Before you put an HEI distributor in a 366/427 flip it over and look closely at the oil pump drive. We didn't. We have an old 10-wheeler, 1975 Chevy C-70 tag axle with a 366 and 5x2. It was needing a tune up. We decided since we we were going to put cap, rotor, points, wires and plugs in it why not go a little farther and replace the old distributor with an HEI and see if it helped performance. Son in law went to the local O'Reilly's and told them what we had and what we wanted to do. "Got just what you need right here. Now be sure and compare the length to be sure it fits" He brought it home, compared the length, it was identical. Put it on, started right up. Built up air pressure, drove down the road to see how it worked ... and about 100 yards down the road the motor just stopped. No noise, no warning, just stopped. And it wouldn't even crank over. Fortunately a neighbor came along and helped him drag it back to the shed before the air bled off. Like most of us he was listening to the engine and didn't notice what the oil pressure gauge was reading. We got to thinking about it and pulled the distributor out. The gear on the bottom is identical on the outside. Inside the end .. the oil pump drive ... it was made different. It didn't have the little cross on it
Did you know the oil pump has to be replaced when you replace the distributor on a 366 with an HEI? First thing Monday morning we stopped by our local mechanic's and told him what happened. He got this funny smile and asked if we dropped the pan and replaced the oil pump? Talking to a few local "Chevy guys" nobody else we talked with knew that. Guys at O'Reilly's admitted they didn't know it. Their book said it would work. Pondered on it and called the O'Reilly's manager. He talked with is manager who said their part worked just like it should, it was our fault for not making sure it was the right part. Should have caught it? The guys selling us the part didn't know it. The instructions don't mention it (see http://www.msdignition.com/instructions/Products/Distributors/8362.... ). With one exception all the Chevy gearheads I've talked to didn't know it. But I guess I will get to pay for the repair. My next decision is do I put that much money into a 35 year old tandem with body cancer or scrap it and put that money into a newer used truck?
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