going bad and rising in resistance, voltage climbs further.

Any bad connection like a plug boot part way "off" will drive this further along.

Yet another thing (same problem) is bad rotor alignment AKA rotor phasing. This causes a large gap in the rotor -to-tower contact and ----guess what!!-- voltage rises.

Other factors are extreme humidity and something that might cause a conductive situation, such as dirty oily residue collected on parts (and rotor) and or metallic particles "blown" off the rotor/ tower contacts and deposited on the rotor, and inside of the cap.
 
Davis Unified Ignition is the brand name, available for pretty much every make of engine. Really a simple and reliable system, and as Rusty said, parts are readily available.
 
missing linc said:
Davis Unified Ignition is the brand name, available for pretty much every make of engine. Really a simple and reliable system, and as Rusty said, parts are readily available.
Click to expand...

Davis is pretty expensive though. Skip White, ProForm, and a host of others also make them and well under 100 bucks.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Davis is pretty expensive though. Skip White, ProForm, and a host of others also make them and well under 100 bucks.
Click to expand...
Is Skip White even open anymore? They're just up the street from me, called up there several times about a rocker arm for a 347 I built and they never answered. Maybe they just shut down for a bit.
 
RammerJammer75 said:
Is Skip White even open anymore? They're just up the street from me, called up there several times about a rocker arm for a 347 I built and they never answered. Maybe they just shut down for a bit.
Click to expand...

I assume so. Their web site is still up......but then, so is Schumacher's and I think he's slap gone.
 
Just remember the difference between walking home and driving home relies on a dizzy that some Chinese person made for $1.00....
 
Looks like a good dist, and is working great. I'll run it until it becomes a problem. I never stray too far at first. LOL
 
I'd leave it alone since it's bought and paid for. But it's just one of too many examples of non-Mopar guys owning Mopars. I'd rather use a points type distributor than a Chevy part. Same goes for the Ford rear ends everyone seems to love. Yucky. Yucky. Yucky.
 
mojoshemi4.jpg
I like to keep Mopars all Mopar.... Fords all Ford... sez the guy who built a '56 F100 with an early Hemi/833/9 1/4" rear with b-body torsion bars!
 
Krooser said:
Just remember the difference between walking home and driving home relies on a dizzy that some Chinese person made for $1.00....
Click to expand...
Damn right , i'd rather use my 1970'sor 80 mopar distributor than 90% of the new crap , worst that has happened in the last 15 years is 2 balast resistors went bad , 2 minutes and a 3 dollar resistor later back on the road , always keep a spare . have had 2 2016 0r later distributors go bad on me in the last 3 years , new stuff is just pure crap
 
I have never had a ballast resistor fail on me, always carried a spare, had probably a dozen in my tool box at one point, never had any trouble with the factory electronic ignition system on any car I've owned. My 75 Dart has an MSD box and billet distributor that came with the car, it also has all of the original primary igniton system wiring intact and functional from what I've tested thus far, so I'm seriously considering returning it to the OE Mopar system, I have everything I need except the ignition module, which is $20.00.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Davis is pretty expensive though. Skip White, ProForm, and a host of others also make them and well under 100 bucks.
Click to expand...
Rusty is correct. These are made by dozens of companies. Most overseas. OP's is not necessarily a DUI, and more than likely it is not.

Also, pending what brand it is, believe it or not, the caps and rotors are NOT always just an OEM gm replacement. I know this to be a 100% fact. The rotor tip position differs. And so does cap terminal ID.
 
These "GM" style distributors are a great swap idea, super easy and worry free.
Some applications may have clearance issues though.

My high school auto tech teacher had firewall clearance issues in his 85 pickup, can't remember why exactly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top