Seems to be alot of this going around. Replacing perfectly good parts just because. Replacing points with HEI. For what reason? Its better? How? I can throw a set of points in my car on the side of the road in about 5 minutes. Can you diagnose a bad Pertronix unit and repair it in the same amount of time? And one wire alternators...why? It boggles my mind why you would fix something thats not friggin broken. Or the "its old, it must be bad" mindset. I have two sayings- If its not broken, leave it the $%&^* alone. :spank: And "Test, dont guess" :Smarty: Does anyone remember how to to perform diagnostic checks anymore? Some of you guys must have money to burn.
Yeah with an HEI you won't be on the side of the road. you can't honestly believe that an external regulator alternator is better than a one wire? or points are superior to HEI?
Personally, I've replaced parts just for the peace of mind knowing that I have a new part and it shouldn't be a problem for a long time (hopefully). Not knowing the history of how a car is used or abused is a big factor.
If it's a Sunday driver with a stock engine I like points. I don't drive enough to wear them out and they never just stop working like electronic can. If it's hopped up at all then I go HEI. Either one needs recurved to work best. An internally regulated alternator is better than an externally regulated or a single wire. I also change my underwear every day. Just for the sake of changing it.:laugh:
sorry guys, I'm with Jason on this, drove my 68 Skylark for years with points, external regulator, stock type alternator etc, 11 years and 100,000 miles of driving and the car never left me stranded. routine maint. all the way, ran points in my SportWagon..45,000 miles in the couple years I had it and I'm running points in my 73 Electra now
This. Not only that, but having a 40 year old car, not knowing if there will be parts in the future, and wanting to keep it around for another 40 years, I'd rather replace the simple stuff now while it's still around.
Well a hotter ignition will give better combustion. HEI is going to be a very low maintenance system for a car. You wont burn a set of points in an HEI if the key is left on. These are better, for some. People have been doing what they thought of as upgrading on their cars as long as there have been cars. It's just what a huge percentage of car guys do as part of the hobby. I agree that a lot of the time there is no need to change out for a newer type of system but a lot of guys like to either for low maintenance, to try and grab a small percent improvement in performance or just to tweak the car because they can. To each their own. As long as my car can have the engine, ignition, charging system, wheels and tires, paint color and so on that I want I don't care much if the guy next to me has a single wire alternator or points or HEI whatever and paints it in ford blue.
I had points on my 69 Falcon until I bought an HEI for her... Got tired of pulling over to change points lol. Also dumped the Ford alternator in favor of a GM SI alternator becasue I wanted more juice at idle as well as peak. Was going to keep the bias ply polyglass tires but, you know....
I believe it's commonly referred to as a hobby, and just like any other hobby we do it because we enjoy it. We enjoy working on our cars, we enjoy making improvements on our cars, and if we change something and find that it was a mistake then we have enjoyed learning from it. I'm having a hard time finding anything wrong with that. If you enjoy your hobby by not doing anything but looking at it then I'm happy for you. As for me, I can't leave anything alone..........and I like it that way.
Jason- This is why I love you. You throw a grenade into a room and run around to the outside to watch the mayhem through a window from a safe distance. Classic!:laugh:
I can understand both sides-saying that, I've bought many bad/defective parts over the years. I don't assume because a part is new or rebuilt, that it's a good part-especially these days. With the older cars, I want older new parts excepting rubber products-
I'm sort of on the fence here. My 425 (431) nailhead has an MSD distributor, a single-wire alternator, and one of Tom Telesco's mini-starters. If I owned the engine and it was still in the '66 Electra convertible in which it left the factory, it would have none of those items. I see nothing wrong with upgrade - and I consider my changes to be upgrades. In the case of the starter I wanted less weight and more clearance. The MSD distributor was a (hopefully) more reliable replacement for the factory distributor that was junk. The single wire alternator is just plain better (and simpler) then the earlier style. See rule one in Codman's ten commandments of proper design. If we didn't like upgrades, we would still all be driving straight eights. In fairness, I cannot remember ever getting stuck as the result of bad points, and I'll hazard a guess that I have driven at least 1,750,000 miles in breaker point equipped cars and trucks.
I have never had problems with points or an external regulator, but have neither on the '70 Riv. I ended up doing a single wire alternator because I couldn't get an external type from any local parts store when I needed it. I installed a Crane points conversion for the hell of it, but carry a set of points in the glove box just in case it should puke out on me. The resistance wire needed is neatly tucked away, but can quickly be retrieved. Not that I have been driving it much the past several years.
Upgrades that I think are worth it: electronic ignition gas shocks radial tires poly sway bar bushings aluminum radiators
The reason why I swap parts??/ The same reason people over restore or over-restore their cars...It's what we want and do...As far as I can recall,your bilck 71 GS is FAR from a stock car....:laugh: :laugh: It's like this....When you are 19,you want to date and have a 19 year old Brunette...Then when you turn 45..you want a 19 year old Brunette yet...:TU: :TU:
