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Author Topic: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info  (Read 22460 times)

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Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #15 on: August 26, 2015, 11:58:04 AM »
I think you're on your way.  I bought plug wires for a '79 Ford with an inline 6, if remember right.  You want 8mm plug wires and a .045 gap.
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #16 on: August 26, 2015, 12:05:42 PM »
yep 8mm.    .045 not .45 got it. that could have been a problem.

Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2015, 12:58:45 PM »
.45 is almost half an inch, lol. You would have figured something was up.
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #18 on: August 29, 2015, 12:40:19 PM »
I should add that my HEI Dist. did not come with the connector to hook up the 12v and the tach wire.
I ended up grabbing this one.

ACCEL HEI Pigtail
Part # 170072   SKU: 9960600

http://www.pepboys.com/product/details/9960600/00856

Offline carnuck

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #19 on: August 29, 2015, 11:48:28 PM »
2 issues I've seen/run into. The gear gets messed up because the cam in the 4.2L walks (cam button cures that) or high volume oil pump isn't cut deep enough and the dist shaft is rammed down, binding the oil pump. Aside from that, only AMC V8s have been having the problems. Motorcraft gear on Chevy dist eats the cam gear due to wobble.
AMC/Jeep gauges are for amusement only. Any correlation between them and reality is purely coincidental!

Offline amcfool1

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #20 on: August 30, 2015, 04:33:04 AM »
hi, HEI distributors, what to do...well, you have two choices, buy the discounted Ebay/amazon/4wdr cheapies, and then sweat the tuning, or maybe even break your motor. or pay real money for the DUI, about 6 times the ebay cheapies I have one of each, and, I will NEVER buy one of those cheapies again. Just cheap Chinese junk, the advance is all wrong,about 50+ degrees, ok you can fix that, after buying an advance kit, maybe an adjustable can too, another $50. or so. Not such a bargain anymore.This is a stark example of "you get what you pay for", a real DUI is about $300., a Skip White, or other ebay brand is about $55-95.. Absolute junk. don't go there, unless you are one of the few people that have the time and knowledge to completely recurve that distributor and pay extra for that kit, about $40. from Crane. I bought one of the first DUI distributors for the AMC 6 way back in 99, had a small problem with it, not seating all the way, sent it back, they fixed it, put it in the car, set timing, and then basically forgot about it for 15 years, and way over 100k miles in Eagle#1 The car is off the road now, terminal rust, but the DUI is just fine, it outlived the car. i pulled the dist. out, still good, but REALLY dirty, cleaned it a little, sent it back to DUI for a cleaning/test/ lube. etc. that cost about $100., including shipping there and back. this is now a 16 year old distributor, and looks and works like new money! Again, you get what you pay for, it seemed strange to me, why pay $300. for something you can get for $59.99, well I am here to tell you, pay the $300, night and day difference between the DUI and the online "knockoffs". they are junk, and junk, and more junk! You have been warned, good luck, gz

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #21 on: August 30, 2015, 10:07:06 PM »
I hear you, I figure this is too cheap and good to be true but unfortunately I dont have that to spend at the moment and I already pulled the trigger on all the parts. Actually installed it all today. installation was very smooth and easy. I dont think I took as much care to marking the positions of the rotor or finding TDC. After I wired it all up it started right away but is running very rough. Like you said its a issue of dialing it in. I will soon find out or learn if Im getting in over my head tuning this thing. My goal was to get it running today. Started up, moved the cap around seeing if timing was within range and it was not.  I shut the car off and locked up. Ill have more time to mess with it tomorrow, if it comes down to it Ill have a professional swing by.

According to a guru on the JeepForum site, you can test the hardness of the gear by attempting to drill a hole in the skirt of the gear, 90* to the roll pin.  If it drills easily, you're cool.  If it barely scratches it, it'll most certainly chew a V8 cam gear.


For experimental reasons I tried this. New gear did seem a  little tougher to make a mark in. you can see some marks from the bit slipping and on the old one a tiny dot where the drill bit settled.
IMG_4391 by Tyler Avery, on Flickr

If anything it looks really nice in there, just cant wait to get it running smooth so I can start going to town on all those wires!

IMG_4397 by Tyler Avery, on Flickr

Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #22 on: August 31, 2015, 09:52:33 AM »
It's funny.  I agree with the more expensive options listed above.  How do you take something that expensive and reduce it to $59.99?  Yesterday I pulled my eBay HEI out and put the Motorcraft unit in.  A lot of the wiring was cut and removed, so I used the schematic and new/used parts to re-create it.  When I pulled the HEI I immediately noticed some wear on the camshaft gear.  That didn't feel good.  Hopefully it wasn't too bad.  I know most haven't had issues with their cheapie HEI units, but I don't want to continue using it.  I don't even drive this car that often.
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #23 on: August 31, 2015, 10:25:44 AM »
 
How do you take something that expensive and reduce it to $59.99?

Ha or how do you take something that affordable and charge $300?    Well :censored:, I'm going to mess with it a little more today and see where I get. Seems the attitude has changed towards the Skip White HEI. To avoid any potential problems in the future I will consider just going back to stock and forgetting the whole thing. Maybe go about it a different way.

Any links to the DUI or the motocraft? Id like to check them out. See the actual differences, place of manufacture and who re brands them/distributes them. A lot of bullshit out there. Both on the cheap and expensive side.

My end game is less clutter and if it runs 5% better then stock Im happy. Still nervous about the gear but those can be removed and changed. Ill measure it out but I probably could move the original onto the new one?
« Last Edit: August 31, 2015, 10:29:40 AM by TEagle85 »

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #24 on: August 31, 2015, 11:26:10 AM »
Found this one.
http://www.4wheelparts.com/Performance-Parts/D-U-I-Distributor.aspx?t_c=74&t_s=43&t_pt=3825&t_pn=P/D40620&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping&emlprox=out&ppcfon=1&gp=1&gclid=Cj0KEQjw9o-vBRCO0OLi2PfPkI8BEiQA8pdF4GQX43HtQIkM6hkoxQiWv9f4NTSiWLtM38jNaXbGxGgaAry98P8HAQ


 I know I could be insanely wrong but that looks (looks being the faulty word here) almost identical to the Skip white. I'm sure the coil is a lot better and you also get the assembly and expertise of the builder to pre set the curve at least closer then the Skip white. Is that essentially what you are paying for?   I can deal with a sub par coil for the moment and I can deal with the hope for a dialed in tune. Cant tell if they use a different gear or not. Anyone have any other input on differences in terms of construction? better bearings, material, etc.?  Wondering your experiences. Might try to justify it. I plan to do another trip this weekend so I will go back to stock for the mean time because I know that works.


Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #25 on: August 31, 2015, 01:23:07 PM »
I'm sure there are better materials in the pricier models.  How would you tell?  No idea.  There is a lot of BS out there on these items and I've heard pros and cons to all.  I'd say, add the springs to your SW unit, put it in and check for gear wear often.  I don't think the gear from your stock unit will fit on the SW dist, due to differences in shaft diameter, but you could try.

There are upgrades for the stock iginition.  Check out the Team Rush/Big Cap Upgrade.  A lot of Jeep sites will show the process.  You're basically replacing the stock cap with a larger cap and the rotor with a taller rotor.  This moves the spark energy away from the base and spreads out the terminals.  It prevents crossfire.  You can then up the spark energy by upgrading the coil and plug wires.  A lot use the Blaster 2F coil (direct fit) and 8mm wires from a Ford (1979 Ford F-150 w/300 CID I6 Motor).  You'll need the new wires as the terminals on the new cap are different.  Any auto parts store can get those parts for you.  You'll also need the "cap adapter" to use the larger cap.  This was an upgrade for all Ford Duraspark ignitions, but it will not show up under AMC on the store computers.
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #26 on: August 31, 2015, 02:44:05 PM »
Thanks, ill keep this thread updated as I go.  Thats what I need to hear. "just go for it, keep an eye on it, you'll be ok" haha.

I'm originally an industrial designer so I notice re branded crap all the time. I assume some Chinese manufacture is busting out those Aluminum housings one after the other and those then are sold to the many "manufactures" of Distributors here in the U.S. They each add their outsourced caps and coils from wherever else, toss their sticker on and call it what they will.  Just some Chinese crap is assembled with more care then others. Obviously not the case all the time but most of the time.
So if the extra $250 spent towards the DUI setup will only save me a headache of tune-ability and there are others that have not had issues with the Ebay HEI Ill give it a shot. Just need to stock up on some aspirin and make sure I don't spend more then $250 on Aleve. Otherwise its not worth it anymore and Ill go the DUI route.

Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #27 on: August 31, 2015, 02:55:58 PM »
There you go.  The two things you want to avoid with any distributor you go with is gear wear and detonation.  What you want is decent performance.  Is it really much to ask for? Haha.

Funny thing is, even the rebuilt distributors are a crap-shoot.  I bought a rebuild unit from a Jeep supplier and the springs didn't have the right pre-load.  It pinged and rattled.  Over the years, AMC/Jeep changed the advance heads in the distributors to allow for less and less centrifugal advance as the computer took over more and more of this electronically.  The rebuilds could come with an advance head from any old year.  The 70's era units allowed 13-18* degrees depending on which slot in the advance head was utilized.  Computer years (early-late 80's) have 6.75-7.75* slots.  Unless you know how to check, you could hobble your pre-computer car for advance by installing a distributor with computer-era internals.  (Easy to check, btw).  This is why I always accept distributors when people pull them.  I have tons of parts to make anything I want work.  There are a lot of options with that stock distributor.
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

Offline TEagle85

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #28 on: August 31, 2015, 03:01:14 PM »
Thanks again, you guys rule. Thumbs up to Macdude for comforting me in a time of stress HAHA.

Offline macdude443

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Re: HEI UPGRADE Links and Info
« Reply #29 on: August 31, 2015, 03:09:35 PM »
Haha, thanks.  Most ignition work seems to be a "time of stress" for me.  :o
1982 Eagle SX/4
1986 Eagle Wagon

 

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