Anyone running this distributor?

[DusterDaddy]

My under hood wiring harness is in good shape but I am missing the starter relay and the electronic ignition module looks like it has seen better days.
I was thinking about going with the distributor in the posted picture.
Also, if anyone has a hi-res picture of the of the wiring from the battery to the starter relay and ignition module, I would appreciate it.
Someone pulled it out of my car prior to my ownership.

 

[abodyjoe]

there are a few threads here about that thing. search for it..

 

[zigs]

Looks like the one I bought from Hot Rods USA, was red and payed $70 for it.. I haven't used it yet but the guy thats helping me rewire my car reconized it and said they are very good . He said he has never seen one go bad. Also a freind of mine has one that he had bench tested at a freind of ours garage and he was very impressed. I like the fact that you eliminate the ECU and ballast. You have to run a hot coil with it 50,000 v or more. I would check manufacturer to see where they are built ,some are made in China. The ones from Hot Rods USA are made in the US.

 

[stroker_valiant]

I purchased that same distributor from White Performance, (the folks selling that one). I had it in my SB stroker, and it was just fine. I ran it with an MSD 6al box, so I took out the ignition control module. The advance on mine came in at 1500 rpm, added 10 degrees and was all in by 1700, so it had a very fast curve. I never tried to rework the curve on mine; I just replaced it with an MSD Pro Billet. I would get another one if I were building on a budget again.

 

[orange72dart]

been looking to run that style of cap on a mopar electronic distribtor, will it work??

 

[KitCarlson]

I put one on today, same unit you show in first post. I needed to make adjustments for install on 66 273 Barracuda. The big lump for module conflicted with oil pressure sender. I also needed to rotate the distributor drive gear to #1 plug centered forward. The plug wire were very short for cylinders 5 and 7, so the orientation needed to be correct. The unit is a tight fit.

Made small jumper from male fast-on terminals to eliminate ballast resistor. Used 93 Dodge truck wire set. It started on first try. I need to do more tests and perhaps report with pictures what I find.

 

[DusterDaddy]

I put one on today, same unit you show in first post. I needed to make adjustments for install on 66 273 Barracuda. The big lump for module conflicted with oil pressure sender. I also needed to rotate the distributor drive gear to #1 plug centered forward. The plug wire were very short for cylinders 5 and 7, so the orientation needed to be correct. The unit is a tight fit.

Made small jumper from male fast-on terminals to eliminate ballast resistor. Used 93 Dodge truck wire set. It started on first try. I need to do more tests and perhaps report with pictures what I find.

Pics of your install would be nice. look forward to seeing them.

 

[BillGrissom]

I bought the same one (red) from skipwhite something on ebay ~$45 for my 273 engine. Couldn't pass it up. Haven't installed yet. It looks well made. Uses a similar inductive pickup wheel as the Mopar electronic, with a GM style HEI 4-pin igniter under the metal cover. I want to get rid of the ballast resistor I have to use with my Crane XR700 and put in an E-core coil (skipwhite ~$20).

Forget about the factory ignition module wiring, for that distributor you just run +12V ign and wire it to the coil. If your engine harness is so hacked up, you might consider what I did and install a Power Distribution Center from a modern car. That takes care of all under-hood relays (starter, horn), plus lets you add relays for lights, electric fuel pump, ignition, etc.

 

[KitCarlson]

Here are some pictures.

The electronic distributor shaft was about 0.1" longer than OEM unit. Measuring the gear slot from top of block suggested zero slop, so I shortened the new shaft by 0.05".

The bottom edge of trigger mount was chamfered, also the oil pressure sender screwed in to near maximum depth. Not happy about the time it took to re-index gear and try various positions to get the distributor to fit.

I needed to adjust the reluctor spacing, the cap came loose in shipping. There was slight conflict. I used a brass 0.01" feeler to get consistent distance for all points. Since all tips line up for trigger, the design works in a consistent manner, tolerating inaccurate machining of individual tips. I see this as an improvement over the stock MOPAR electronic. It should also provide a greater reluctance change than the single point MOPAR trigger.

Not excited about quality of internal mechanical for advance and vacuum control. I plan to keep my OEM system in trunk for a while.

 

[KitCarlson]

Here is a picture showing the reluctor and stator showing multiple tips. A stock mopar electronic on the has 8 tips on the rotor and only one on the stator.

Timing can be set in a static way, by aligning tips, with crank at 10 degrees BTDC, with rotor at #1 plug terminal. This will get engine started on first try, if all is correct. The picture does not show this. The gear needed to be rotated clock wise to forward #1 position, such that #5 and #7 plug wire were long enough.

 

[DusterDaddy]

I know its been too long but thanks to all who posted.
Im going to give one a whirl