So in the 18 years I've owned my car, I've had two distributors, and the first one I replaced chasing starting gremlins that ended up being injectors. Upon pulling the motor, it was a stock head, cammed L98, MSD coil, and I had gone back and forth for years with a 6A box trying to decide if it actually made a difference. I never noticed a difference. Anyhow, the first was probably the original, and the second was a less than $100 Carquest part. It worked with no problems.
...now my 383 is almost ready to drop in, and I'm contemplating the distributor. Motor is gonna be a low10s:1 compression ratio, modest cam, etc. etc.,with a TPI that'll keep those RPMs no higher than they were stock. I have no reason to think that good ole carquest part won't be good enough. I've googled, and can't really find any real reason to drop a boatload of cash on some trick billet piece.

Thoughts?

.... I DO intend to make sure I don't grab some cheap overseas knock off, BUT......if there was a solid, reputable brand, stock replacement for under $200...I'd certainly give it a look.

 

No, not really, unless you have a spark problem because of it as the weakest link. Truly isn't coil over cylinder a remarkable invention?

 

Agreed 100% !

To Abubaca ,

Tell me , have you ever seen a stock distributor fail in a way that would make "Billet" a needed add on ? As in , the distributor body fracturing due to some unforseen mechanical load being placed on it ? I truly never have , and have been a lifelong mechanic (now old enough to be retired) . Billet is for looks when it comes to distributors , not functionality , and my bet would be that the billet distributor would come with the exact same quality of electrical components that any other reputable brand of "stock style" distributor would come with .

Like Kingtalon said , if you aren't having problems of not enough spark intensity (which is doubtful to be having on any naturally aspirated engine with a properly functioning stock HEI) , You'll spend a bunch of $$$ with no performance gains to show for it .

 

Yes, I've seen dozens of OEM distributors that failed in that particular way. The OEM distributors used on the V6 Vortecs found in the S-series trucks almost always crack along the threaded bolt holes that hold the distributor cap on. No, it's not thirdgen-related(unless you've swapped in one of those engines), but my point is that it does happen. A billet distributor would easily fix that problem since the OEM one is plastic.

That being said, I agree with the rest of what you said. Even the cracked ones I've seen in the trucks worked perfectly fine from an electrical standpoint, but the loose caps due to the cracked/broken screw threads cause a lot of misfiring due to spark jumping/scatter.

 

Thanks guys. I've heard of cracks on occasion, but certainly not at the rate where it was a known problem per se. ...and while billet would solve that, in my experience, it wouldn't be worth the cost unless the electronics were somehow drastically better.