BradW
Bigger Hammer
I was reading some Willystech pages a few years ago and thinking about getting rid of the points distributor and going with Petronix or something when the discussion came up about the GM HEI's being a "drop in fit" for the 226, Well they sort of are but not really. They do fit the distributor holder but they are pretty tall and more importantly they "advance" backwards, reving the engine retards the timing so that's not good. However if you don't mind taking the time to revearse these they are a great setup and I've been running mine for a few years with absolutly no trouble and I noticed an increase in power. You need to flop the vacuum advance around so it pulls the other way by cutting a new notch in the housing and fill the old notch in the distributor housing with JB weld or tig weld it up, then knock the weight assembly off the shaft and turn it over and weld up the slots part way so the advance doesn't go way out (tap the spring pins out and flop them over too), also you can replace or try out different springs to bring the advance in where you want. I cut the distributor neck and shaft down to where it just clears the spark plugs comfortably, you do have to pay attention to the wiper motor for clearance (someone had converted mine to electric) and fit the shaft with a pin to fit like the original. You will need new plug wires, open the plug gaps, hook up the one power wire and set timing. I've made two, the first was the trial and it worked great but was a little tall, the second I cut shorter and I made a steel holder that bolts to the head like the aluminium/pot metal factory one thinking the steel would be stronger since these are bigger and have the coil on the cap. I like running eveything stock but a few bolt on changes are fine with me if they are an improvement. When I first did this modification I was running the stock 12 volt generator but ended up changing to an alternator, it worked fine with both.
