455 olds ignition / distributor

[dekmaster]

Hi,
I have a stock 455 olds including I believe a stock distributor. When i first bought the bought a mechanic pulled the vacuum advance tube off of the distributor and told me that I do not need it. Is this true? Also I want to upgrade my ignition to possibly MSD the main reason being to get a rev limiter as well as possible better performance. Will I get better performance?
Also: Does anybody have any components for a 455 olds ignition upgrade to achieve what I mentioned above.
Thanks,
Dennis

[Sleek-Jet]

Originally posted by dekmaster
Hi,
I have a stock 455 olds including I believe a stock distributor. When i first bought the bought a mechanic pulled the vacuum advance tube off of the distributor and told me that I do not need it. Is this true? Also I want to upgrade my ignition to possibly MSD the main reason being to get a rev limiter as well as possible better performance. Will I get better performance?
Also: Does anybody have any components for a 455 olds ignition upgrade to achieve what I mentioned above.
Thanks,
Dennis
Pertronix makes a kit to convert a stock GM points ignition to electronic and it works fantastic. I run one in my Cutlass. You can put an MSD box on any ignition, and you should see an improvement in drivability.

[Floored]

I run the stock points also and see no reason to change. I added an Accel supercoil and really good plug wires and mine runs great. no you dont need the vacuum advance just set your total to 32-36 deg and your initial at about 10-14 deg all in around 2500-3000 and your pretty well set. cool another olds!!

[jtham]

I agree with Floored. My 1975 Olds 455 has stock ignition points distributor, and i have no problems. I see no reason to change at this point. I carry an extra set of points just in case. But never had a problem.
I've heard that the Pertronix kit is the way to go, and know people who have it. It works good, but until mine breaks, I'm not switching over.
No more than 36 degrees on your timing total advance. My two cents. Jay

[396_WAYS_TO_SPIT]

I run a pionts distributor but it has been converted. I took the distributor to the local boat shop and had him dial it in fo me with the points in it. Then I bought the crane cams ignitor kit for $65 and puit it in. It only took 10 mintues to install. I then hooked it up to my msd6al box and thats it. It has a rev limiter and its fully digital. You can use it with or without a ms box an its cheaper than converting to a msd distributor or hei.
After spending 3 hours of wasted time on the lake with points, I will NEVER run points again!! But thats just my opinion.
396

[396_WAYS_TO_SPIT]

Oh yeah an I run my olds at 31 degrees total timing so I dont need to worry about blowing it up!
396