Opinions on this ignition

[nqkjw]

On my challenger the module is screwed to the firewall through an ally plate with a hollowed out orange box just as a cover really.

Thanks for the notch comment!!

It's a lot of fun!!!

[Talkwrench]

Dont worry Chryco the module is a Bosch part  Im sure and thats all you need  .. Never heard of the HEI having rev probs.. anyone else?

[Supercuda]

RPM stability in a GM HEI distributor is a function of the crappy pickup coil/reluctor setup that they use. The HEI module itself is stable, a long as you use a quality part. My personal bias against its use has to do with two things:1) It has a variable dwell that is supposed to climb from about 15 degrees at idle, to about 38 degrees at full saturation. A MOPAR electronic ignition saturates the coil at 40 degrees dwell, from start to top rpm. 2) It's GM. 'Nuff said? Asfor E-core coils, an excellent one is stock on later 4- and 6-cylinder Chrysler products, and gives excellent results. Pulled mine from a junkyard caravan and haven't looked back.

[UKcuda]

There's some excellent information here:

http://www.dtec.net.au/Ignition%20Coil%20Dwell%20Calibration.htm

[Strawdawg]

Lack of high rpm on an HEI set up is an old wives tale.  A good coil and a good module along with a decent distributor will not have any problems.  Variable dwell was and improvement over the older fixed dwell designs.

[Chryco Psycho]

OK
 I thought you were talking about the HEI dist mod , not just using the HEI module

[hot440roddin]

  Done lost me somewhere

[Chryco Psycho]

there is a company that modifies HEI dist to fit Mopar engines , you can just wire in the HEL module instead of the ECU boxes Mopar used

[UKcuda]

Some of those HEI distributors claim to be better at avoiding cross firing inside the cap but I suspect that's just sales talk. 

The Mopar distributor seems to fire the HEI fine (and keeps a stock appearance) although I found the HEI needs a slightly bigger trigger signal than the Mopar box so you have to make extra sure the pick-up gap is right.

Also the HEI fires on the other slope of the signal wave (if you wired it right), so the initial timing has to be reset a few degrees.

[Strawdawg]

yes, the Mopar distributor works very well with the HEI module and a good coil.  One of the advantages of the variable dwell is the elimination of the ballast resistor and the ability to use a modern low resistance Ecoil.  One gets full voltage to the coil at all times and the coil does not get cooked. 

A few years ago we raced a Falcon in the vintage racing class.  The Ford ignition was not up to the task so we converted it to HEI which ran much better, but, we found we were only pulling 6200 rpm on the straight away which was well below what we had calculated.  We were using the cheap remote HEI coil from a Vega.  We switched to a Crane ecoil and gained over a 1000 rpm which is what we had expected. 

When I converted the Challenger, I ordered the same coil from Summit.   The wiring on the car was so bad that I hot wired the coil directly to the alternator and triggered it with a new wire from the bulkhead connector.  That way I know I will always have full voltage to the ignition.  I do wonder if I should have gone to the battery with the hot wire as I wonder if the the battery would buffer ac spikes out of the alternator a bit, but so far it seems to be working very well. 

I did notice that it did seem to like the gap set to spec whereas the Mopar box did not seem to care.

[hot440roddin]

 

[UKcuda]

Yeah, sometime when I have nothing else to do (ha ha!) I think I will probably put a 30 amp relay on mine and a clean feed from the battery.  I expect it is losing a little through the ignition switch contacts which are bound to be a bit grotty after all this time.

[hot440roddin]

Just to throw another option out there, though it want look factory... What about something like this: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PNX-COMBO2BBMR/KitComboContents/ It's close to the previous one I mentioned, but a little different...
There are a few different ways about going with the ignition setup, just exploring the possibilities...

[hot440roddin]

Throw this one into the works while I'm at it....
Dist: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/DCC-5249775/
Wires: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MSD-5531/
Control Box: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PNX-500/
Coil: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PNX-60104/ May not be this exact coil, but I'm sure you get the idea
Spark Plugs:  Gonna be running a worked set of Stealths (Modern did 'em), with a Lunati VooDoo 60303 cam along with 1.6 rocker arms... Street car, full body.
 

[nqkjw]

Can one of you knowledgeable US blokes tell me if that Pertronix stuff is any good?
The question is often asked on Aussie forums but no one over here seems to know one way or the other.

If price is no option the two favourites over here are MSD or Crane HiFire