I was browsing RockAuto and came across this WVE 1A4142 "Ignition Conversion Kit." Does anyone know what it is/does? It's listed for 1973-1981 Mopars with factory electronic ignition. Here's the item description:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3448599

Looks like a Pertronix Ignitor to me and those are less reliable than the OE electronic ignition and the HEI retrofit.

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Joshua

Say it again: HEI upgrade.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I was researching the HEI upgrade when I came across that kit. I would like to add HEI without adding a mess of ugly gizmos and wires to my fender, so I was looking for something a bit sleeker that would do the same thing.

Personally, I like the pertronix kit and have not had trouble with the one I have. It seems I read often about HEI module failures, so I do not see it as being more reliable, although I have no statistics to back it up. You could put a pertronix kit in your dist and keep another points dist in the trunk if you are worried? I have many of those and could send you a spare.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

Is that a chinese clone of a pertronix?

And like Dart270, I haven't had any problems with mine either. (points in trunk.....)

I use a 3 ohm coil, and no ballast resistor.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

It's not Chinese. WVE is headquartered in Wisconsin and the part says Made in USA on it.

It's Wells, Autozone used to rep their components in a plastic bag in lieu of a box with a fancy logo on it.
Just as an FYI, Wells vacuum advance pods were the same as the SMP versions, but put in a Wells bag...
they both come from a factory not in the US, just repackaged. Petronix and recurved points distributors are
kind of a step backward in the overall process than the stock mopar EI and HEI upgrade....FYI.

Note that the spark from my Pertronix is good enough to make 250 HP naturally aspirated and pull strong past 6000 RPM in Project V...

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

There are lots of ignition systems available, but HEI is enough better than most of them to be worth going for. If you don't like gizmos and wires, you're going to have something of a list of problems to deal with:

• Existing electronic ignition box (removed with HEI)
• Existing ballast resister (removed with HEI)
• Existing voltage regulator
• Existing wiper motor
• Existing bulkhead disconnect
• Existing windshield washer tank and pump
• Existing starter relay
• Existing all the other gizmoes and wires

You could empty out a Mopar electronic ignition box and hide the HEI module in it; that's a thing that's been done, but you'd still want the module over by the distributor, not in the opposite corner of the engine bay.



Poor-quality off-brand modules tend to fail early and often. So do modules of any brand that aren't mounted with proper heat sinking, or that are underfed because no relay. Good quality modules installed and wired up correctly don't tend to fail.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Good point, that there is some ugly junk lost with the conversion as well as gained.