Hey guys, I have a 1987 engine with a coil-in-cap HEI distributor and since I swapped to a 730 ecm, I bought a 1991 distributor (with the external coil) to go along with it. Will it be a direct swap or is there some kind of weird change in the cam gears or anything between the two distributors or engine years?

 

Just be sure the external coil distributor you have was not from a TBI equipped vehicle. The "collar"on the distributor, where the clamp holds it in place are thinner on TPI engines, and thicker on TBI engines. They are not interchangeable. It should be okay since it came with the 730 ecm, but, I would still check.

 

The auction title had "TPI" in it so I am assuming it was from a '91 TPI camaro.

I already have the 730 ecm in there running. I keep pulling codes for bad EST signals and whatnot. So I figured I might as well switch to the later model distributor.

In my searching on this site I found distributor installation compatibility issues with different "flat-tappet" and "roller" cams through the different years.

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a change in the distributor drivetrain between '87 and '91, so I could just drop this new one in.

 

I believe you are okay on that. The only issue would be if you were using a roller cam that requires a bronze gear instead of the steel gear. Otherwise it will drop right in.