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HEI distributor for 1984 lean burn 318 ci.

10K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  85 Royal SE Prospector 
#1 ·
Can anyone tell me if the lean burn set up can be replaced by an HEI dist. and what other parts would need to accompany the HEI dist if any? I was thinking about using the mopar performance kit which includes the dist, elect control box, ballest resistor, and wiring harness.
Any opinions of which would be better?
Thanks, Danny
 
#3 ·
340SHORTY said:
do you have a lean burn carb? otherwise you dont need the MP kit.. a good elec dist, a HEI unit and a 12 volt coil is all you need. I think there is a "How To" on this conversion.. good luck.
The "how to" is with a DUI System not HEI...

This is the HEI site i used for my 78,
http://duster318.freeservers.com/tech/hei.html
 
#4 ·
I'd go with the Mopar kit just because it's made for us...and if you have a L/B carb you will have to change that too. One of the drawbacks to the GM setup is depending on what manifold you have the distributor might not fit, especially if you have a big block.
 
#5 ·
KennethT78 said:
The "how to" is with a DUI System not HEI...

This is the HEI site i used for my 78,
http://duster318.freeservers.com/tech/hei.html
KENNY / please keep members on site / the info in the link you posted is right here ON site / and besides that info on the link is out dated / theres better info on here / the hot set up is the GM coil and ECM on one bracket

[smg id=1819]
[smg id=1818]
 
#6 ·
Personally as a mopar fan ,
I would never ,ever put something from a GM product on my mopar .
Especially when Mopar Performance makes a Electronic Ignition Conversion kit that is so much better .
Even a MSD conversion before a Gm .
 
#7 ·
Furyschild said:
Personally as a mopar fan ,
I would never ,ever put something from a GM product on my mopar .
You mean like your factory steering column or steering box?
 
#8 ·
Furyschild said:
Personally as a mopar fan ,
I would never ,ever put something from a GM product on my mopar .
Especially when Mopar Performance makes a Electronic Ignition Conversion kit that is so much better .
Even a MSD conversion before a Gm .
thats all well and good and proper / the mopar ECM setup is a fairly reliable system / but its out dated at best and is failure prone at the very least / l like it my self for my vehicles that need to be stock and not driven daily / but for a DD or a woods truck that hasta be dead nuts reliable l,ll take the GM setup any day / besides l leave the stock ECM setup installed just in case the GM stuff does fail
 
#9 ·
ToxicDoc said:
You mean like your factory steering column or steering box?
? , your point? , my steering box is factory , steering column has Borgnsen aftermarket , other than that stock .
Sorry I had Gm cars before and weak link was hei ., I go MSD before Gm
And the Mopar ones require far less maintenence than a HEI anyday .
 
#10 ·
Furyschild said:
? , your point?
My point is that you're saying GM products are bad, but Mopar products are good. When in fact the steering column and box are sourced from GM (up to '93)...
 
#11 ·
Furyschild said:
? , your point? , my steering box is factory , steering column has Borgnsen aftermarket , other than that stock .
Sorry I had Gm cars before and weak link was hei ., I go MSD before Gm
And the Mopar ones require far less maintenence than a HEI anyday .
dodge trucks use Saginaw columns and steering boxes which is a GM product / but on the other side of the coin if your chevy truck has a NP 435 tranny and a NP 231 and Dana 60,s front and rear then the WHOLE drivetrain is DODGE because NP and dana were dodge companys
 
#12 ·
Furyschild said:
Personally as a mopar fan ,
I would never ,ever put something from a GM product on my mopar .
Especially when Mopar Performance makes a Electronic Ignition Conversion kit that is so much better .
Even a MSD conversion before a Gm .
If you deal with the cooling issue of an HEI module that is buried in the distributor, like mount it elsewhere as most Mopar/HEI conersions are done, HEI is a more reliable, and better performing system. I'll take that any day over blind loyalty.

Oh yeah, Quadrajet carbs on mid to late 80's Dodge trucks. ;)

DODGEBOYS said:
KENNY / please keep members on site
There's nothing wrong with posting a link to anoter site. If we have the info here, great, let's use it, but not everybody knows everything that is here. No harm is done by a member clicking an external link, we're not Nazi's. ;)
 
#13 ·
ToxicDoc said:
My point is that you're saying GM products are bad, but Mopar products are good. When in fact the steering column and box are sourced from GM (up to '93)...
Many people immediately associate the name Saginaw with products built by General Motors. Indeed, a wide variety of the General's cars and trucks used Saginaw-built steering boxes, but Saginaw isn't a GM-only supplier.They also supplied Ford and Chrysler.
Steering boxes built by Saginaw were built to Chrysler specifications ,and will not cross fit to a GM vehicle .
Also Saginaw did not build Chryslers steering columns. That was done in house at Chrysler.

This is not un-common just as Borg-warner supplied Transmission for many different automakers too .
The only thing they have in common is the name .

The only thing Gm HEI has going for it is that its housed in one unit .
KThaxton said:
If you deal with the cooling issue of an HEI module that is buried in the distributor, like mount it elsewhere as most Mopar/HEI conersions are done, HEI is a more reliable, and better performing system. I'll take that any day over blind loyalty.

Oh yeah, Quadrajet carbs on mid to late 80's Dodge trucks. ;)
My comment to this is there is generally only two things that go wrong with a mopar system , the resistor and on a rare occasion the ecu , not much more .
I'd take a carter carb over a quadra bog anyday , Oh yeah they also used carters on Gm back in day too . Edelbrocks performer line is based on a carter afb , so must be something good about them . Don't see many high performance models of Q-jets.
 
#14 ·
Furyschild said:
The only thing Gm HEI has going for it is that its housed in one unit .
Uhm, no. They don't require a ballast, that's good. They put out a more powerful spark, that too, is a good thing. They're also cheaper.
There's more, but I'm forgetting right now.

For the record, after switching to a Demon after using and Edelbrock for 13 year, I don't think an Eddy is all that great. Simple to tune, yes, but overall performance, nope.
 
#15 ·
KThaxton said:
Uhm, no. They don't require a ballast, that's good. They put out a more powerful spark, that too, is a good thing. They're also cheaper.
There's more, but I'm forgetting right now.

For the record, after switching to a Demon after using and Edelbrock for 13 year, I don't think an Eddy is all that great. Simple to tune, yes, but overall performance, nope.
A demon carb is in a different class all together , but a Edelbrock is far better than q-jet. Hell most any carb is better .
And the Hei doesn't determine the more powerful spark the coil does .
 
#16 ·
Furyschild said:
And the Hei doesn't determine the more powerful spark the coil does .
While you are mostly correct (and I'm not trying to argue), it's not the only factor. The ignition module provides the "dwell" time for the spark. So if you have a good coil but a cruddy module design, your spark may not be as good as it could be.
 
#17 ·
I've heard, but not used myself, that the Mopar performance distributors use a faster mechanical advance set up for lighter cars and doesn't work as well in the heavier RCs and pickups. How noticable is "not as well" I do not know. Hopefully someone who knows more about that will chime in. If that is the same dizzy they use in the kit mentioned by the original poster, it may be worth learning more about at least.

anyone have any experience with these guys?
http://www.4secondsflat.com/a688specs.html
 
#18 ·
Furyschild said:
And the Hei doesn't determine the more powerful spark the coil does .
They both do. See below, HEI wins in every catagory.

As Doc said, dwell is key. The longer the dwell time, the more the coil can saturate. Longer saturation means more spark from the coil.
 

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#19 ·
Donk said:
I've heard, but not used myself, that the Mopar performance distributors use a faster mechanical advance set up for lighter cars and doesn't work as well in the heavier RCs and pickups. How noticable is "not as well" I do not know. Hopefully someone who knows more about that will chime in. If that is the same dizzy they use in the kit mentioned by the original poster, it may be worth learning more about at least.

anyone have any experience with these guys?
http://www.4secondsflat.com/a688specs.html
on the MP dist you can stick an Allen wrench into the vac adv hole to tighten the adv curve....
 
#20 ·
KThaxton said:
There's nothing wrong with posting a link to another site. If we have the info here, great, let's use it, but not everybody knows everything that is here. No harm is done by a member clicking an external link, we're not Nazi's. ;)
starting trouble again are YA / my point is if you dont know what the hell is go,in on / you should NOT be suppling info to others
 
#24 ·
Donk said:
I've heard, but not used myself, that the Mopar performance distributors use a faster mechanical advance set up for lighter cars and doesn't work as well in the heavier RCs and pickups. How noticable is "not as well" I do not know. Hopefully someone who knows more about that will chime in. If that is the same dizzy they use in the kit mentioned by the original poster, it may be worth learning more about at least.

anyone have any experience with these guys?
http://www.4secondsflat.com/a688specs.html
Yeah, most are recurved. I don't know if it's better or worse in a truck though. Beware of cheap distributors, MP is about as cheap as is any good outside of rebuild.
 
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