Hi Jim,

I don't think anyone knows for sure, but the consensus seems to be that the 307/327 stands give a bit more clearance at the firewall. My GM HEI fits - it's close, but it fits with the 307 stands. I'm sure you've tried your own trick with the intake manifold already....

I assume your current dist uses a bigger diameter cap than stock?

Have you considered one of ignition man's small body HEI's? Uses a good old 69 style dist body and cap with reworked guts, and I've heard nothing but good stuff about them, and considerably less than $500.

http://www.davessmallbodyheis.com/

Hello to Linda!

PS I noticed you got "promoted" to Senior Tech too. I thought I was the only one. I was feeling pretty darn smart there for awhile.....

 

Look at the new Petronix dist its a small cap with male electrodes or female.You can get it in several different applications around 230.00.

 

I have the 350 mounts and have no clearance issues with a large cap HEI. I just purchased the large cap Crane adjustable distributor.

 

Thanks for the replys guys (hey that rymes!) I didn't have a clearance issue until I put the Tremec in. The new cross member is lower to correct the driveline angle because the Tremec is longer than the Muncie. I had lots of room with the HEI prior to this. The MSD HEI is 3/4" higher than the GM HEI. This in itself causes a problem because the firewall is at a slight angle. The MSD just barely fit before the Tranny swap. I was hoping I could talk to someone who has tried the different perches to see how they differ. Anyway I will take everyones suggestions into consideration before I spend any more money. But it seems that this is what we're intended to do. Us car guys are supposed to spend money without question to feed our obsession and learn how to duck when our wives find out. Fortunately for me, my wife is a car guy er I mean girl, OK woman. I better go now.

Al, say hi to Paula. Being a Senior Tech means were OLD! The first guy who offers me a seniors discount is gonna get a smack in the nose.
Later
Jim

 

Jim, If you go the 307/327 frame stands, your headers will hit your PS gearbox and you may experience problems with your harmonic balancer contacting your sway bar. I slightly dented my firewall for HEI clearance. You can't tell unless the distributor is out. I think Dave's smallbody HEI maybe a good alternative.

 

Jim - If you decide to go with that new MSD distributor, please let us know how it works out. I have a similar HEI clearance problem with my 69 RS, and have been considering the new MSD unit for a planned engine swap later this year.

 

I'll be sure to let you know. I'm not sure what distributor I'm gonna get. The 8360 or the electronic 8394. MSD is sending me a bunch of info on the 8394 so I should know which way to go in a few days.

As far as the motor mounts go, the perches I have (Z/28) are fine with the original engine in the car. It wasn't until I installed the ZZ430 did I have clearance problems with the headers. One tube had to be dimpled because it was touching the bottom of the sector shaft where the steering arm attaches. The fast burn heads have higher exhaust ports. If I lower the engine this will correct this problem but it will probably create a few more. I'm just going to replace the distributor and sell the HEI.
Jim

 

Last night I installed an MSD 8394 electronic E-curve on my 327. Here’s my review: The workmanship is very good, which I think is typical for MSD. The curve was relatively easy to set up. However, a reference table supplied in the manual must be used to dial in a two digit combination using two dials. The combination can’t be selected without the reference tables so don’t loose your manual. The total advance is only selectable in 5 degree increments (i.e. 15, 20, 25) which (IMO) is the weakest part of the unit. The selectable vacuum advance is selectable for both inches of vacuum and the amount of degrees; this is the best vacuum advance system I have ever seen. I found the actual vacuum advance and mechanical advance to be exactly what reference table indicated. A rev limit can be selected on a third dial. The dials increments are very small and very hard to read, especially if the distributor is already mounted. I had to set my distributor 200 rpm higher than indicated to get the desired rev limit. Hitting the rev limit is quite smooth. Today I drove to track about an 1 hr from my house and logged a few runs with no problems. Overall I give this new product two thumbs up.
Mark

 

A couple things to try:

1. try shimming up the tranny tail shaft. Just don't go too far or you will change the driveline geometry . . .

2. MSD sells two different cap & rotor combo's for their distributors. I'm not sure if they are interchangeable on the same body, but the smaller would give you more clearance.

 

How much room you need ? If less than a half inch, could you slot the mounting holes to move it forward ?

 

I agree with Marktat. I purchased an 8394 and love it. It is an awesome unit and the settings are pretty much what I see with a timing light when running. Don't get me wrong, I love this unit but am a guy that came from the 70's working on souped up 55's, camero's and 2+2 mustangs, the old days, I am not the brightest with this kind of new stuff and was immediately confused by the paper work and literature sent with the unit. I am pretty precise on things (CIS major with database development) and it all didn't add up, come to find out the graphs were incorrect and for sure the reference table with 100 blocks of numbers and letters really made me scratch my head, I am half blind now which made it even worse. The graphs sent with the unit and on the MSD site shows the top advance number changing and the bottom staying the same, it is the opposite when changing the curve on this unit. Another thing that bothered me was if this unit is digital then why wasn't software included with the unit to make things easy? I looked into things and the Crane and MSD do not provide software but the Mallory does. The paper graphs just won't do it. If it's digital is can be easily calculated, viewed and predicted before even putting it in or changing settings. I wanted to know what the curve looks like in real time, the correct idle advance change when changing the rotary switch settings, have the switch settings derived automatically from chosen parameters I wanted, see what advance occurs at different rpm's, compare current settings to predictive settings to improve performance or mileage and lastly to compare the MSD curves to the Crane distributor. Well now that I have had this thing for a year and done allot of research I created a software program to give me all this. No more looking up that confusing table and backwards curve graph for me. There are allot of curves to consider on the MSD but there is also allot of difference in the curve lines compared to the Crane. The MSD is pretty much a single straight trend line from one point to another but the Crane has 2 straight trend lines on some of their settings, which I would like to try someday, but at least I can see them on the computer and be able to compare and tailor the curves I want without changing things or purchasing another distributor for now. I am sure the Mallory curves are pretty awesome, they have only one that is tailorable, so I can only assume it can have several trend line curves ability, which sounds awesome. But, I am not a racer, just a cruiser, carbureted V8-350 conversion on a 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, but I do want it to run sweet and reliable and am very happy with the MSD in that respect. I did add the 6A capacitor box, coil and super conductor wires also so I am sure that makes things spark much better. One thing for sure, it beats changing springs, bushing, cams and the likes. Digital is the way to go. One other thing about the Crane, the switches are on the outside so they can be changed easier but the drawback is the Crane only has 9 curves and the MSD has 16, not counting any vacuum or lockout settings, those ad up to Crane with 27 and MSD with 100, but I don't count those when I am tuning, I get the electrical advance correct first then add vacuum on it runs like I want it to. I do consulting and develop predictive software for conventional and HSM applications and did create this "Data Acquisition and Predictive Software" for the digital distributors called "CurveTrack" which you can see at http://cammhsm.com if you so desire.

Two thumbs up for the MSD in my book, Randy

 

Good work Randy. Ah, did you notice that this thread is over three years old?

 

Ya, but people still view it, so that is cool.