Stoffregen Motorsports
Explorer
The original distributor. It blew up. Literally grenaded inside the cap. I know...many of you told me not to waste time with the original distributor, and you were right. Instead of wasting any more time with this one, I decide it was time to swap in an HEI ignition. I wanted a DUI brand HEI, but they were eight weeks out for delivery. Summit racing had their brand in stock, and at less than half the price. Guess which one I bought.
Installation was going to be a snap, until I realized that the gear on the original distributor had lost some teeth in the explosion. I fished out what I could from the timing cover, then blew the remaining bits into the oil pan, and drained the oil. Nothing came out... So as a safety measure (and instead of dropping the oil pan) I bought and installed a magnetic drain plug, which ideally, should find and grab the remaining metal shards.
If any of you have ever installed an HEI in a domestic V8, you will know that there is no one way to clock the distributor. After many minutes of searching the web for pics of an "AMC V8 HEI install", I decided to wing it. The two pinch points are the vacuum advance and the electrical connector at the pickup. Those both needed to clear things on the engine. After fitting it a couple different ways, I found many ways not to install an HEI.
Once it was in place, I joked to my friend who was helping in the shop that day, thay we didn't know if the distributor would be spot on, or 180 degrees out. You can guess what we found out. The bang that came out of the engine was so powerful that my helper crawled out of the inside of the Jeep holding his ears, and my new shop pup was nowhere to be found. The resulting blast also blew up my brand new muffler. Bummer...
After we re-stabbed the distributor, it fired up and ran great. A timing light verified the timing to be 12 degrees advanced, and a test drive was next. Now if you had told me that an HEI would actually make more horsepower, I would not have believed you. I tell you what, it does, at least by my seat of the pants dyno. Throttle response is improved and there is no more popping from the carb under medium load. I'd call that a success.
Pics.
Muffler pic.
Installation was going to be a snap, until I realized that the gear on the original distributor had lost some teeth in the explosion. I fished out what I could from the timing cover, then blew the remaining bits into the oil pan, and drained the oil. Nothing came out... So as a safety measure (and instead of dropping the oil pan) I bought and installed a magnetic drain plug, which ideally, should find and grab the remaining metal shards.
If any of you have ever installed an HEI in a domestic V8, you will know that there is no one way to clock the distributor. After many minutes of searching the web for pics of an "AMC V8 HEI install", I decided to wing it. The two pinch points are the vacuum advance and the electrical connector at the pickup. Those both needed to clear things on the engine. After fitting it a couple different ways, I found many ways not to install an HEI.
Once it was in place, I joked to my friend who was helping in the shop that day, thay we didn't know if the distributor would be spot on, or 180 degrees out. You can guess what we found out. The bang that came out of the engine was so powerful that my helper crawled out of the inside of the Jeep holding his ears, and my new shop pup was nowhere to be found. The resulting blast also blew up my brand new muffler. Bummer...
After we re-stabbed the distributor, it fired up and ran great. A timing light verified the timing to be 12 degrees advanced, and a test drive was next. Now if you had told me that an HEI would actually make more horsepower, I would not have believed you. I tell you what, it does, at least by my seat of the pants dyno. Throttle response is improved and there is no more popping from the carb under medium load. I'd call that a success.
Pics.




Muffler pic.
