Converting to HEI

Winnipeg · Addicted!

Converting to HEI

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

I'm in Morris and if you don't have any luck finding someone you trust in Winnipeg there's a guy in Morris who I am very safe in saying would do a great job for you. Besides doing old cars for his day job, he does some restoring for guys in the evenings in a shop he has.

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

Speaking of HEI conversions, as you guys may know I converted my 88 Jeep to HEI. On a Jeep forum a guy mentioned that when doing such a conversion it's best to use a relay to allow running a dedicated shorter length 12 gauge wire from the battery to the HEI to ensure you get the max spark output. Makes sense. Since I was going to do this with my headlights, I might as well do it as well for the HEI.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Opinion only, but I'd consider simply converting your existing distributor to a Pertronix breakerless system. Your distributor uses the Pertronix 1162A, which is about 120 bucks Canadian. Easy DIY.

You keep everything stock looking, uses the same coil, wires and cap, and you don't have that distributor sitting huge looking alongside your six. Just my opinion mind you. Cheers and good luck.

OURWAGON · Guru

THOSE 6 CYL. DISTRIBUTORS ARE KNOW FOR LOOSE, WORN BUSHINGS.

BUT THAT IS NOT HARD TO REPAIR.

Winnipeg · Addicted!

Thanks everyone for your great input. I appreciate the advice and suggestions so far

long stroke · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

cdnpont wrote:
Opinion only, but I'd consider simply converting your existing distributor to a Pertronix breakerless system. Your distributor uses the Pertronix 1162A, which is about 120 bucks Canadian. Easy DIY.
You keep everything stock looking, uses the same coil, wires and cap, and you don't have that distributor sitting huge looking alongside your six. Just my opinion mind you. Cheers and good luck.

I agree with Mark, Pertronix is the very best way to go. At this point i have converted five cars with this amazing system. Like Mark said you have the looks of stock because everything is under the cap. You never have to muck around with silly points and condenser and................. NEVER have to adjust or replace anything again. Granted you still have to replace the cap and rotor as per usual but nothing else. It will be well worth the effort and i am one of those people that think the HEI is an ugly looking beast. Cheers.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

At one time way back, when Pertronix began selling conversion kits, the quality was suspect, and there used to be reports of them failing.

So at that point, deservedly or not, they kind of earned somewhat of an internet reputation as being unreliable. I believe that is all in the past now. I've run the standard Pertronix, the II, and am now running the III with their billet distributor in the BB. I've put probably thousands of miles on them, and never had any issue. The II is currently being run in my old HO350, no issues, and I even plan on putting the Standard Pertronix back in my 327 project.

Thats not to say the HEI isn't a great and budget conscious performer, it is. It's just what George said lol!

Winnipeg · Addicted!

well you folks are very convincing so I'll go ahead and order the kit as listed above and give it a try. I don't pick up from any of you that I should go ahead and replace my working coil so i'll leave it as is.
Again, thanks so much for weighing in and discussing this issue for me. I love this site!!!
Thanks
Kim

67Poncho · Uber Guru

I bought for my 454ci '70 Safari, in my avatar specifically before I went on my cross Canada east trip and was going to put the kit in the car before I went... Oddly, we had a car show the June before and I found one of our entrants dead on the side of the road with the unit fried in it... all be it a Ford, same unit.. the '55-'56 in my avatar, I can never tell them apart correctly, also had a fried unit that I replaced just before I left... I said to myself, I will clean, set the dwell on the points, carry a spare set and at least I could fix on the road...

John, gparis7, set the dwell, out very little, while in St. John's, Newfoundland, and although it has been 2 years since the trip, I haven't touched them since... I did 13,000kms on that trip plus 2 more summers... it runs and drives as usual. Who knows, maybe adding the kit would help it more...

Maybe if they soldered those BS crapola crimp connectors as shown in the pic, reliability could also be increased... My Pertronix kit still sits on the shelf....

-- Edited by 67Poncho on Monday 14th of January 2019 05:04:45 PM

long stroke · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

cdnpont wrote:
At one time way back, when Pertronix began selling conversion kits, the quality was suspect, and there used to be reports of them failing.
So at that point, deservedly or not, they kind of earned somewhat of an internet reputation as being unreliable. I believe that is all in the past now. I've run the standard Pertronix, the II, and am now running the III with their billet distributor in the BB. I've put probably thousands of miles on them, and never had any issue. The II is currently being run in my old HO350, no issues, and I even plan on putting the Standard Pertronix back in my 327 project.
Thats not to say the HEI isn't a great and budget conscious performer, it is. It's just what George said lol!

I never had one single issue with any of the cars i converted with Pertronix. At this point my 57 Pontiac 261 six has had the Pertronix unit in it for about nineteen years and i generally put 4,000 miles a year on it. One other thing i would recommend is useing the higher output Pertronix coil. It looks like the stock OEM coil but puts out far more power. It is not a must but it does utilize the system far more effectively than the stock coil. Cheers.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I think it's very important to power them with a full 12v, ensure very good ground continuity and make sure the coil is compatible with the particular module and number of cylinders. If running the stock coil, to be safe, keep it fed with the original resistance wire, BUT always feed the module with a full on ignition switched 12v bypassing that resistance wire.

I wonder if a lot of the module failures were due to overheating them in some way?

oshawacliff · Poncho Master!

I put the petronics in my chev without the petronics coil and found out I should have matched it up. Ran real good for many years with both units matched. Ran full 12 volts to the coil if I remember right.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I think if you have the right initial primary resistance in the coil, it'll work with a full 12v. But if not, it think it could compromise the module in some way. At least that how it seems to read.

Obviously, you'd like to get it right and try for the hottest spark you could obtain with this system.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

cdnpont wrote:

I wonder if a lot of the module failures were due to overheating them in some way?

Had Pertronics in my 57 years back. Car would die driving down the road...pull over..wait 15 min,sometimes 5 min and good to go. Think overheating was the problem...but sure they've fixed that now. Ended up putting in a Mallory HEI Dizzy.

65 SD L79 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pertronix-D104600-Stock-Look-Distributor-Chevy-SBC-BBC-w-Ignitor-I-Ignition/381057735583?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D2988e3b0f0a54b0588ae563797ca1a98%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dag%26sd%3D172980164221%26itm%3D381057735583&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Acaf30d7f-1ce7-11e9-9d78-74dbd18051cc%7Cparentrq%3A6cb0ba191680aa11ca0458c1ffeb0a6d%7Ciid%3A1