GM HEI Conversion

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simman900

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I have a 1972 Dart with a 360 crate engine that came with a Gm HEI distributor with coil in cap. I haven’t installed the motor yet but was wondering if anyone has done this before? From what I hear it just a matter of unplugging the old electronic Mopar harness and plugging it into the HEI cap with a pigtail that I have to order yet. Apparently this bypasses ballast resistor and does away with the control module that is mounted on firewall. Is that all there is to it? I know it’s a gm distributor but they say it’s a better ignition system, much simpler.
 
what does the guy who build the engine say?

or the guy who installed it in your car?
 
I may be wrong but I think your going to find that it will not clear the firewall on your Dart
 
A simple 4-pin HEI module will drive pretty much any coil and can be mounted inconspicuously if original appearance is an issue. The coil-in-cap distributor was no panacea and GM went away from it after 10 years or so.
 
C130 Chief said:
A simple 4-pin HEI module will drive pretty much any coil and can be mounted inconspicuously if original appearance is an issue. The coil-in-cap distributor was no panacea and GM went away from it after 10 years or so.
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...........Plus bein' harder to troubleshoot with all that mess in one "can"
 
To answer your question, IF it does fit, all you need is one 12V hot wire and that's it.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. Motor is going in Saturday and will be running mid week I hope. I will give update on the Gm HEI distributor. I do have the original one that came off the 318. Might put it back on the 360 if the Gm HEI doesn’t fit.
 
simman900 said:
Thanks for the info everyone. Motor is going in Saturday and will be running mid week I hope. I will give update on the Gm HEI distributor. I do have the original one that came off the 318. Might put it back on the 360 if the Gm HEI doesn’t fit.
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simman900 said:
So your saying one 12 volt hot wire, what about the ignition control module? Is that obsolete now?
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The real GM HEI has it all in the cap. ONE 12v hot wire is all it needs.But the cap is really big so that limits where it can go. I have one in the 351M in my Ford truck. It has plenty of room since Ford in its infinite wisdom designed those engines with the distributor in the front. It seems I remember seeing some in A bodies, but only the 67 and up cars, but I am not 100% sure on that. Gettin old sucks.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The real GM HEI has it all in the cap. ONE 12v hot wire is all it needs.But the cap is really big so that limits where it can go. I have one in the 351M in my Ford truck. It has plenty of room since Ford in its infinite wisdom designed those engines with the distributor in the front. It seems I remember seeing some in A bodies, but only the 67 and up cars, but I am not 100% sure on that. Gettin old sucks.
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No worries, I will post my results in a couple of days or maybe a week or so on how I made out with the ignition. Thanks for your help though. Older but wiser . Thanks
 
simman900 said:
No worries, I will post my results in a couple of days or maybe a week or so on how I made out with the ignition. Thanks for your help though. Older but wiser . Thanks
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I really like mine. I dropped it in over five years ago and haven't touched it. IMO it's hands down the best ignition ever made, you just have to have the room for it.
 
I used an HEI module only on my 440 with the stock distributor. A standard HEI distributor just needs 12v power to the terminal on the cap saying BAT. Plug your tach into the other one. I have an HEI in my son's 460 in his rat rod. Same deal. No ballast resistors or ignition boxes any longer.
 
71GSSDemon said:
I used an HEI module only on my 440 with the stock distributor. A standard HEI distributor just needs 12v power to the terminal on the cap saying BAT. Plug your tach into the other one. I have an HEI in my son's 460 in his rat rod. Same deal. No ballast resistors or ignition boxes any longer.
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That is what I will do then. I will post a message hopefully next week to let you know how it turned out. Thanks.
 
71GSSDemon said:
I used an HEI module only on my 440 with the stock distributor. A standard HEI distributor just needs 12v power to the terminal on the cap saying BAT. Plug your tach into the other one. I have an HEI in my son's 460 in his rat rod. Same deal. No ballast resistors or ignition boxes any longer.
Click to expand...
 
diymirage said:
toss a few pictures of it up
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C2A78B5D-E40E-4691-B3C8-106DC5405671.jpeg
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71GSSDemon said:
I used an HEI module only on my 440 with the stock distributor. A standard HEI distributor just needs 12v power to the terminal on the cap saying BAT. Plug your tach into the other one. I have an HEI in my son's 460 in his rat rod. Same deal. No ballast resistors or ignition boxes any longer.
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So the last guy who had the car put an external 4 pin module on the firewall and I believe he tried to bypass the ballast resistor. The ballast resistor is still there with wires connected but not sure if it’s doing anything. So the old electronic ignition distributor has the 2 wires connected from somewhere I’m not sure. I believe I take those wires and pigtail it to the hot part of new coil. Does that seem right?
 
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