63 Small Block Distributor / Firewall Clearance
You could go distributor-less and use some kind of a cranksensor wheel (MSD)?? Don't know much about them. Cost factor my be a issue.
Ditto. That would be my approach. Indeed, I plan that eventually for my 65 SB even though mine has the V-8 firewall (small indentation at distributor). I just want to run distributor-less since a spark jumping a gap is old-fashioned electronics and allows phasing issues and noise.
74Dusted is incorrect about requiring a cam sensor. You can just run "wasted spark" mode, as many production cars do, like my 96 2.4L and 02 3.8L, indeed most engines you see with a coil pack are such, until the newer "coil on plug" (COP) designs. However, I think you still need something in the distributor hole as a cover and to hold the intermediate shaft down (drives oil pump). Perhaps a Magnum distributor would fit since I recall they are much shorter. Indeed, I vaguely recall an after-market design for that purpose (also a cam sensor?).
Re parts and cost, read the Megasquirt site about the Ford EDIS system, which many people adapt. A guy on ebay sells custom toothed wheels. I had him cut a center hole to fit my crank pulley, ~$40. I secured it with a tapped hole in the pulley and setscrew (at missing tooth to balance the weight). I drilled a thru hole in the alum AC pulley (add-on AC). Currently, I have the Ford VR pickup installed, which barely fit under my alum water pump. But I also designed a bracket for the shorter Mopar Hall-effect pickup (same as my 3.8L). The Ford EDIS box controls the Ford coil-packs (or any others, even COP), firing at 10 deg BTDC as a base (limp-home mode). You need another controller to command the advance, which I haven't worked out. Many people use Megasquirt for that. EDIS parts are cheap at the junkyard or on ebay. Even better is the LS engine coils, but those require a smarter spark controller. I am not going whole hog yet, just positioning myself as I build up my engine.
