HEI for 304

Please excuse my ignorance. I bought my first Jeep this past weekend. It has the 304 with the junk electronic ignition. Instead of pulling my hair out trying to diagnose each component and throw tons of money at it, I would rather swap to a GM HEI ignition system if possible. What gear do I need for the shaft, or is it a straigt swap. What else do I need to be aware of. I really hope that it is easy, because I like the one wire distributors. I have searched through the posts and can't find anything definitive in them. The only website I have found so far shows the swap for a 258.




Thanks in advance.

 

If you do an eBay search for 'AMC Distributor' you will come up with quite a few choices ranging in price of around $165 to over $350. You might narrow it down by searching for '401 distributor' since the 304, 360 & 401 all use the same GM style HEI distributor.
Also, do a search of these forums, since the subject of distributors has been thoroughly discussed.
Good luck, and welcome to the Jeep community!

 

The AMC V8s don't have an easy swap to the HEI like the 6s do. I believe you can get a new HEI distributor made for the AMC V8s from Summit, Jegs, etc. There are a few places that make their own HEI housings to fit AMC V8s, like Z&M Jeeps http://www.zmjeeps.com/hei_8.php You could also upgrade from Prestolite to Duraspark (Ford's HEI) with TFI parts, or a Duraspark with an external HEI module. There are several places on the web that cover these topics.

Prestolite to TFI upgrade: http://www.buildyour4x4.com/index.php?id=26

 

DUI sells a nice outfit. It's curved to the specific motor. I have one on my Dauntless and am thoroughly sold.:v6:
http://www.performancedistributors.com/amcdui.htm

 

I got a 85 series Mallory HEI for my 390. I had to measure and drill the hole through the shaft for the gear though. I just used my old gear. You can't use the GM gears because they are the opposite rotation.

 

Depending on what your wanting to spend, I used a MSD Pro billet in my last 360 build and am VERY happy with it. So thats a suggestion/another option to look into.

 

I swapped out the point style on my 72 to a Motorcraft system very easily you can use a later style distributor from a like 78 and newer it will swap in directly no gear change then wire in the external module and you are all set you can also upgrade to a TFI coil from a newer Ford if you want the high output.

 

Thanks for the responses. Would anyone happen to know exactly what kind of modifications have to be done for the amc 304 to accept the GM HEI? I know that the gear has to be changed, but I don't know anything else. Maybe someone here would know what machining has to be done and the other critical dimensions.

Thanks again, this site has been greatly informative.

Joe

 

When I was looking at making the change I found that there were a couple of places that sold the complete drop in solutions. I read on those sites that they did machine the dist, but were they just talking about the gear change I couldn't ever find out. I guess they wanted to protect their market. Thats why I went with the motorcraft setup with mine no machining and just wiring it in. The GM HEI is nice just one 12v wire but was pretty costly compared to what I spent for the motorcraft setup. Just my $.02

 

Yeah, you could figure it out if you took an AMC distributor to the pick-your-part and started pulling GM distributors. You'd need one that's the right (or extra) length and that has enough metal in the right place. There's no write-up about this that I know of.

I'd go with the Motorcraft distributor ... you can use the HEI module, mounted on the fender well, and the TFI upgrade provides the same cap size and HO coil that HEI has. Not as neat, but cheap.

 

I bought from Summit. I was in the same boat. I had a poor dizzy in my motor, needed to replace. I found that it was cheaper to buy the HEI from summit than it was to piece together the motocraft unit. The performance is good so far, starts OK, runs well. I have not played with the timing curve and probably will not. More work than I I feel the return will be. As I recall it was under $200 complete. I also had to drill for the gear. No biggie, just hard to drill a hole in that brand new distributor that just came in the mail....

 

4wd.com just started carrying thier own line of AMC HEI Distributors for v-8's $149.99.
http://www.4wd.com/productdetails.aspx?jeep-sid=13&plID=0&partID=12939

 

That option was not available last year when I did mine. I would have gone that way if it had been.

 

Thanks for all of the replies. I believe I will order one from 4wd.com in a week or so. I really appreciate the input and would love the simplicity of one wire.

 

the 4wd.com one looks good. I would assume that is a new, not a rebuilt dizzy. I did find on ebay many of them were used dizzys that were machined to fit the amc block. For the same bucks I would much rather have a fresh one.

I had to look back at the one I bought to make sure price. It was a Mallory unit from summit, went for $179. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MAA-8560001C&N=700+115&autoview=sku

 

Does anyone know if the 4WD comes with the gear? The Summit option (179), you have to buy the gear separate, another $60. I was looking at a guy on Ebay (qtip43) for complete with gear for $169. Also, it is my understanding you have to have special HEI wires purchased separate as well.

 

I would think you would want to go with a good quality set of wires too. The ignition voltage will be much higher than stock.

 

Stew, that is correct, the Summit one did not come with the gear. I used my old one from my existing distributor. Also yes to the plug wires, will need different "special" wires. Relatively hard to come by because the HEI not being a factory option on the AMC motor. I bought some high quality universal wires and then cut them to fit. I also bought some routing clips for the wires to keep them out of the fan and off the headers.

 

FYI The new 4WD Hardware summer sale flier has the AMC V8 HEI marked down to 149.99. For wires I'd suggest Livewires from DUI. Custom fit for the application and heat shielded. Best on the market.:v6:http://www.performancedistributors.com/livewire.htm

 

Nice looking wires