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I AM BUILDING A SMALL BLOCK CHEVY AND IM GOING FOR THE RETRO LOOK. I NEED HELP WITH THE DISTRIBTOR CHOICE. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF ADVANTGE I WILL HAVE WITH A MAGNETO? OR SHOULD I GO WITH A STANDARD SETUP LIKE A 6AL BOX AND NON-HEI DIST. ? ITS GOING IN A 32 COUPE SOON BUT ITS NOW IN A IMPALA. IM NEW AND YOUNG SO GO EASY ON ME.
Welcome aboard.
You're going to have to define what "retro" means to you, e.g. what period in time are you trying to emulate. I say this because a 6AL box is not very retro to an old geezer like me, but if you're a young enough stud then 10 years ago could mean retro to you.;)
There is a world of choices out there. Can you live with a shiney, milled aluminum look. Would you rather have an "as cast" aluminum look, or would you paint whatever distributor housing you use? What kind of cap would you like? I don't think a genuine magneto would be of benefit on a street driven rig, but if you like that look there are electronic distributors made to imitate that look. So, you need to provide more info.
Sorta like what happens to you if your i.d. is indicative of what your job is.......................more info is better.
Not sure exactly what you are looking for... but sounds like you just want a stock looking distrib with some newer technology, correct?
Give this guy a call:
http://www.davessmallbodyheis.com/
He will do completly rebuilt your old Points distrib and do an HEI conversion using off the shelf GM parts, and do a custom curve to your specs.
I have heard tons of good stuff about this guys work, and i plan to have him do one for my girlfriends camaro this spring when i get some extra $$.
Another way to go this route- Pertronix sells a kit to convert stock Points distrib to HEI, but it uses their components, so in the event of a failure you have to go find their chip, etc etc. But I hear they are fairly inexpensive and easy to install.
There is a co. making a pointless conversion for your old dist that costs about $70. The kit is petronics Ignitor(solid state).
It takes about 15-20 minutes to install.......Don
im just looking for something retro like a magneto but want to know how reliable they are? i have the petronics on the car now. im going for a mid 60's look. not to radical or custom look.
If you want to save a lot of hassle later, go solid state. Less moving parts, no points, and self-set dwell. Just my opinion.
But are magnetos good on the street or are they only fro drag racing. i have only seen a couple of cars with them but never asked how they perfrom. thanks for all the help so far.
with the pertronix kit you can use an old stock point distributer & convert it to electronic so it appears stock.
IF I WERE YOU I WOULD PULL THE OLD ONE OUT GO TO A JUNK YARD AND GET AN HEI DISTRIBUTOR. YOU CAN GET ONE FOR 20 BUCKS THEY ONLY NEED 1 POWER WIRE TO RUN THE WHOLE SETUP AND IT IS MUCH MORE DEPENABLE.
IF YOU WANT MAJOR POWER I WOULD STILL GO HEI BUT I WOULD RUN A MSD 50,000 VOLT COIL AND A PERFORMANCE MODUAL. MINE USED TO DIE OFF AT ABOUT 6000 RPMS BUT WITH THE MSD SETUP IM GOOD TILL 9000 ACCELL ALSO MAKES A GOOD COIL BUT WOULD STILL GO WITH THE MSD MODUAL.