Big cap GM HEI on a 360 in a 67 Dart

[sledger46]

Hello all,

I decided to try to see if the all-in-one GM style HEI would fit on my 360 in a 67 Dart. The word on the street was it didn't fit or it is extremely tight. In my case it is extremely tight.

In order to get some more room I moved the engine forward. I slotted the engine mount perches and the transmission mount where it bolts to the transmission.

The result was the clearance I was trying to achieve:

In order to hook up power to the new HEI distributor you need to tie IGN1 and IGN2 together so you have voltage during crank and run. I simply moved my tach wire from the old distributor to the terminal on the new HEI distributor. For plug wires I used wires for a 89 Mustang with a 5.0L as they have the correct connectors for the terminals on the cap and also have 45 degree boots (this really helps on #5 and #7 with the header tube).

There was actually room to route spark plug wires behind the cap. The wires look close to the headers but are actually several inches away. I still need to come up with wire looms to clean up the routing.

 

[Mad Dart]

Alot of work to run that distributor. If it were me I would weld hardened washers for the bolt holes where you slotted the trans and engine mounts so it is permanent and has no chance of moving.

 

[BillGrissom]

Might fit better in a 64-65 A where the wiper motor was in the cabin. However, the distributor was so tight in early-A 273's that they dimpled a recess in the firewall. I would have just sold it to someone with a SB in a truck or van who has more room and bought an HEI distributor with an external coil. Even Chevy dropped the coil-in-cap design in later cars.

 

[sledger46]

Alot of work to run that distributor. If it were me I would weld hardened washers for the bolt holes where you slotted the trans and engine mounts so it is permanent and has no chance of moving.

Now that I have the final location I can weld up the slots in the transmission mount. The motor mount perches will be more difficult. Remember the perches have a factory verticle slot so you can drop the engine in with the mounts attached. After thinking about it, I should have made 1/2" spacers where the engine mounts bolt to the ears on the side of the engine. I would have only needed 1/2" longer bolts. Next time I have the engine out I will switch to the spacers and weld up the notches in the slot on the motor mount perches.


I thought it was a pretty good trade off being able to eliminate the ballast resistor, external coil, external ECU and all the associated, old, brittle wiring. The one wire alternator I am running allowed me to remove the external voltage regulator and wiring.

You have to admit it would have ben even more work to install an engine with the distributor on the other end ;-)

 

[HotLines]

I have it in my 64 Signet, what I done was cutout a part of the firewall and inserted a piece of sheet metal in a half round fashion.

 

[sledger46]

I have it in my 64 Signet, what I done was cutout a part of the firewall and inserted a piece of sheet metal in a half round fashion.

Sounds like a good solution.

 

[MOPARoldtimer]

Tell me, boys, do you notice much of a performance improvement with the HEI as compared to running the stock Mopar electronic ignition?

 

[abodyjoe]

wow! too much work just for HEI. too many easier ways to do it.

good job doing it though..

 

[RustyRatRod]

I sorta thought the same thing. Great execution but what a PITA. Especially when the HEI is available with a small cap. One way or the other.

 

[sledger46]

Tell me, boys, do you notice much of a performance improvement with the HEI as compared to running the stock Mopar electronic ignition?

I had previously converted from points to electronic (Mopar clone) and I did see I nice improvement especially at idle and low speeds. I don't have any performance numbers for the new HEI setup....yet.