Which distributor for 250 engine?
 

I have a 250 inline 6 and like it. I also have an old & cheap AutoZone distributor in it now and want to replace it with something good -- no points either.

What do you recommend? If I put in a GM HEI then I can't use my Jacobs Electronics ignition, right?

Do I need a performance distributor or is a GM HEI or similar good enough. You can see what I've done to the engine in my signature line.

Thanks in advance.
Mike

Hello up yonder northern MS from the Gulf Coast area.

here is a thread that may have some answers for you. I had same question when I start on my 70.

Hope it helps. I haven't got a replacement for my original yet, but I'm looking into it real soon.



http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...4&goto=newpost

A GM HEI is good enough for these 6's. I'm guessing the Jacobs Ignition won't work since it sounded like you had points before, unless you use an external coil HEI. (Assuming you've got a Jacobs external coil that you're wanting to use). I prefer the coil-in-cap variety myself as it makes for a cleaner install. I've got the Jacobs coil and module in my HEI (coil in cap style) and I don't think it makes a bit of difference in performance, at least seat-o-the-pants kind. I'd recomend just stock GM HEI since its probably cheaper.

How do you like those cast iron split manifolds??? I'm considering getting them, simply due to them lasting longer than tube headers. Let me know your thoughts on them.

Can't tell you what dist. to use. Go to www.inlinersinternational.com and ask the 6 cyl guru's over there what you need to do to optimize your combo.They live and breathe 6 cyl. power like we do 67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks.
I use the old points system myself for now although I do have a external coil dist to install soon.

MSD makes a magnetic pickup distributor for your engine. It's P/N 8515. Go to http://www.msdignition.com/ Once you get to the main distributor page, don't click on Chevrolet. Instead go down to the third group of listings and click on Pro Billet Distributors.

They are great and better made than factory manifolds. I really like them. They are not leaking, have been no problem and fit nicely to 2.5" pipes. I had to shave a little off the intake to get them to fit. The pipe shop guy had to do some creative bending to get duals with an X pipe out of an inline 6. I have 2.5" pipes to the X right behind the transmission and then to Dynomax Super Turbos and then exit straight out the back in 2" pipes. I need to get some pics to post.

I do have a couple of pics on my website of the Stovebolt headers as I was installing them. The site is still a work in progress, esp. since I don't have a digital camera. I list some of the upgrade work and parts used, etc.

Oh, one more thing. If you get the cast iron headers, buy the ~$18 collection kit. It makes for a good fit to your pipes. Talk to Tom Langdon at Stovebolt. They are his design (new design) and he is good to respond to e-mails and has been helpful.

Now I've just got to jet the carb right . . .

Mike

My malibu has a 250 and have allways thought about putting on a clifford but never did. A friend discouraged me from doing it, saying that with a 250 it just isnt worth it. Now with that perf. intake and headers what kinda hp are we talking about?
my 250 is out of a 79 camaro.

The numbers coming from Clifford suggest a 25% improvement (Stage I) and you could get a 40% improvement (Stage II) with a 260-270 degree duration cam, performance distributor & coil, and mill head .060 or put higher compression (9 or 10 to 1) pistons. See www.cliffordperformance.com for details.

The Chiltons manual, if I remember correctly, put the 250 (pre-1975) at 155 hp. 25% improvement would be 194 hp and 40% would be 217 hp. Not big block territory but incredible torque and better than stock small blocks I think. (I said pre-1975 because I don't recall what the integral intake/head does for hp. You can't put a Clifford intake on an integral intake/head engine.)

You have to want the inline 6 to do this since it costs more and you end up with less than if you did the equivalent to a 350 or bigger. There is no substitute for cubic inches, but it is lots of fun to make people think you have a stock V8.

The 250 is a tough engine and gives years of trouble free performance. While not the original engine in my truck, I've put over 90K on it and it probably has about 200K total and I've only replaced the head about 10 years ago. Doesn't burn oil and still purrs (maybe I should say roars with those Dynomax additions).:D

Have fun with yours. 6 only equals 8 if you don't do anything to the 8. My 2 cents . . .

Mike

Yeah, see i put the engine in because it was laying around and i needed to get my car running and out of the shop. Was gonna rebuild a 350 but decided not to because i didnt want to spend the cash, and i see it as if your gonna do it...do it right. So i wouldnt do it half ass. Too bad im sellin my malibu, it would be a great car to throw a builtup 350 into.

'75-79 250 and 292 used external mounted coil HEI system,
80-up used coil in cap on both engines, can rob the HEI from any of them for any old or later L-6 engine

stock GM one wil be plenty, trust me.. external coil is just as mean as the in cap variety, just make sure that you get oen that does have the vacuum advance diapragm and not a flat wire plug with four wires, on other side of the base from the regular wire plug. all older thna 87 or so L-6 engines should have the oldr conventional HEi that you need to find and swap on.
dont use the original small feed wire for the HEI, ru a new larger one directly to the fue panel with a female spade connector to pug onto male spade connector at bottm face of the panel where it says IGN UNFUSED
you should use an inline glass fuse setup in the wire for safety reasons, make sure the fuseholer wire guage is same or larger than wire you run for the new feed source to the HEI

good luck