Replacing motor in my 83 and the original distributor was full of crud and crap. Going to get a replacement one. Does anyone have any recommendations to a particular one that they've had good luck with. Seriously considering the "new" one from cardone that RockAuto carries.

Greg G

 

Stay with OEM. Can't beat m.

 

Lce makes a performance distributor for 270$ I think, don't know about the quality though

 

I bought an HEI one wire one vacuum line distributor from a company in Tennessee called DUI and am happy as can be with it.

 

http://performancedistributors.com/p...i-distributor/

Unfortunate name for the company, but it looks interesting. Which port does that vacuum line hook up to, carb or intake manifold?

 

DUI stands for Dewey unified ignition, I think. It has the GM HEI system that only requires one hot wire and one vacuum line to work and puts out a lot more juice than the OEM.It has the two connections for the tach too. I also put E-3 plugs in it with 8mm plug wires. The vacuum line is connected to the carb. I have a 1980 20R desmogged with a header and Weber 38 carb and it runs like a sewing machine.

 

with various remanufactured versions available on rock auto's site, it would be hard to go wrong. They've been disassembled, tested for bushing play, rebushed if necessary, electrical stuff gone over, I would assume new vac. diaphragms since it'd be impossible to re-cadmium-plate old ones with the rubber diaphragms still in there, and have been all cleaned up, part by part and reassembled. It's clean, refurbished, comes with a cap and rotor, what else does one need in a distributor? It's not like switching over to a modified internal electrical system is going to gain you any measurable horsepower. You want good functioning electrical and vacuum parts, tight tolerances, and free of oil and crap buildup and a fresh o-ring to stop the oil leak that likely got the old one crusted over? Any of them on the rock auto page will do that for you for as low as $75. Why blow $270 on such a simple item?

 

There are several reasons to go with the aftermarket distributor. Simplicity one wire, one vacuum line. Reliability my truck starts first time evrytime. Fuel economy with the hotter spark and the E-3 plugs, you get a more complete burn of the fuel hence more power better fuel mileage Parts availability in my area of the country forst gens are pretty rare and so are parts. The DUI distributor uses the GM HEI system. GM made millions of the systems and I can find parts for them at any parts house around. Not so with Toyota parts.
It all depends on what you want out of your truck and how much you have to spend on it. Is the DUI necessary? No Is it better than stock All Day Long Better.
The 6015 stock headlights shine and cost maybe $10 each. Do the TruckLite LED replacements I have on my truck shine a whole lot brighter? Heck Yes they do. Is it worth the $200 each for the TruckLites? IMO Heck Yes!!
So it depends on what you want and how much extra cash you have to spend , I guess.

 

How much did you pay for your DUI distributor if you don't mind? And did you really notice a performance increase? Does it eliminate the need for an external coil? I have tach issues which I trace back to my distributor so I might be replacing it this winter.

 

It has been a while since I got the DUI distributor. I got it through Summit Racing along with a set of heat resistant plug wires ( because of the wires closeness to the header) and I think it was around $300 for all of it. It does away with the external coil. All the electronics are in the distributor, all you need is one wire that is hot with the ignition switch and one vacuum line. The distributor also has the two connections for a tach. I saw a noticeable power increase and cleaner exhaust after replacing the distributor and plugs.

 

Awesome, thanks! I might get that instead of the LCE performance one, I'll look into it.

 

1 of the reasons I recommend a 3.4L swap

just sayin'

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