84RIceEater

Hey,
I am plainin to go and build a 350 in my 84 camaro and take off the emmisons and what not... but i seen alot of camaros in the carb forum that had an external coil.. But i have a HEI and i dont know if i have to change that?? Or is there somthing extra about the external mounted coil from my HEI? What company makes the best HEI disterbutor that is not Computer Contolled? Thanks alot just another question before i make the Big plunge.




84-Riceeater.

Bunker82

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On the coil, it doesn't matter really. There is enough variety for HEI coils that it probably won't make a difference switching to an external coil. I think the traditional HEI is a very easy setup to work with. I don't have to worry about where to mount the coil, routing another wire, etc. HEI's can have problems too, but in my experience, they have worked well. As for a specific recommendation, I ran a Hypertech coil for about 6 years and it worked real good. It finally split where the stack of metal plates are welded. But until that point it worked well. I replaced it with just a cheap ProForm coil and it is working flawlessly. Now that I think about it, I had an Accel coil (the big gray monstrosity) before the Hypertech and it never worked. In reality, I bet most of the HEI coils you see for sale all come from the same place in China. Unless this is a 100% race car there probably isn't a need to get a fancy coil. A decent performance coil, some quality wires and then just good replacement cap/rotor and plugs and you have the ingredients for a solid ignition (notice I didn't include a CD ignition like an MSD6...total waste of money). The best HEI distributor? Well I hear that MSD makes a nice piece. When I replaced my HEI, the MSD was too much for my budget so I went with a Mallory. It is a nice and inexpensive distributor. Gets the job done well. From there you just dial it in, and then move on.

84RIceEater

you think that the msd 6Al is a waste of money?

Why is that? dosne't multiply the spark and get better performance and better mpg?

Thanks

Bunker82

Just my experience. I had a well functioning ignition (Hypertech coil, good wires, etc) and after putting down $170 or whatever it was for a MSD 6AL I didn't notice ANY change. No mileage increase, no more power, nothing. All I got was an expensive rev limiter. With the SBC's wedge heads we don't need a lot of help to light the air fuel mixture in anything short of a full race motor. If you have hemispherical heads (like a Hemi ) then it might be worth something. People who say that the ignition box helped, either have a weak coil or are suffering from the "MSD Effect" as I call it. "I just spent 170 bucks so it HAD to help." I found myself victim to that after putting in a "Performance Chip", I told myself "Yeah it feels a bit stronger". Well a few weeks later I found that the ECM never had battery power! The chip didn't do SQUAT, but I convinced myself that it did. Trust me, that $170 + is better spent on the exhaust or some other area. Heck, get a new CD player.

Bunker82

That is exactly what MSD wants to hear you say. Don't believe all the propoganda manufacturers and magazines shove down your throat. The stock system actually works well with just a bit more coil and some good wires to match. 90% of a high performance ignition is simply getting the timing curves right.

84RIceEater

Thanks... .

It all seems helpful. So a HEI w/ out an external coil will work fine w/ out a computer? do they both have the 2 wires??



BLack .. Tach
Red to battery

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

if you get a beefier coil, you can up your spark power, then widen your plug gap to suit, then get a smidge more power. but that can be done with a stock hei.

only at very high rpm, or under boost do you really need those goodies. for a typical, non super high RPM, carbed SBC, I don't think it's going to give you much more power.

spartyon

there has been much talk about the performance from a stock hei. i was talking to a local parts store owner and performance builder about this topic. he said that if you are not planning on reving the engine above 5500 rpms for extended periods of the time a stock hei is perfect and will give great performance. he said anything above 5000 at consistency is where the hei starts to tumble. he also said that problem is easily fixed when a hypertech 50,000 volt coil/hei kit is intalled on a stock hei.

Bunker82

Yeah the stock coil breaks up around 5k rpm, but also not to be overlooked is the module under the cap. A stock module will also start having issues around the 4.5K - 5K rpm mark too.

Bunker82

An HEI that is designed for a pre-computer car will work without the computer (just want to make sure you don't expect a computer controlled one to do you much good without the computer). Yes it has the same two wire connection at the cap. I don't remember the colors but it should be exactly like your computer HEI though, plug and play.

BT283

iTrader: (3)

a stock HEI does break up at 5k I purchased a MSD HEI off of Ebay for $250 brand new and now my car will rev to the moon. but no power increse was noticed

84RIceEater

Thanks i plan on using a 100 shot of nos, is the stock hei and super coil fine?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Stock HEI module is probably not up to the task.