Distributor conversion/upgrade

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hillbilly4008

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
598
Location
Upstate NY
Recently i asked someone what would be a better choice; a classic Mallory dual points distributor or HEI. The answer i got was that i could have both the looks of the Mallory and the performance of an HEI. So i went for it. I placed a call to Summit Racing and they set me up with a kit made by Petronix. It cost me about $120 total, would've been less if i didnt buy the rotor.

Parts ordered were 1. the Ignitor kit, 2. 45,000v coil, 3. Replacement rotor for my distributor(optional)

This was a real easy conversion. All togeather it took about a half hour. The only tools needed were a flat head screwdriver and a phillips head screwdriver. First is the removal of the old points and housing. Then the installation of the new one peice system. Two screws is all it takes to do this. The 2 wires attached to the unit are run through the existing hole in the distributor, and are connected to the coil. Red to pos+, and black to neg-. After the new "points replacement" was in i installed the supplied sleeve over the shaft, (slip on, no tools neccessary). Then installed the rotor. Set everything to Top Dead Center, reinstalled the distributor and i was finished.

The 454 came out of a '86 farm truck, with pollution junk and EFI. So I needed to find the parts to make everything work. The intake is off of a 396. The Mallory dual points distributor came off a friends '67 327 'vette about 20-30 years ago. The coil mount came off a '64 Grand Prix. Plug wires are brand new.

A special thanks goes out to dmw56 for pointing me in the right direction.

Heres the pics, there in order.
 

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You're welcome. That looks much better than an HEI. Nothing wrong with an HEI. But you just can't bet the looks of an old Mallory.

Does that engine have the "peanut port" heads? They have the small round ports. Do you have the intake on the engine already? I didn't think the older manifolds would work on the truck engines with the peanut ports. I maybe wrong though.
 
I was wanting to use the older style mallory distributor on my engine but am unsure of what i can use one from. My block is a 92 one piece rear main engine that had the small dis. with external coil and was wondering if i could use an older dis. in that newer block.
 
The intake is on, and i used a TON of silicone on it. I dont know what you mean by peanut ports. I can tell you that everything lines up between the '86 block and the 396 intake.
 
ratterman, I dont know for sure that it will work. If you have both, i'de reccommend putting them side by side and compairing the shafts.
 
These are the small "Peanut Port" heads. Very small almost round ports. Found on late 70s and 80s trucks. Good for low end torque.

ccrp_0803_12_zbig_blocksmallports_h.jpg


These a Rectangular ports similar in size to the Oval ports which are oval shape.

BB-320Xtra-intake_500x400.jpg
 
Are you refering to the peanut heads as Close Chamber old still heads and the truck heads Open Chamber I only know of two styles the oval port and the rectangle ports for BBC. I was refering to the block hight Tall block 10.2 deck which most but not all truck blocks and the reguler block car blocks and some truck 9.8 standard deck.

As far as I know there is only two stles of intakes oval port or regtangle ports and tall block that you have to have spacers for the intake mainfold and standerd deck no spacers. I hope I have not confused any one.
 
Are you refering to the peanut heads as Close Chamber old still heads and the truck heads Open Chamber I only know of two styles the oval port and the rectangle ports for BBC. I was refering to the block hight Tall block 10.2 deck which most but not all truck blocks and the reguler block car blocks and some truck 9.8 standard deck.

As far as I know there is only two stles of intakes oval port or regtangle ports and tall block that you have to have spacers for the intake mainfold and standerd deck no spacers. I hope I have not confused any one.

There are 3 types of ports on BBC heads. Rectangular, Oval and the Peanut Port. Not referring to the chambers only the shape of the port. The Peanuts Ports were only on late70s and 80s trucks for low end torque.
 
Well Don just schooled my self on them peanut port heads. I guess they were on 70- mid 90s trucks for low rpm and low HP BBC so did they use them on like dump trucks from what I read the combuston champers are so small the valve size GM gave them is what you are stuck with and can only run a flat top or very small dome piston. It is nice to learn something you had no idea about thanks.:D
 
Now im all confused, cuz i have the rectangular ports. I know the engine was the stock engine for the '86 1-ton dualie. Perhaps it was an option? I ran the #s back a long time ago and found that this thing was pretty sad power and torque wise. I believe i found it to be 225hp from the factory. I can say that when it was in the truck i could burn a good patch with the dual wheels out back. Thats good enough for me.

Im sure that taking off all of the smog s*** and power steering will free up some much needed horse power.
 
heres the specs.
LT9 454/V8 (TBI) 230hp 385torque V30 87

4.250 bore 4.000 stroke

stock without TBI 360 torque


I would of thought that the one tone would of had the open chamber oval port heads but if you looked up the numbers and they are rectangle than you probably have a pretty good set of heads.
 
Just to help clear the air, truck means truck, not pickup. Pickups use the low deck car block. The tall deck 366 and 427 came in the C60 and larger trucks, I don't think any 454s were tall deck but I could be wrong. Tall decks do use a different distributor I think.
 
Well its official! I toasted my Ignitor unit. Im pretty sure it happened when i was jumping the battery. Note to self: DO NOT SET CHARGER TO BOOST WHEN KEY IS ON!

Good news is the 30month warrantee. Shhhhh.....dont tell em.
 

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