1963 HEI Conversion | Ford Thunderbird forum club group 1955-2005 models

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1963 HEI Conversion

  • Thread starter Thread starter mikeoster2112
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mikeoster2112

mikeoster2112

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1963
Hello again to the group!
I am beginning to take on the HEI conversion, and I have a few questions about what I found when I removed the old distributor.
One: Upon looking down into the distributor hole I noticed the oil pump shaft that accepts the new distributor has a housing or more specifically a gold and the actual male end of the pump moves from side to side. Do you know if this is normal?
Two: What size is the male end and female end? 1/4 or 5/8 on the 390?
Thanks to anyone who can help!

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Its a High Energy Ignition, A supposed means to deliver more spark for smoother, more performant operation.
Frankly, I've always questioned the fascination with these things. In a well-tuned, well maintained engine spark is going to jump the spark plug gap when the potential energy (voltage) is sufficient to do so, nominally 15,000-20,000 volts or so. Having 45,000 volts available helps if you have fouling, very high compression, etc.. There may be some advantages concerning dwell and higher RPM operation but how much of that do we do with classics ?

The higher voltage can also cause arcing.....here is more info:

In some HEI conversions I have also had to add an add'l wire with a diode to keep from backfeeding some circuits.
 
mikeoster2112 said:
Hello again to the group!
I am beginning to take on the HEI conversion, and I have a few questions about what I found when I removed the old distributor.
One: Upon looking down into the distributor hole I noticed the oil pump shaft that accepts the new distributor has a housing or more specifically a gold and the actual male end of the pump moves from side to side. Do you know if this is normal?
Two: What size is the male end and female end? 1/4 or 5/8 on the 390?
Thanks to anyone who can help!
Click to expand...
That thing that moves from side to side is the oil pump drive shaft. It is a 1/4” hexed rod that connects the oil pump to the distributor. It is installed from the bottom of the engine and you can’t remove it from the top. The “play” is normal.
Are you installing a new electronic distributor (highly recommended) or converting your stock one. Converting the stock one is easy, and retains the “stock look”.
 
I would recommend the Pertronix electronic conversion kit. They are very simple and work great. They don't seem overly expensive either.
 
The Pertronix gets a bad rap often because the early versions had minimal electronic protections and owners would install them incorrectly or use an ignition coil that didn't match. The Pertronix Ignitor III fixes all of those issues and I've had good luck with them.
 
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