Jr. Mechanic

iTrader: (3)

Normally, I stick to known brands and pay the premium. However as of late, I've been noticing a lot of companies selling us knock off goods with their stickers, while we're still paying a premium for their product. Case in point: MSD's Street Fire distributor is made in China, much like this Skip White unit that I just picked up. For $80 dollars, I received a 65,000 volt HEI distributor as well as a set of universal Accel 8.8 300+ Ferro-Spiral Race Wires. The wires alone are $99.99 on Jegs, so basically it's like getting a free distributor, and a $19.99 discount on the wires.

Too good to be true? That was my first thought. My second thought was I'd buy the pair, and check out the distributor first hand, then show you guys the results. Worst case scenario I scrap the dizzy and use the plug wires. So, onto the pictures:

The box is branded "TSP", or "Top Street Performance." Clearly a very generic name.



What's inside? A completely assembled HEI distributor. No added frills or even instructions. It was packaged very well though:



Now, my first impression of the assembled product surprised me. I was expecting obvious signs of poor quality control and workmanship, inferior plastics, terrible machining tolerances, etc. However, everything seems to be top notch, exactly what you would expect from a distributor 3 times the cost. That's on the outside though. Time to do what any real gear head would do: Take it apart!

My initial findings again, are surprising. I found a high quality adjustable vacuum advance unit, welded weight pins, nicely crimped and sealed wiring; Again, what you would expect in a name brand part. The Ignition Module has no name or way of identification other than the manufacturer's numbers, so at this time I will have to say that I cannot vouch for the quality of the electronics. The polished finish of the distributor body is flawless.





Here's a critical one: The drive gear. This one appears to be average quality, it's nothing exceptional as it's just a run of the mill cast iron drive gear for use with flat tappet cams.



Up top, I have nothing but good things to say about the cap, rotor, and coil. I've heard rumors of the plastic being cheap and brittle, but when compared to my MSD cap and rotor, the difference is negligible. All of the cap terminals as well as the rotor have brass contacts, which we all know are superior to cheaper aluminum contacts in durability and conductivity.

The coil once again "appears" to be high quality, but that's hard for me to say for sure. Nothing about the weight or outward appearance would give a hint of poor quality. The carbon button is constructed with a brass spring and a Buna-N insulator.










So, the final verdict: As long as Skip White sticks with his current supplier (Top Street Performance), you can't go wrong with his HEI distributor if you're on a budget. The distributor normally sells for around $40 dollars plus shipping. The MSD Street Fire normally goes for about $145. Jegs and Summit each have their own distributors which are no different from the White or MSD unit ranging from the $90-$130 dollar range.

Feel free to discuss my findings. :thumbup:

Jr. Mechanic

iTrader: (3)

The plug wires are high quality as expected from a name like Accel. They are a factory sealed product, so I'm a little baffled as to why Jegs sells them for $100 while White can sell them for $80 WITH a distributor.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Got a web address?

Jr. Mechanic

iTrader: (3)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/SBC-C...item4cef12e6cc

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Thanks.

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

I, too bought one of these Skip White 65k distributor for my build, but I got the one with a clear cap. My findings in apparent workmanship and quality was the same as you find, until I tried to actually use it. My motor would sputter, backfire, anything but run correctly. I bought and installed an MSD Streetfire unit and the motor fired right up. I was both shocked any annoyed that the MSD unit was mad in china, but I soon forgot about that wit how well it actually worked. Maybe I got a bad distributor from Skip, maybe it was a fluke, but I personally wont buy another. My experience with Accel brand wires is not so good, either. The boots themselves burned, something that cant be a user-error. Again, installed MSD wires, no problems. Though the Accel wires you got with it are a better kind and clearly look higher quality than mine, I doubt there will be the same issue.

Werewolf SS

iTrader: (3)

I also got the Skip White Dizzy and have just installed it into my motor on the engine stand. Motor goes in later this week or next and I'll post if the dizzy holds up or not.

chevy lovin

i got the tsp dizzy to ,and in runs great. i have it in a stock roller cam. is it gong be ok.

Duts87ss

iTrader: (10)

Funny, I was thinking that dizzy looks very much like the Mallory 85 series I have sitting on the shelf. Then, I take a look at the auction you linked and the dizzy cap is the exact same as an Accel cap (other than the color). Accel and Mallory are sister companies.

Looks like you found a way to get Mallory and Accel products at an outstanding price. Heck, for that price, change the distributor every time you the plug wires.

Killerz187

iTrader: (1)

I have one of these on my 383 Stroker Motor. When we were breaking it in, it worked pefectly. No sputtering, and no problems. When I finally get around to dropping the motor back into the car, I'll make another post saying if everything is still working.

shelad

I used the Skip White dizzy in my 86 w/350. Looks good and works great. I have no complaints.

firebird904

My dad got one of these distributor's for his s10 blazer and it was absolute garbage it would make it seem like it wanted to stall when he would let off the throttle. However I put one in my old firebird and it worked flawlessly and the quality was great.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

MSD products are mostly made in china... ive used the cap/rotor combo... made in china, ive used the blaster coil... made in china. I recently just purchased a MSD blaster canister coil for a ford 521 swap in my bird and it too was made in china. But i also purchased the MSD street fire iginition box and the box says MADE IN USA! lol how the heII does that HAPPEN! ive heard about the distributers being made in china tho. maybe only the MSD boxes are made in USA?

ive used skip white before, got my 190cc patriot heads from him. they ran great except i kept snapping rockers studs... turned out to be the cr@ppy speed pro lifters tho.

EDIT: Actually Accel is cr@p to me... ive used there ignition control module (burnt out within 2yrs) ive used there wires and spark plugs etc and i always have issues with them. Oh and the accel u groove spark plugs are made in JAPAN!

Jr. Mechanic

iTrader: (3)

I partially agree with this statement. I usually won't touch anything Accel such as their coils and distributors. Even their cap and rotor kits are sub-par.

However, this particular set of wires is top notch quality. I've never been a fan of their cheaper wires, but these are honestly some of the nicest wires I've ever seen.

As for some of the horror stories with the distributors: I firmly believe the largest difference between the unit Skip White sells and a MSD Street Fire/Jegs/Summit unit would be the quality control. Both come from China, but MSD has stricter tolerances and probably tests their distributors a little better than TSP. That's where the price difference comes into play.

For example, say you bought a thousand MSD Street Fire units and had issues with 2% of those units. Odds are you would have more issues had you bought a thousand TSP distributors.

However, White Performance backs their parts with a no questions asked lifetime replacement warranty, better than most aftermarket distributors. So if you have a problem, White will bend over backwards to make sure you're satisfied.

That's a plus in my book.

customblackbird

iTrader: (15)

agreed. skips white sent me 2 complete sets of rocker arm studs for free when i was having isses with the patriot heads, which turned out to be a lifter problem. I got nothing but good things to say about skip white. Also the polished distributer has no performance advantage over a stock cast distributor, polished is wat it means... polished cast... NOT billet. altho it does looks nice.

DSmith

I have purchased several items form Skip, including 3 of these distributors. I have nothing but great thing about Ship White and his products.

BTW, the 3 distributors are for different vehicles and are working great on each one.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Hope it performs better than the chinese piece of crap that was in my car, all it could do good was cause a damned lopey idle.

t-top havoc

iTrader: (3)

Accel dist in ours has never had a problem!!
It's first 7 yrs was in our '75 Camaro Bigblock, & is now at home in our
'87 Camaro!!
Only adjustments were springs & vaccum advance!!

For now, even using the same Taylor plug wires!!

jag327

I'm using skip white, Mallory AL and there Distributor this set up now for just about 1.5 years,The blue coil I use on another motor. When I 1st was looking at these motor parts I was going to go with all Mallory but the price was just to good at white's, So far this set up works find no problems. I did buy a 2nd set up like this to use on another motor works find.

This item led me to other items from skip, I have always bought name brands parts as far back to the 70s until
the procomp heads started showing up in MD and VA a few years ago. And people I met was happy with there items then came from Skip.

I still buy from summitracing, jegs ,speedunlimited, competition products, speedway motors,

I wish some 1 could find review Mallory 50 Series part # 5048201 VS skip whites Pro Billet part #6601

MassD

iTrader: (1)

I bought an 84 trans am H.O with an MSD dist. ran fine until i got tired of the 305 and had a 350 laying around. Droped the clutch at 5500 and blew her up, motor was on its last leg anyway, I installed the 350 and carried over the victor jr manifold, holley carb, and msd dist. After 10 min of cursing because of missfires, i ripped out the msd dist and threw it into the garbage truck as it passed by. Bought a Skip white unit and the car has been running awesome for 3 years now. Mind you MSD makes great stuff, i use there wires, and full ignition system in my 9 sec drag car but that dist. pissed me off

onthedownlow

iTrader: (4)

I bought one of these distributors for my camaro and it is sweet, I got the transparent one, of course has the 65,000 volt coil and works terrific....the car seems to have a lot more pep since this was installed....just a killer deal.

mjk1210

I just got one of these to put into my rebuilt 350 I'm working on. When I finally get 'er in I'll post the results. But it sounds like there's a good chance I'll be satisfied with it. I like that White stands by the products though. At least according to previous posts.

Werewolf SS

iTrader: (3)

I kept saying I would post when I installed my Skip White 65k Dizzy.
Well I installed it on my 383 and after setting the timing It fired right up with no issues. Ran an inital of 18 and at 3500 rpms pulls 38 total timing which is what I like. No sputters no timing issues no spark loss nothing. It runs perfect and with out issues. Couldn't be happier!