Im putting in a carbed 350 and dropping the TBI and all the ECM components. I know I cant use the dist., but what about an aftermarket ignition like Crane. Can I buy one of those electronic ignition sytems and use the existing dist. Id rather put the money in un upgrade, not a down grade. Any help understanding this would be greatly appreciated.

 

What will be missing is timing advance. With a non-CC carb (or, no more TBI in this case), the computer can't provide throttle position info to the computer, which in turn can't tell the distributor to advance the timing.

A Summit HEI distributor is less than a Crane system. Or, a Pertronix or Proform HEI, still less. Any of those will provide the vacuum/mechanical advance mechanism you need for this setup.

 

So the timing advance is dependent on the throttle position sensor output? What exactly do the after market ignitions provide, and do diffrently? Thanks for the answers, hope you can help with these too. Thanks

 

They provide a hotter and longer (or multiple) spark, that's all. They primarily give a more reliable spark at higher RPMs.