The HEI ignition I am running on my van was bought for under a dollar at a junkyard. It is an old GM unit. Personally, I say go with the cheapest one.

That's why the articles you've been pointed to here on slantsix.org were written. Read and follow the directions and recommendations, and you'll have no problems. Start reading other articles on other sites, get a bunch of conflicting information in your head from people who haven't done this swap on slant-6s, and you'll be asking questions until the cows come home.

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

Luthastro- the swap really is very simple. All you need is to determine what wires in your factory wiring harness are the Ignition 1 and Ignition 2. Otherwise, you just follow the wiring diagram posted on golduster's website and bypass the ballast resistor. Its that simple.

Of those, my first choice would be the Borg Warner. Most of the electrical parts I run are BW, since that's what we carry at work, and I have yet to be let down by one.

Got a question about those dual pickup distributors. Are both pickups triggered off the same six pointed wheel, or do they have two different trigger wheels with different numbers of points?

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Different pickups from the same star.

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

That's strange. Any idea why the computer needed two pickups? Were both pickups connected to the computer, or did one control something else?

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

One is a "start" pickup, the other a "run" pickup.

On my 86 Dodge van that had the lean-burn/spark control computer, base timing is 16 degrees BTDC. Thats pretty advanced for a stock motor. I know that the start pickup was included to retard the timing during starting to make starting the motor easier. I would hazard a guess that because the start pickup is 180 degrees off from the run pickup that the computer would not fire the plugs exactly when the start pickup sent its signal but would time them differently.

Thanks. Seems like a bit of a screwball setup, having extra mechanical parts to handle a function the computer should be able to handle on its own (and presumably does, on some Lean Burn setups).

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

Need suggestions and help with this. I followed the hei conversion page by goldduster318 and wired it to specs of that page and bypassed the ballast resistor. But problem is when you try to crank it, it just turns
over and never fires- As if no spark at all is present. Any ideas or suggestions to help with this??

Is the HEI unit grounded? They are really finicky and absolutely MUST be grounded right. The metal plate on the back of the unit is the main ground contact.

Like Reed said, check the grounding and wiring first.
It is also possible that the module is bad. When I first fired up my slant after doing the HEI conversion, it ran about 30 seconds, died, and would not restart. I checked everything, and wound up putting in my other junkyard module. BINGO! Not a lick of trouble since.
By the way, a dying HEI module can also act like a vapor lock situation.

_________________
"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO