Don Terrill’s Speed-Talk

Yes, crank triggers are the best how I understand it but for a street strip motor with a distributor which do you pick. Both Mallory and Msd are about the same $...and then theres Summit brand which seems like Mallory for a few dollars less then either Mallory or Msd but then I get burn on re-sale if I ever E-bay it.

Are they all made in China by now

If you're looking at an hei type dist, I have had great results with Davis unified ignition (no relation). It will come out of the box curved and serialized so they know what they did when it was set up for you. I have run thier stuff stuck in some very hot engines and been happy with the performance.

Dodge Freak wrote:Yes, crank triggers are the best how I understand it but for a street strip motor with a distributor which do you pick. Both Mallory and Msd are about the same $...and then theres Summit brand which seems like Mallory for a few dollars less then either Mallory or Msd but then I get burn on re-sale if I ever E-bay it.

Are they all made in China by now

I believe the low buck($99-$150) MSD HEI, Mallory HEI, Pro-Comp, Summit and similar distributors are all the same as the eBay $40-$50 HEI distributor. One factory, some different color caps and cardboard boxes.

I shamefully admit to using these on my mild street SBC's

Hmm, I seen those E-bay distributors..they seem soooo cheap I didn't know how they be...last thing I need is crossfire and blow a hole in a piston...I am going to trigger a MSD box with it.

Dodge Freak wrote:Hmm, I seen those E-bay distributors..they seem soooo cheap I didn't know how they be...last thing I need is crossfire and blow a hole in a piston...I am going to trigger a MSD box with it.

They're the same as the others and have had no problems for mild street engines. If it makes you feel better, you can pay MSD $150 for the same part.

You can also just use it as good core instead of a worn out HEI.

This one works fine...it's all they sell. Over 3000 ignitions with 100% feedback. http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/easy4auto ... omZQQ_mdoZ

edit: I haven't had problems with a half dozen or so of these and always give them a thorough inspection. However, with what Joe Sherman has found, I don't want my post to be an endorsement.

If it's a serious engine, maybe Davis Unified is the way to go for you.

I have run a few of the OFF SHORE HEI type units, and two blew up on the dyno, and one I sent all the way to Sweden, then it fell apart.. I will NEVER use any of those cheap things again.. I did start to use the Pertronics billet distributors , and so far I have not had any problems at all. They do not require any box ( extra cost ) and they have a two wire hook up( very easy ) They cost about 100 dollars less than an MSD, so this is what I am putting in all my street engines from now on.

JOE SHERMAN RACING

bigjoe1 wrote:I have run a few of the OFF SHORE HEI type units, and two blew up on the dyno, and one I sent all the way to Sweden, then it fell apart.. I will NEVER use any of those cheap things again.. I did start to use the Pertronics billet distributors , and so far I have not had any problems at all. They do not require any box ( extra cost ) and they have a two wire hook up( very easy ) They cost about 100 dollars less than an MSD, so this is what I am putting in all my street engines from now on.

JOE SHERMAN RACING

Joe, thanks for the tip. Have never really thought of Pertronics except for points conversion.

It would be nice to have a reasonable, high quality distributor. I just read up on it and it has much different construction than a regular HEI or the reboxed off-shore clones.

http://www.pertronix.com/prod/ig/flame/dist/hei.aspx

I see Jegs sells a Pertronics HEI for around $225. Sound about right?

For a small block Mopar, I'm looking at $230 for an Msd unit

As for using a stock or even a dual point Accel or Mallory-which are cheap on E-bay and seem to trigger the Msd box just fine at 6200 rpms--using just 1 set of points, the dumb dist cap has those female sockets..picked up a nice set of plug wires but they are for the male hei type posts.

Heck, just running the dual points and a Mallory coil works pretty darn good--like super fast starting, strong idle even when the motors cold--but WOT is not as strong...think if it had a vacuum secondary carb, might be ok but using a DP carb, my motor seems to love its 7al box. Even sounds better running the Q mile.

I have a nice 3000 series Accel dual point dist, has a nice large cap, smooth advance but has female sockets...Msd makes those Power Towers to convert the posts to male but like $45 seems like a rip off.

IDK what to do

Here in Australia a lot of people are going for the HEI systems made by I.C.E Ignition (Bought one myself) and it looks like a nice unit, and I heard some EMC guys are going to be using the system this year as well.. I know Tony Bischoff did last year.

LINK: http://www.iceignition.com.au/

Cannot complain about anything and they actually make one for my application.

Have done very little back to back testing but everything we have put one on has made more power.

We have used the Maroso HEI dist. in classes where MSD's are not allowed with no problems. We always change the gear to a GM one.

I have found myself stuck in the situation of needing something simpler and more affordable than an MSD set-up, or re-using, refurbishing worn-out HEI's. At least I have more options to consider now.

So you wonder how many are higher grade distributors, and how many are just all the same "off-shore" clone HEI's? (I see no point in paying 3X-4X for the same unit)

Davis is different, the Pertronics certainly is different. Do these other units say where they are made? I wonder if many use the import castings and then modify.

I do know for a facy that many of them are made by the same place. this is PRO COMP-- the same place that sells all the JUNK cylinders heads. I have trird several brands od distributors( from differant places ) they all appear to be the same, and most are NOT GOOD ENOUGH to use in anything. I do really mean I had two BLOW UP on the dyno.

JOE SHERMAN RACING

Is there a Mallory "Unilite" available for the application? If so use one. I really like the simplicity of those distributors. Shutter wheel and a light. Simple triggering method. Ran them in many strong runner street/strip engines.

A circle track car I'm involved with has a cheap HEI.
It has had two failures - the advance wt. plate separated
from the shaft, and the gear roll pin broke.