mbright

Im in need of some recommendations for a ignition system on my 72 c3. Rebuilt 454 with a fairly aggressive cam. New 750 edelbrock carb. TH400 trans. I put in a new $43. ebay HEI dist. just to start the fresh motor. Runs good and sounds Better then expected, But with replacing everything under the hood, I dont want to cheap out on the ignition system. I would like to keep the tac drive from the dist. if possible. If anybody knows of a ign. system with this setup that worked for them or has any good ideas, Please let me know. Im ready for a couple hits for the $43. dist. Just wanted to get it started. I built the car for the streets, So maybe the better quality HEI may work fine, I just dont know a enough about ign. systems. I tried looking at threads, But they were all over the place. Any ideas would be appreciated.

sparky77

I would just look for a stock tach drive hei distributor or one from Summit racing .I just was at a junk yard and got a GM HEI distributor for 25.00.I,ll rebuild it and keep it here so if I need one for my 77 or the old Guys I hang with need one it's ready to go.

flyeri

If you want/like the HEI I would suggest this. You can have it curved exactly the way you want it.

http://performancedistributors.com/p...reetstrip-dui/

Jebbysan

I had the MSD tach drive and 6AL in my 66' 327/350 and loved it. Curved perfectly....and fired instantly.

I run a Mallory Opti-Spark and 6AL in the 72' 406.....and this is a great system as well......

Most importantly get something you can curve to your engine......whatever that may be.

Jebby

lars

Here is a re-post of an article I did not long ago with some information backing up what Jebby says:

What Distributor and Ignition System is "The Best" for my Street Car?

By Lars

The "best" distributor and ignition system to use is the one you're comfortable with setting up and tuning. Any two systems, set up with the same timing curve, will perform virtually the same on a mild street car. For a mild performance street-driven car, I also highly recommend getting one with vacuum advance, and there are many to choose from.
To demonstrate the equivalent performance from one system to another, I actually did dyno testing at Westech with Hot Rod Magazine several years ago. Here are the results that I've published here on the Forum before:

A few years ago, I did a bit of dyno testing at Westech Performance with Matt King, former Editor of Hot Rod Magazine. We tested several of the aftermarket capacitive discharge systems and top-end distributors against a plain ol' points-type distributor. The engine was a nice street-type 302 Ford putting out 370 horsepower. We tested ignition systems and distributors from Crane, MSD, and Mallory, making sure that each distributor had exactly the same centrifugal advance curve in it with the same total timing. Once these nice aftermarket systems were tested, we went out in the parking lot and pulled the stock points distributor out of Matt King's crap Falcon: We set it up with the same advance curve on Westech's distributor machine and dropped it in the 302 test engine. Results: There was no change in the engine's performance whatsoever at any point on the rpm curve. Absolutely none.

So here's the recommendation: Run whatever distributor you're comfortable with tuning and curving, and set it up with a good performance curve to match the needs of your engine. Whether this is a tach-drive points-type distributor, an HEI, or an MSD ProBillet is completely irrelevant as long as you can get it set up right. Buy something of good quality that is easily tunable, and make sure you run vacuum advance on any street-driven engine. Trigger boxes, amplifiers, huge coils, and fancy systems will not gain you anything on a moderate performance street engine - spend your time getting the curve and total timing set up right on whatever system you use - that's where the power is.

Here's Matt King (black shirt) and me setting up the points distributor from his Falcon in the 302 test engine to run head-to-head against the top-end capacitive discharge systems:


Notice that we even used the old crap wires out of Matt's Falcon for the testing:


Here's the same engine with one of the fancy aftermarket systems in it and some really nice red plug wires:


Famed Westech Dyno Operator Steve Brule (left) overseeing the testing:


Results: Absolutely no change in power whatsoever from one system to another, as long as the advance curve remained the same (note Matt King's astounded "I can't freakin believe it" expression):


Here is my own 407 that's in my '64 Roadster on the engine dyno. It puts out 500 hp with 500 ft/lbs torque. I run the stock tach drive distributor with a nice set of points and an aggressive advance curve which nails the optimum total timing for max power and performance. All you need is to get the curve right and the total timing right in a system you know how to tune. Everything else is fluff:


Running the additional benefit from vacuum advance (limited to 12 degrees) hooked up to manifold vacuum makes a huge difference in idle quality and engine operating temperature of this big-cammed, solid roller engine:

sparky77

I agree 100 percent with Lars. Money does not always mean it's better!