Last year I picked up Ta Performance's new HEI distributors. Was going to get a Mallory one but for the price of TA's I decided that was the route to take. Took a while to get running. The resistance wire must be bypassed or replaced. Also don't forget that the HEI is already grounded within the case. I had this issue and had tried several modules before finding out I had it grounded a second time. Once I got it running and timed correctly it seems to run very good. I am happy with the upgrade from stock.
I had great luck with my HEI from TA. I did the swap in my apartment complex after work one day and I never had an issue. I ended up doing a curve kit to have full advance at 1800. Car ran great.
thanks for the info/ Buick nube here, i had no clue there were 13-14 tooth gears, by nature i assumed all the same, since chevys, pontiacs, fords are all the same,
That happened to a friend of mine a couple months ago, only it was an MSD distributor. The box had the small block number, but the distributor inside had the big block gear. Might be more of a common occurance than we thought.
I sent out the distro yesterday back to TA. In fairness, I looked at the yellow inventory sheet that came on the outside UPS box and it did say 400-430-455 distributor, that's the trouble with ordering over the phone I guess. I never gave a part number, just asked for a 350 HEI distributor. I was overzealous in throwing it in without looking first so I will take the hit for that. TA Performance even gave me their UPS account info so they paid for the return shipping and I'll be waiting on a replacement while I'm out of town for the next two weeks. I'm hoping to come home to the right one when I get back and see how it fires up. I'll definitely check the gear this time though.
The only major difference between 350 and 455 is the gear. If you have the right gear laying around, you could easily swap.
I could have swapped out the gear, but they offered to replace it for free and I am leaving town for 2 weeks anyhow. Plus I would have had to take the gear off my points distributor which I'm currently using to keep the car running while I wait.
Where did you set your initial timming with the TAperformance HEI? i have a 68 430 with points, runs well, but im tired of failed pertronix(4) & (1) defective Breakerless SE from wildbill corvette. they worked well when working, but when they go backwards(frustrating chasing false symptoms)o No::boring::blast::error:ou::dollar::dollar::dollar:
http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_691B/C/R Since the TA HEI has 22* of mechanical advance, it depends on what total timing you want to run. TA recommends 12* initial so that you will have 34* total at WOT. http://www.v8buick.com/showthread.php?63475-Power-Timing-your-Buick-V8
Boy, I really hate having to read these types of things. I'm am so sorry about the mix up here. I very happy to see that our folks took care of you. Regards
Any update on this? Did you receive the correct part and once you did, how did the install go, everything work out ok?
What resistor wire needs to be bypassed?o No: Different scenario, but when I swapped my old points distributor on my 350 chev to HEI, I just ran a new 12volt wire to the power connection, and hooked up the tach wire...worked right of the hop. Im thinking there is going to be a few electrical gremlins with my sons car...:rant:
