When I put my 350 in 5 years ago, it was a little beyond power levels I was confident the TBI could deal with, and the cost, simplicity, and reliability of traditional analog induction systems had me pretty firmly in the "throw a carb on it!" camp.

But it seems like every 6 to 18 months something else fails in my ignition system leaving the car inoperable. I'm very tired and frustrated with it. Whether it's a module or a coil or the mechanical advance mechanism getting sticky or shimming distributor gears or whatever, it always ends up with me frustrated. I'm thinking this time if I throw a coil on it, it will fix it, but for how long? Im tired of having to tear it apart to fix yet another part on it. I dont think anything in my distributor is the same as what I started with 5 years ago. I think I even changed out the main body of it at some point in a wild frustrated stab at narrowing a problem down and amongst all the parts I threw at it I found a combination that worked properly and left it alone.

Are there ANY legitimate alternatives to the HEI that I can put in there? Maybe something like what the LS1 carb guys have?

Maybe I should just buy a TPI system and make a stealth ram setup out of it.

 

Sage advice here, only use GM ICMs and ignition coils. And for the pickup coil, rotor, and cap, good aftermarket stuff. Such as the premium quality parts from NAPA.

If you still have the TBI harness and ECM can use it along with a small cap distributor for ignition control. I did this for a year before I added the TBI unit onto a retro-fit application.

It worked very well having the spark timing under ECM control. IN the DIY_PROM board here, Tuning Guide Book sticky, Chapter 5, '7747/'8063/'8746 ECM section, see the SA Logic thread. It describes in detail what I did.

When shimming an aluminum body distributor for minimum end-play, the absolute minimum is 0.012". The aluminum expands a lot more then the steel shaft as it heats up, closing up the end-play.

RBob.

 

Wow, not really sure what your issue is, but in my experience the HEI is one of the most simple and durable distributors out there.
For my latest project, I bought a complete HEI off ebay for $55, complete with a 50,000v coil ,high performance module, and a red cap with brass terminals.
The seller lifetime warranties them and says he rarely gets any returns.

Make sure you buy quality parts, like the above poster says, the premium line at Napa is oe quality stuff or better (echlin I think they call it)
Or go with quality stuff like MSD.
Most of the factory Hei's went over 100k miles with only cap and rotor changes asnd maybe lubing up the weights while your in there.

 

Msd digital 6 and a converted small cap hei.

Or good gm hei parts as described above.

 

I haven't used one but I'm intrigued by the MSD e-curve, which has a whole bunch of advance curves that you can select.

 

Very, very interesting post. I think if I stay Gen I I will end up doing your ECM spark control setup at some point. I was considering going with an efi-connection Gen III setup and using the MSD 6010 setup with Gen III coil packs. Would have been interesting and doable, but the cost came out to be pretty insane when all we're talking about is ditching the distributor. I think your way is a lot more practical.

I decided that before I went to that extreme, I should take your advice and get a quality coil. I didnt want to go with a fancy aftermarket brand, and I couldnt find a "GM" brand, but I did find AC Delco, seemed like it should be close enough and it was $100 from the local auto parts place. Got it for $35 from Rock Auto. Car fired up instantly as soon as I installed it. Hopefully it will be fine for a while.

So the super coil toasted itself. Add it to the pile of bad Accel parts I have.

For the record it was an Accel 140003

 

If I had a stack of BAD Accel parts I think I would quit buying them. Just Saying the obvious.

 

Is it inconceivable to you that some are warranty replacements and most were bought at the same time?