To HEI or not to HEI - 69 C20 with Stock 307

[67 twins]

Originally Posted by jimijam00

Is that statement funny to you for some reason?

[special-K]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

Or until the resistance is high enough that the system punches a hole right through the rotor, seeking a better ground.

That never happened to me and I've never know that to happen anyone. I guess working at a dealership you saw your share of lame neglectful car owners. Not tuning a car up is as lame as not checking air pressure in tires, coolant level, ATF, or oil. Cars are machines and machines require maintenance.

Originally Posted by jimijam00

Really? <<< This is me laughing at your ignorance. Oh sorry, I should apologize for not crying for you . I see nothing funny posted by 67 Twins. You must have misunderstood what he posted

Let me explain in simple terms

Bill Grumpy Jenkins 1967 Camaro in car action -...

[BanjoDude]

Points it is! I picked up another set and a condenser today and called it a day. I have a heated shop and like to tinker, so the no maintenance thing really doesn’t do anything for me, and I kinda like keeping it just like grandpa had it. Thanks for the opinions!

[jimijam00]

Originally Posted by special-K

Really? <<< This is me laughing at your ignorance. Oh sorry, I should apologize for not crying for you . I see nothing funny posted by 67 Twins. You must have misunderstood what he posted

[special-K]

Good to hear, Wes. I mean your attitude. What you chose to do is entirely your choice

Jimijam, you are so cool I must bow to you. Such skill you use in choice of emoticons. A man of few words... or none at all. A true keypad superman you are.

Everyone else, I apologize for stooping (bowing) to his level in my moment of weakness. I haven't slept well for about a week and have had my nose to the grindstone all the while. Long day at a swap meet yesterday, thought I'd take some time before hitting the sack here with my friends, only to see a bad player insulting a well meaning brethren. My knee got tapped and I kicked. Let's hope this is the end of this exchange of poor character. Mine was momentary and I'm moving to higher ground. Back to the swap meet. Have a nice day. Even you, jimijam.

[70cst]

I installed my Pertronix years ago and it still works like a champ.

[tim_mc]

Good decision Wes, especially if this is your grandpa's old truck and it's running well.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by special-K

That never happened to me and I've never know that to happen anyone. I guess working at a dealership you saw your share of lame neglectful car owners. Not tuning a car up is as lame as not checking air pressure in tires, coolant level, ATF, or oil. Cars are machines and machines require maintenance.


...

It was fairly common back in the late '70s to early 80s when I was working as a mechanic. And, yup, poorly maintained vehicles. Seemed like about 14k miles on a tune up and the rotor would often be punched through.

[Ironangel]

Originally Posted by jimijam00

Isn't Pertronix made offshore?

Yes, 99% of their products come from Asia. I called their office in California a couple of years ago asking about an order I had made months prior. They indicated that the items I was waiting for were on back order and that the Covid-19 pandemic had everything on hold. All they do in Cali is put the orders together from bulk components shipped from Tiawan, China, Vietnam, etc. MSD is the same, their Streetfire product line is all Chinese, hell, most of the ACDelco parts are Chinese. I've installed two of the $50 HEI distributors in friends vehicles with no issues. My Streetfire dizzy is going strong with no issues for 8 years now. I hate to say it but some of the Chinese made parts for our older vehicles are not that bad and in many cases, all there is available...

[special-K]

I always use Standard Blue Streak. I imagine that's made overseas as well these days. But the materials used are top grade no matter where they come from

[67 twins]

Originally Posted by special-K

I always use Standard Blue Streak. I imagine that's made overseas as well these days. But the materials used are top grade no matter where they come from

No still made in thee USA. Or at least were a the last time I did a tuneup

[BanjoDude]

I bought all Blue Streak stuff. I plan to pull the dizzy this week and go through it and check timing. I’ll be interested to see what’s currently in there.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by BanjoDude

Hi all,

I have a bone stock 307 in the C20 I just acquired. It purrs like a kitten as it is, and I'm trying to decide if I should convert to HEI or just throw another set of points and a condenser in the glove box and call it a day (I'm completely comfortable adjusting and replacing points). Those of you who have converted to HEI - do you have a suggestion as to which kind? I do not plan to ever build the engine for high performance - plan to keep it completely stock. I see that Rock Auto has the AC Delco conversions for around $175 and the knockoffs are much cheaper. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Wes

In 1992, I pulled a Delco out of what I believe was a 1975 truck. That was a long time ago. It stands up today, requires little maintenance and is a performance plus. But I don't know, if you're comfortable with points, perhaps wait until the distributor fails like mine did

[special-K]

All distributors can fail.

[chevmn]

As someone mentioned, you will likely get a 50/50 mix of opinions. I have two 72 trucks, one with small block, one big block and I converted them both to GM HEI as soon as I could locate a HEI distributor. I have experienced both, and the HEI has by far outperformed the points for me, given the obvious of checking cap and rotor (that is a must on either). I do not have to replace and set points and dwell every tune up, and in my opinion, the HEI delivers a hotter spark. I had a 76 pickup with HEI for years, and while i owned it, I never touched the timing, just swapped cap and rotor, and on occasion plugs and plug wires, which is normal tune up items on either. I know when I swapped the 350 truck, you could immediately tell how much faster it fired and the points distributor had new points, cap and rotor and timed correctly. But HEI is my preference. Some prefer points, and nothing wrong there either.

[jimijam00]

Originally Posted by 67 twins

No still made in thee USA.

Their website doesn't state this any longer. They take a lot of pride to state their history and blah blah blah, yet no mention of the USA anywhere.

[BanjoDude]

They are made in Poland now.

[1972cheyenne454]

🫡 nice to see things never change around here

[mr48chev]

Points are fine as long as you aren't having starting issues and are ok with the gas mileage. It's hard to get top quality points and condensers in some areas now though.

The best thing about points is if you burn them and they stick on the road you can take them out, scrounge up an old emery board and buff them up and stick them back in, set them ball park close with a match book cover and go again most of the time. There is a couple somewhere in the country who tell about a guy in a 51 Mercury doing just that with the points in the Dodge pickup that belonged to his dad that they were moving across country with and were stuck in a road side spot about ten miles west of Little America Wyoming.

As for changing to HEI or electronic, It is hard to beat an oem pre computer HEI for reliability. Again, use quality internal parts when you redo one but they don't usually need much more than a cap and rotor and go again.

I have the Napa HEI test bulliton here in my photobucket album They handed these out around 1980. https://app.photobucket.com/u/mr48ch...8-34b5e1631d08

I am not a big Pertronix fan simply because if they crap out on the road you are stuck unless you actually do have the points and condenser and what ever piece you need to change them back to points on the side of the road to get going again packed away in the truck. You aren't going to toddle into a Napa, Autozone or O'Reilly's in some side of the big long roads town and find Pertronix parts. My policy has always been that I want any part that might fail on a road trip that can be removed and replaced reasonably simply on the side of the road or in a parking lot to be a part that has readily availble repair components or can be easily replaced with an easy to get part. If you have a rod knock, burn up a trans or blow a rear end that means find a trailer and a tow rig but if the alternator/generator, starter, ignition or a fuel system component fails you should be able to find a suitable replacement that lets you continue with your trip under the truck's own power.