is an hei odd fire dist worth the change over from the prestolite dist?

Can't help myself, got to say it, get rid of the antiquated HEI distributor and go distributorless.
See history never changes, one mans state of the art equipment is another mans antique junk.
I'm sorry, after all the crap Jim and I took about points and being outdated equipment I just had to point that out.R)

 

Mike your absolutely right!
I kinda put HEI with Delco internal regulator alternators. Both the old external reg alts and points dist work well. In my opinion the newer ones work a little better, or at least require less maintenance, but they are old enough to be extremely cheap upgrades if one shops around.
There are newer alt and dist(less) systems that are even better, and if you have the money and want to be cutting edge go for it.
Fuel injection vs carbs fits here. I still use the carb. One of my goals is zero power drain when sitting. That means no computer, alarm, stereo with memory, etc. And that's just me, on this Jeep. But fuel injection is still a beautiful thing, and I run it on my 83 -7!

 

Distribuitorless is state of the art, but Most of use are building on a budget of some sort. As stated above I would rather have fuel injection also, but I have alot of other places to spend that kind of money that would be more beneficial. I am having trouble understanding why your timing flyweights are wearing out. I usually put a curve kit in when I build one from scratch, but I have anly seen a few wear out ever. I usually just replaced the springs and solved any problem they had.

 

Mine has a curve kit in it and it's kinda weird, like the weights will sometimes bind up against each other. The bushings seem a tad loose, so don't know if that's it or what. I have the lightest springs on it, may try the stiffer ones and see if that helps.

I had an old small block where the weights rusted together, locking the timing. I musta drove it that way a year before I discovered it.