Does anyone have experiance with the TI distributors offered by several vendors? I want to replace my distributor and bring it back to the stock unit. The rebuilt units run between $1,000 and $2,000 while ZIP and others have them for $750-$800. I am sure these are also rebuilt and I am not sure how one could be worth twice what the other is worth unless it is not put through as much testing or something isn't rebuilt? (Or some of the rebuilders have higher overhead and/or just do a better job at it)

Thoughts or anyone have one for sale at a reasonable cost?

 

Don't have a comment on the distributor itself but $ 1000 to $ 2000 is just a ripoff, $ 750 to $ 850 is just less of a rip off. Zip, Central, Ecklers and all the rest of the ( corvette vender's ) I List them second to the IRS, and the us government, they know you need it so why not rip you off in the process. If you buy a good early year corvette,fairly cheep and do all the work your self by the time you buy parts from these vender's you have lost any profit in that vehicle, If that was your goal, so if your going to buy an early corvette you might as well keep it, drive it, sorry frustrated abought there prices and the way they sell items, one piece at a time, just my 1/2 cents worth.

 

Wow that is harsh. That is not how it works though eventhough some people think that. The reason that Corvette parts can get expensive is because of how low run the quantity is. If it cost 20k to build a tool for a part and then it costs $10 to make the part, but you only run a 100 parts because it will probably take a year or two to sell them, well while the assumed cost is $10 it is really $210 when you count the tooling cost which now has a retail of just say $299 for a what should be a $20 part. This is not Corvette tax in the essence of someone is just marking it up to make a huge profit. It is Corvette tax because there are very few of them out there and it cost allot to make a part depending on what the part it. It is different then say a Camaro where they made hundreds of thousand of car per year and there are still allot out there where the quantity runs are higher. The parts were also cheaper new by GM because they had runs of around 100,000 parts and that spreads the tooling cost out to where it is not allot, example that same part above. The $10 part when spread out over that quantity would have a real cost of $15 vs. the 210 of the low quantity. Hope this helps to change your view of the Corvette companies, we are not trying to take advantage of anyone. And the IRS does not work for there money, we do.

 

Are you talking about the optional factory TI? $1K - $2K for working original units is reasonable; ZIP's price might be for a reproduction. Call ZIP and ask.

The TI distributor is only half the equation; you'll need the amplifier and harness to go with it.

 

And a T I coil as well.

 

Thanks for the reply's. While I understand your frustration at the cost of things I buy a lot of parts from ZIP and found them to be fair in the pricing and good to deal with. I understand this is not a common part and actually the Zip price is half or less than what others want.

Yes I do realize I need all three pieces but the other two are fairly easy to come by and not that expensive. I already have the amp on the car so just putting in new electronics is around $150 and the right coil is around $100-$125.

It is the distributor itself that is high as it was a one year deal for the right one. I do realize other distributors can be made to act the same way but reading articles by Dave Fiedler, who seems to be the accepted expert, there can be hundreds of different combos with 23 base distributors. So I was trying to get one for the 1970 LT-1. Probably why they cost so much.

One other quick question - I see part number 1111491 listed in a Delco chart as the right distributor but that may also be for the 69 350-350? Any thoughts or can someone with an original 70 tell me the right number?