Since my distributor o-rings showed up today I had no more excuses for allowing my HEI swap project to languish. I used a stock Super Six distributor for $15, Chevy LT1 coil with bracket for $2 and a real GM HEI module for $10. These parts were used, but cleaned up nicely. Even the vacuum advance works. I put a new $5 drive gear and a couple dollars on o-rings on the distributor. I have less than $40 in parts and probably 10 hours in labor as I cleaned everything thoroughly, completely stripped the distributor, soldered splices and terminals and used heat shrink. I could have thrown it together in less than 1/2 the time, but it wouldn't have looked as good and ultimate reliability may have suffered.
Before I pulled the old distributor I rotated the engine by hand to line up the timing marks at 10° BTDC and happened to hit #1 instead of #6. Either once would have worked as long as I pointed the rotor at the right cylinder. I put in the overhauled distributor lining up the rotor with #1 and rotated the distributor to line up the reluctor with the pickup. I mounted the coil and HEI module assembly, bypassed the ballast resistor with a jumper, connected the old coil + wire to the HEI, plugged in the distributor, snapped down the distributor cap and put a new coil terminal on the coil wire to match the HEI coil's male terminal. I hit the key and once the carb got fuel it started right up. After a brief warm-up I kicked off the fast idle, disconnected the vacuum advance line from the carb and set the initial timing at 10°. Test drive indicates everything works fine. The idle is a bit better (carb still needs some work) and it starts almost instantly.
