I switched my car from TPI to carb and I need a HEI distributor That will work with the carb intake. Does any body know what car and year a could get one for that would work.

 

Basically any Chevy engine from '75-CC era (early '80's, no 3rd gens except Canadian, and even some 2nd gens were CC).

Let me recommend another course. Factory HEI's are weak above about 4800 RPMs, so the coil and module should be replaced with aftermarket parts. That's about $90-100 there. You'll need a new cap and rotor, another $30 or so. HEIs have been know to lose the magnetism in the trigger wheel, amoung other little "issues". They don't have the best advance curve, and the vacuum advance can go bad or not be quite right for you.

Rather than deal with all that, go to Summit and get a new HEI from one of their several offerings. All of those issues will have already been addressed for about $160.

 

What's a trigger wheel? Is it the same as a pickup coil? My car quit running about a week ago, and I'm not convinced it's the carb's fault. I can't afford a whole new distributor so I'd like to know which parts of the ignition can go bad, and track them down one by one. I put in a cap and rotor a few days ago and that didn't cure it. Btw, it's an external coil HEI.

 

The trigger wheel is the passing that the pick-up coil picks up.

The pick-up coil, control module, and coil are the typical culprits. The trigger wheel can also go bad.