Which distributor is best

[Russ348]

I'm looking to replace my stock distributor on my 348. Looking at 2 brands,
either a Mallory Unilite distributor or a MSD Pro-Billet distributor.

Mallery:Price $324.99......................MSD:Price $382.88
Trigger style: Photo optic.................Trigger style: Magnetic
Cap style: Female/Socket................Cap style: Male/HEI
Advance type: Mechanical................. Advance type: Mechanical and vacuum

This distributor says a........................This distributor does not
Ballest resistor Required.................... mention a ballest resistor

Not knowing this much about Dristributors :dunno I need help determining
which distributors would be best. Also have a Tri-power unit on
order if this makes any difference.

If anyone knows of a different brand that is better or another
distributor, please chim in. :brow

[fatride]

MSD unit if this is a cruiser, you need the vacuum advance. Ignition man will hook you up also with stock type 60's GM vacuum advance dist with MSD intrernals. Mallory unit will be ok if drag only. GM HEI unit will not fit with three two's.

[JimKwiatkowski]

Russ,I have both Mallory and MSD Distributors,I'm running a MSD now because the mechanical advance is more adjustable and the dist has a vacuume advance also.I also picked MSD because it seems more speed shops seem to stock more MSD parts :dunno

[Bubbletop Bel-Air]

MSD all the way. If it's goog enough for PRO STOCK, and every other class imaginable, it will certainly get the job done on the street, and the options available are unlimited. Just put an MSD box in my offshore boat, already had all the rest of their stuff, can't wait for tomorrow to go for a cruise.

[Tony Salins]

I like the MSD for all the above reasons and because their tech dept is great. When I put their distributor in my dragster I called for wiring help. They were extremely knowledgeable, listened to my questions and never made me feel stupid. Great Co. and the car runs great.

Tony

[Nuts]

I used the Mallory Unilite mostly because it didn't require a control box... Now I believe they make one that doesn't... I have had no problems with it, but then I've only run the motor about 1 hr...

I didn't use the resistor box because I had a resistor wire from the original harness. It starts right up and runs fine as far as I can tell.

[IgnitionMan]

Unilite? If so, use stock coil with stock resistor/wire, AND second resistor from coil plus term to red Unilite feed, .60 ohms Chrysler resistor. This will allow the coil to run at the 9.5 to 11.5 volt range, the Unilite in the 7.0 to 9.0 range, so it will live long and not blow out. Unilites will not make one more volt with no resistor, just blow up, nor will they make one less volt with the double resistors, but will live. .

[Rockfish39]

IGNITION-MAN!! At long last you have announced yourself... Been a long time buddy!!!
Relocated to Nevada, did you??? Can't blame you. California is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!!!!!! I hope youre liking it out there...

BTW... A quick question. Does your small body HEI for 409 require an oil groove to be cut into it. Ive heard chatter lately about a groove needing to be cut so that ther is no oil starvation on one bank of the block. Can you help shed light on this???


Thanks!

Rock :cool:

[turbodude390]

The only issue I have ever had with the Mallory Uni-light was if any condensation builds up inside the distributor it can cause the LED to mistrigger, or better explained as a delayed trigger due to light refracting off of the moisture dropplets. I chased this for 3 month on one I was using before I noticed the moisture inside the distributor. Once I dried the distributor out it worked fine for three rounds of eliminations, then started the same miss firing again.
Before I noticed the moisture inside the unit I sent the distributor back to Mallory on two different occasions and they found nothing wrong. The wierd thing was that I could run fine (most of the time) during the hot months of summer, but had the missing problems during the spring and fall.
After I found the issue of the consendation I replaced everything with MSD components and never again had any problems. The magnetic triggers do have some problems of their own over long periods of time, but nothing hard to fix.
Several other racers I know and raced against at the same track experienced the same exact problems. Kinda funny that nobody else at any other track has experienced this issue with the optically triggered Mallory distributors, but then I'm a electronic engineer and am use to looking for obscure problems like this.

[Nuts]

Unilite? If so, use stock coil with stock resistor/wire, AND second resistor from coil plus term to red Unilite feed, .60 ohms Chrysler resistor. This will allow the coil to run at the 9.5 to 11.5 volt range, the Unilite in the 7.0 to 9.0 range, so it will live long and not blow out. Unilites will not make one more volt with no resistor, just blow up, nor will they make one less volt with the double resistors, but will live. .

IgnitionMan,

As stated above I'm running the Unilite using the stock resistor wire with a Blaster II coil. Do I need to also install the .60 ohms Chrysler resistor ?? I guess I'm a little confused about where to install the resistor ?? Your help is appreciated, I don't want to blow it up !!! :bow

[IgnitionMan]

WD-40, W-water, D-displacement, 40, compound build. Keeps water out.

As already stated above, Unilite likes between 7.0 and 9.5 operating volts to live and prosper, so....second .60 ohm resistor, as stated above, between coil positive post and Unilite RED feed wire.

Mallory clearly states to use a 7.0 to 9.0 dry lantern battery to power up a Unilite on a dist machine. I have old Sun machines with 6 volt power for the guages, and I use a power tap from that 6 volt batteru to do that job, NO loss of spark plug volts when a Unilite is correctly resisted down to a total of 2.4/2.5 ohms.

Factory 1957 thru 1961 porcelain type and resistor wire type GM feeds give 1.80 ohms resistance.

Note on BlasterII coils, the RED ones have problems. If it has a "Made in Mexico" sticker on its bottom, or the crimp that holds the top to the body is a full crimp, with NO raised portions, it is very succeptable to layer shorting and can take HEI and MSD modules right out.

CHROME Blaster II is still made in Indiana, good stuff.

[Ronnie Russell]

IgnitionMan, I have cussed Unilite dist. for years because One left me stranded "dead in the water" in stageing lanes one night. I was using red Blaster 2 coil and no external resistor. Thanks for the great information. My ignorance was the problem, not the distributor.

[mercsrus51]

just be careful if you use the Mallory, with out a vaccum....be tsure the oilker is in the corect position for the pasenger side. The "malory" insignia has to be facing the fire wall......trust me on this one.

Lou