I have been thinking about replacing my ignition point setup with an HEI distributor. Looking to see if anyone has any ideas/opinions or good results with any certain brand? This is for my 72 Cutlass with a stock 350 2bbl and an added dual exhaust. I have seen some good reviews for A-Team Performance and Summit racing has their house brand blueprinted HEI distributor. I'm not partial to any specific brand right now just looking for some real input from anyone that has already done this. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

 

Why not get a good GM one, there are lots out there, just put new parts in it and good to go.

 

Not opposed to this. Would I just utilize a different year when doing a part search?

 

https://www.holley.com/products/igni...ile/parts/8529

essentially drops in and wires up like a stock distributor - totally reliable for my '72 350 going on 3 years.

 

Thanks for the info. If you don't mind me asking what benefits have you seen with this change?

 

Rock solid distributor timing and exceptional spark efficiency at least in context to mixed street performance driving - i.e. local and highway. For me worth every cent. I paired mine with an MSD Blaster 2 coil and I run my plugs at .040

 

Back in the 80s I had a well set up points distributor, with high quality parts: Accel / Echlin (NAPA) 23 ounce street points, Accel / Echlin cap and rotor, Accel Super Coil and plug wires, everything dialed in using the tune-up machines at the automotive shop where I worked.

I replaced the above points setup with a GM HEI, similarly equipped with quality Accel / Echlin cap and rotor, Accel HEI supercoil and Accel plug wires, plus a Moroso HEI advance curve kit that allowed the HEI to have the same initial and total advance as the points distributor had.

I saw ZERO difference in performance between the points setup and the HEI setup. The car had the same 0-60 and quarter mile times, and it started and ran the same as before. The only benefit was no longer needing to periodically replace the points.

If you're wanting to go HEI, do as suggested and get an original GM distributor as said above. I have seen them for around $35 in the for sale section.

 

Thanks 70sgeek. This is really good information! Reading online reviews only gets you so far sometimes.

 

Good to know Fun71. I currently am not experiencing any issues. In addition I actually don't mind spending a little time periodically adjusting the points. That's why I was curious to see what others have experienced.

 

The aftermarket cheap Chinese HEI distributors from EBay aren't bad for a super low cost. They have similar timing curves to a point distributor and some factory HEI.

 

I see what you mean. It looks like for around $120 you can get a full install "kit" with plug wires. I wonder what the long term reliability is? My biggest question for myself is am I getting any type of return on the investment or just replacing parts to say that I did.

 

Where did you guys get your 12 volt source from? Remove resistor wire?

 

I simply connected a wire to the IGN terminal in the fuse box. The resistor wire is wound up and stashed behind the brake booster in case it is needed in the future.

 

An HEI is not a plug and play item, your stock timing settings will be n/a. An HEI has less mechanical advance allowing more initial timing and you will need to limit the vacuum advance.

 

Progression ignition hei distributors are great. They are a little pricey, but it is the best distributor I have ever owned.

https://progressionignition.com/

 

As far as timing goes, I have seen multiple curves even on factory weights. One needed 23 degrees at idle to hit 36 total. Another around 20 base to hit 36, probably the most common Olds curve. One more had 13 base to hit 36 degrees. They can vary a lot. Most come in full advance around 3000 rpm even with lighter springs. With factory heavy springs, more like 4000 rpm. Only one came all in by 2600 rpm with one medium and one light spring. Also many factory HEI will have a 30 degree advance canister.

 

Thanks for this GS72! Yes, they are on the higher side of the price scale but honestly sometimes you really do get what you pay for!

 

2 more cents-

I installed 2 fully electronic distributors (MSD E Curve iirc) on BBCs and thought they were really nice. As with any modern electronic device, likely containing Chinese components, I cannot say what the long term reliability will be. The Progression Ignition distributor appears to be a next step of evolution on the type.

The main issue with OE HEI is wear and difficulty attaining a satisfactory performance advance curve but they can be brought into the ballpark without too much trouble. Been using one in the red car (w/ advance mods) with reliability for over a decade on top of however many miles were on it already. I had one fail in blue car - found to be a bad pole piece, now a parts donor up in the attic. I use a rare animal Mallory HEI now that has a wide range, micro adjustable advance system unlike a traditional HEI. It failed once around the 10 year mark, about 10 years ago, due to a bad pickup (Ford EEC part iirc). I also seem to recall needing to replace the module and the new one was NG out of the box.

My point is that the mechanical parts are typically bullet proof with the possible exception of Chinese cheapies breaking. I have never seen it first hand but have read stories so take that for what it’s worth. I did have one, in my trunk, as an emergency spare which I have used twice as noted above. Spare may be a GM now, can’t remember, been at least 5 years since I used it. Anyway, my experience is that the electronic components are what fail so how much faith do you put in them?

There has been much debate on the HEI v Points subject and to each his own. I never liked the inconsistencies of points due to wear of mechanical items but not much ever goes wrong with them and a spare set of points takes up far less space in the trunk compared to an HEI but at least dist tucks right up on top of the wheel arch without being in the way. I never felt a need to carry a spare dist back in my “points” days but did keep a unipoint set on hand just in case, don’t remember ever needing them. I have always felt a need to keep a spare HEI on hand and have had to do a quick roadside swap twice, then a post mortem when I got a chance.

To me the Progression looks like a nice piece, the MSD RTR also looks nice, I would suggest taking a look at the DUI street/strip HEI distributor, they have a good rep and dist is set up with performance curve. I would not use one of those China cheapies for anything but a start up or back up distributor.

If going electronic, remember they need a full voltage feed, different spark plug wires and air cleaner clearance if large cap, an air cleaner spacer will likely be needed on SBO but that’s simple.

The heck with all this ignition talk, let’s look at getting a Performer, A4 or even cast iron intake and a Qjet on that engine!

 

I agree! A 4-bbl carb will do way more for performance than a distributor change.

 

bccan, you're not the first to tell me to get rid of the 2bbl haha! That upgrade may be closer than I originally thought!

 

Would also agree on the DUI street/strip HEI distributor. American made product & well worth the cost.

 

So by popular demand I pulled the trigger and purchased a stock intake along with the quadrajet. Current question I have is looking at the GM heritage site it shows the 4bbl 350 with distributor #1112085 and the current 2bbl has #1112106. I know this sounds like a silly question but will my stock 2bbl distributor be ok with the 4bbl conversion?

 

Yes it will be fine. The differences are minor, and you can tune for optimum performance.

 

Thanks for that super quick reply! I was under that assumption but there is too much knowledge out here to not have thrown out the question. Have a great night!

 

I just got one

 

The Progression setup looks nice! On one hand, you can buy a cheap HEI, but when I did, I had to fiddle with limiting the mechanical advance and vacuum advance which were both WAY off. I learned a ton about HEIs in the process, and now my distributor is dialed-in perfectly with limiters, springs, and adjustable vacuum advance, but in my opinion, the extra $ was money well spent. Would love to hear how it installs, please keep us updated

 

hope gs72 can share that with you, the one I bought is for the new motor build, and that probably wont be done till next spring.

 

So far I love my progressive distributor. Just by going on the phone screen I adjusted timing an many different rpm areas to compensate for air cond. running, cruising and wot. The anti theft feature was a great feature for me as I drive mine every day and park on the street.

 

I run big blocks, but can confirm a couple of points from not quite 40 years with these Oldses

1) HEI is a good upgrade, but you want to get a decent one like Taylor or MSD. GM is even better, if you can find it. Avoid the offshore cheapies. After the upgrade you may wrestle with part throttle pinging on today’s gas since they were set up for higher octane than we can buy today. And less alcohol content. You want to keep a spare HEI module in the glove box and/or trunk. When they die, the car just stops. Where ever you are. A spare module and tools gets you back on the road.

2) Qjet swap from dual or monojet is a worthy upgrade. Unless you’re going for V8 mileage records (who does that?), the qjet will be waaay more fun.

3) If you’re doing those upgrades and originality is not a huge deal, the internally regulated alternators work better with higher amperage than the older externally regulated ones.

HEI and internally regulated alternators require some quality wiring harness changes. Look around here and elsewhere to fully understand the wiring harness modifications you’ll need to make before you get into it. One modification at a time will make you less nuts than going all in for many changes at once.

Have fun and enjoy the car!
Chris

 

As a computer geek, the progression distributor is a very interesting step forward. Bluetooth-controlled timing + security? That’s a great feature set.

On the car side I’ve been fighting part-throttle ping forever. I’ve gotten close to no ping by swapping in all manner of non-Olds vacuum cans after the variable ones still pinged. Wondering is this really is a solution for Old V8 engines with todays cr*ppy gas.

Also wondering about longevity. I’ve been down the road of cool sounding doodads and back again, usually winding up at GM’s then-contemporaneous solutions. If this one has legs, count me interested & watching, if not in.

Cheers
cf

 

I'm running the Progression Ignition on mine. Best mod I've made so far. You cannot get this sort of timing control with any other distributer.

 

My solution was to make my own limiter, which allows me to set the vacuum advance to whatever amount I want. The HEI distributor is from a 1978-1979 403 engine and its vacuum advance canister is a 24º unit. I have it set to 10º at present and it appears to be working well.

As you can see, the limiter is not complicated at all.