[AT] conventional or electronic ignition

Ken Knierim ken.knierim at gmail.com
Mon Jun 12 15:06:28 PDT 2006


Steve's got a great point; an HEI would be a better way to go. You can
get parts for them (like modules) and have some spares in the vehicle
(can you tell I like having spare parts?)
     You might want to be careful of the Buick one though, because
some or all were (I think!) odd-fire engines. And I think that also
applies to the 4.3 V-6 Chevy engine. I seem to recall that they had
slightly different spaces between the towers; that might help identify
the odd-fire from the even-fire ones.

Hope this helps.

Ken in  AZ

On 6/12/06, Steve W. <falcon at telenet.net> wrote:
> I wouldn't bother with a conversion kit. Just hit a "salvage" yard and
> get an HEI unit from a 74/75 or up GM straight six. They work real nice
> and are a drop in. The only thing you will need to do is find the
> resistor in the circuit to the points and remove/bypass it so that full
> voltage goes to the HEI. I think the distributor is also the same as
> used in the Buick 231 V6 , IIRC. They are super reliable and the only
> part I ever had fail is the module IF you didn't put heat sink paste on
> it.  If you have a problem finding one just holler, I may have a couple
> still around here from my old race car (started with a 74 Nova with a
> 250 six and some Clifford parts)
>
> Steve Williams
> Near Cooperstown, New York
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ralph Goff" <alfg at sasktel.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 4:26 PM
> Subject: [AT] conventional or electronic ignition
>
>
> > Heres a question that may have been asked before but it has only
> become of interest to me lately.
> > I know some of you have converted your old tractors to electronic
> ignition and I'm considering the same on my daily driver 71 Chev pickup
> with the 250 six cylinder engine.
> > After paying close to $40 for a new set of points and condensor last
> week I'm wondering if the electronic conversion is a big saving long
> term. I can get a Crane conversion kit for about $80 (the price of 2
> sets of points and condensor). It just replaces the internal parts and
> uses the existing distributor housing, no external changes. I'm
> wondering how the lifespan and reliability of this type electronic
> ignition is.
> > What I do like about the old type points is it does give me some
> warning when it needs replacing and has never left me stranded whereas
> I've heard that when the newer electronic ignition fails it happens
> without warning and your left walking.
> > Any opinions... experiences?
> >
> > Ralph in Sask.
> > http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/
> >
> > --Boundary_(ID_3LnKFiW652Y4Ot0kK3p7AA)
> > Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
> > Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
> >
> > <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
> > <HTML><HEAD>
> > <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
> > <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2873" name=GENERATOR>
> > <STYLE></STYLE>
> > </HEAD>
> > <BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Heres a question that may have been asked
> before
> > but it has only become of interest to me lately. </FONT></DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I know some of you have converted your
> old tractors
> > to electronic ignition and I'm considering the same on my daily driver
> 71 Chev
> > pickup with the 250 six cylinder engine. </FONT></DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>After paying close to $40 for a new set
> of points
> > and condensor last week I'm wondering if the electronic conversion is
> a big
> > saving long term. I can get a Crane conversion kit for about $80 (the
> price of 2
> > sets of points and condensor). It just replaces the internal parts and
> uses the
> > existing distributor housing, no external changes. I'm wondering how
> the
> > lifespan and reliability of this type electronic ignition is.
> </FONT></DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What I do like about the old type points
> is it does
> > give me some warning when it needs replacing and has never left me
> stranded
> > whereas I've heard that when the newer electronic ignition fails it
> happens
> > without warning and your left walking. </FONT></DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any opinions... experiences?</FONT></DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
> > <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Ralph in Sask.<BR><A
> >
> href="http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/">http://lgoff.sasktelwebsite.net/
> </A></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
> > _______________________________________________
> > AT mailing list
> > Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
> > http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
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