Product Review. Small Body HEI

[Lynn]

A while back, I posted about an HEI problem I was having with the El Camino. I ended by saying I was going to pirate the large body HEI distributor out of my Studebaker farm truck when I replaced it with a small body. The farm truck distributor works great, but rubs on the firewall.

So, went shopping for a small body distributor. Found one on ebay for $39.99. Too good to be true? Yes.

Item was described as:

Brand: A-TEAM PERFORMANCE Surface Finish: Red
Manufacturer Part Number: R2R6701R Warranty: Yes
Interchange Part Number: PE323R UPC: Does Not Apply
Other Part Number: Ready To Run Electronic

Got the distributor, and was very impressed with the machining of the body. Uses a GM type module. Very little slack up and down with the shaft. Put it on the distributor machine and for ran it at 500 rpm (which would be 1000 crank rpm if in the car). Started to increase the rpm and it started retarding the timing at 1000 rpm (2000 crank). Wait a minute, what did I do wrong? Nothing! Ran it multiple times and got the same result every time. It did finally start advancing, but not until 1200 or so, and then advanced so slowly, it did not reach full advance until 3000 distributor rpm (6000 at the crank). Totally unacceptable.

I thought maybe just remove one of the springs and see if it advanced a little quicker, but wanted to investigate the retard issue. I wasn't seeing things. Took it over the the bench and discovered that the reluctor wheel (if that is what you call it) turns a few degrees on the shaft. Even though they did a great job machining the body, they did not take the same care machining the groove in the shaft where the wheel sits. Pics attached. You can see how I am rotating the wheel, but the shaft does not move in those two pics.

The auction will be gone soon, so I tried to post a screen shot. Would not post. Item is 262465384326.

I am sending the distributor back. It is a shame. Had they spent just a day sorting out the machining of the shaft (one groove) and working out a decent curve, this would have been a winner.

Now the question is: where to get a decent small body hei for the truck. I have an unused msd 6AL set up, but that is overkill for this truck. Could put points distributor in it, but then have to run a resistor, and run a wire from the starter so it gets a full 12 volts. Would rather just buy a small body hei, curve it, stab it and go.