[AT] conventional or electronic ignition

Mon Jun 12 17:10:07 PDT 2006

Buicks were odd fire until 75 then they became even fire. The difference
is in the cap. If the cap has 6 evenly spaced terminals it is an Even
fire unit. If it has an 8 cylinder cap OR two sets of three terminal
with wider spaces between them it is odd fire. The 4.3 dizzy might also
work but I think it might be long. The 4.3 is the same as a 350 with
cylinders 4 and 5 missing.

Steve Williams
Near Cooperstown, New York

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ken Knierim" <ken.knierim at gmail.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 6:06 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] conventional or electronic ignition

> 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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> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
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