Switching to HEI

[jkh04200]

502,
I have a thunderbolt in mine and I was considering going to an HEI. I actually bought an accell from Jegs. Anybody need a distributor? Never been out of the box. I wanted to go to the HEI because the thunderbolt is a full electronic distributor and advances 24 degrees electronically and cannot be adjusted. At the time I was wanting to run about 18 initial which ofcourse would give me to much total. I had a marine mechanic beg me not to make the switch. I have since found that you can get a module for these distributors that will allow you to adjust the amt. of advance to your needs. I'm glad I didn't change.

[DelawareDave]

502,
I have a thunderbolt in mine and I was considering going to an HEI. I actually bought an accell from Jegs. Anybody need a distributor? Never been out of the box. I wanted to go to the HEI because the thunderbolt is a full electronic distributor and advances 24 degrees electronically and cannot be adjusted. At the time I was wanting to run about 18 initial which ofcourse would give me to much total. I had a marine mechanic beg me not to make the switch. I have since found that you can get a module for these distributors that will allow you to adjust the amt. of advance to your needs. I'm glad I didn't change.
Some people switch to the V-6 module which has the lesser advance.

[jkh04200]

Some body makes a module specifically for these dist. that will allow you to dial in any degree you want. If anybody is interested I can dig around and find the mfg and part#.

[502 JET]

As long as I have enough clearance around the distributor.
I tested an hei distributor in a pick-up today.As I originally suspected grounding the tach terminal of an hei distributor will stall the engine.So I will be able to connect the shift interrupter switch to the tach terminal of the hei and have it work.
As for the hei not being explosion proof the only difference I see with the DUI distributor is that has screens installed in it.The hei being a self contained unit (no external coil or coil wire) it seems to me that there is less of a chance of sparks.I am going to install screens in the hei before I install it in the boat.

[tbanzer]

If the stock distributor and advance components are in good shape I would consider an electronic conversion to your existing distributor. Pertronix make drop in electronic conversion for most all distributors for around $100, I have installed many of them and Only had one failure and it lasted for about 6 years b4 it started acting up.