Starliner Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Hi guys. I posted on the other great classic ford site. Here is my post. I am pretty sure that Jim and Gary and the rest of the gang can weigh in. Here is the post: Thanks Joe 1983 F150, 5.8 I need a distributor. I see HEI ones on Amazon for $70. Bronco Graveyard, $140 Jegs $112 for all I know, they could all be coming from the same plant. What do you guys think of these? A few years ago I bought a points one from Autozone, BIG mistake, pure garbage. thanks, Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 My opinion, I wouldn't put a Chinese Chevrolet distributor in my Ford EVER! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 My opinion, I wouldn't put a Chinese Chevrolet distributor in my Ford EVER! I wish Bill would tell us how he really feels and not hold back. Personally, the HEI dizzy doesn't scare me. But it is so easy to just use a DS-II dizzy and module, so why not stay Ford? I'd only go HEI if I didn't have the wiring harness, dizzy, or module. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 My opinion, I wouldn't put a Chinese Chevrolet distributor in my Ford EVER! I wish Bill would tell us how he really feels and not hold back. Personally, the HEI dizzy doesn't scare me. But it is so easy to just use a DS-II dizzy and module, so why not stay Ford? I'd only go HEI if I didn't have the wiring harness, dizzy, or module. Edit: my bad. "New" user revived his old username and I am focused on too many things at once. Sorry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 He has absolutely NO engine harness, and that's the issue with the firewood truck. That changes everything, and thanks for reminding me, Jim. In that case it is HEI for me. As Jim said, a relay and some wire and Bob's your uncle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 He has absolutely NO engine harness, and that's the issue with the firewood truck. That changes everything, and thanks for reminding me, Jim. In that case it is HEI for me. As Jim said, a relay and some wire and Bob's your uncle. Well, skip White only seems to offer an HEI for the I-6 these days... 🙃 There are a bunch on Amazon, and Amazon really seem to have a no bs guarantee. There are some offered w/ plug wires and tach harness. Id probably go for a package with plug wires and tach connection than buy everything piecemeal. I would definitely not waste my time & $ on a 'branded' unit from the same child labour factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starliner Posted July 17 Author Share Posted July 17 Well, skip White only seems to offer an HEI for the I-6 these days... 🙃 There are a bunch on Amazon, and Amazon really seem to have a no bs guarantee. There are some offered w/ plug wires and tach harness. Id probably go for a package with plug wires and tach connection than buy everything piecemeal. I would definitely not waste my time & $ on a 'branded' unit from the same child labour factory. Well, I am convinced. I am not sure about the distributor, but I know this: You guys are all nuts!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 Well, I am convinced. I am not sure about the distributor, but I know this: You guys are all nuts!!! Curly, Moe, & Gary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat in tn Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 My opinion, I wouldn't put a Chinese Chevrolet distributor in my Ford EVER! I wish Bill would tell us how he really feels and not hold back. Personally, the HEI dizzy doesn't scare me. But it is so easy to just use a DS-II dizzy and module, so why not stay Ford? I'd only go HEI if I didn't have the wiring harness, dizzy, or module. I'm currently in this same discussion with my son about the 5.0 he is building for his fox body. now I have used a few hei units. I have two in the garage on trucks right now! so, from this background I will give a couple points. the same as I said to my son. first off there is the brand loyalty side of chevy vs ford. it's not my preference but it's a bit foolish really. if someone were to put chevy valves in their heads they would be doing something impressive. I'm halfway convinced that there is only one maker, and it gets sold under many different brands. not a claim other than my suspicion. then we get to the real stuff. this thing is bulky! interferes with the air cleaner. my bronco has a generic 10" chrome unit as a result. but it suits the build, so I don't mind. on the f100 I'm stalled on I have modified the factory 5.0 air cleaner to clear the dist. now I have used two others on hot rod trucks and dealt with the same issues, but they all have worked well. now we have had three in as many years fail on different vehicles in the shop. enough so that we are trying a different stand-alone unit. which is smaller like the points style dist of the past and still needs a coil but is electronic and also a two wire install. the jury is still out on it at this time so I'm not making a recommendation. if my choices are chinese hei, chinese duraspark copy or chinese anything then I'm not. holding too much brand loyalty. but the majority of my trucks/builds have ford ignition systems and I'm not changing them. my 82 has the factory coil and ds2 box paired with a new dist. since I swapped a v6 for the v8 in there now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viven44 Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 He has absolutely NO engine harness, and that's the issue with the firewood truck. That changes everything, and thanks for reminding me, Jim. In that case it is HEI for me. As Jim said, a relay and some wire and Bob's your uncle. A few FB folks that I saw locally on trucks for sale went to HEI/MSD because they couldn't get the duraspark "junk" to work. All of them also had a push button start to boot accompanying their HEI/MSD that they were so proud of.. I wanted to explain to them that their ignition switch was probably misbehaving and affecting the duraspark from doing its job. My experience with HEI was very tricky. I also ran it with a painless wiring harness... HEI is what came with the truck so I kept it.. Even something as simple as the length of the wire from the A terminal of the voltage regulator to the battery ... I believe this is the "feedback" loop which tells the regulator how it is regulating the voltage.. when it was too long it was enough to make the truck not run at all.... The length of the wire affects that feedback quite a bit (resistive and possibly inductive voltage drop). Even a blinker on and off would cause fluctuations in alternator voltage. These fluctuations in voltage was enough to put the alternator output close to 12V at times.. truck would not even idle when the turn signal blinker was on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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