Mopar V8 Distributor Q's

Hi there, hope a couple mopar HAMBrs can help me figure out what I need.

I have a 392 hemi that didn't come with a distributor, and then purchased the Hot Heads adapter to run a later LA smallblock distributor.

For packaging, cost, and reliability, I want to run a stock electronic distributor with an HEI module adapter bolted onto the bottom that I've seen on fleabay. Local parts stores get like $50 for a rebuilt distributor, so it appears we're in business.....with one exception. I'm unsure the year to year differences. 318 and 360 would be the only LA displacements in production in these years, corrrect?

So what year/engine/model am I looking for? I just want a plain old mechanical & vacuum distributor, with 2 wires coming off the pickup coil.

There's lean burn and all other sorts of smog nonsense happening about the same time transistorized ignition hit the street, I figure those distributors are somehow different? Maybe they aren't?

Please help

Thanks a million

 

The lean burn has 2 magnetic pick ups. All the others have just one as far as I know. I think they started around 74. I've used the mag pick up and reluctor in Accell dual points to convert to electronics.


jerry

 

So is the lean burn going to have 3 or more pickup wires because of the dual pickups?

Do you know when lean burn started?

Thanks again.

 

Mopar electronic ignition started as a performance option in 72 and was standard across the board in 73. The Lean Burn first appeared in 76 on big blocks and was available on small blocks and big blocks as an option in 77. The Lean Burn dist has a fixed pick up mounting plate and has no vacume or mechanical advances. All timing was controled by the computer. Early Lean Burns has two pickup coils mounted inside the dist and had two sets of pig tail wires coming from the dist. One pickup coil was for start and the other was for run. The later versions had only one pickup coil.

All small block Mopars (including the poly and the early Hemi's) take the same dist. You want a 73-82 small block non-lean burn dist. Mopar offered a couple versions of performance moduals for the electronic ign, but the standard unit is good for up to 6,000 rpm. Unless you plan on racing or turning over 5,000 regularly, I wouldn't bother with the performance units. Mopar also offers an electronic ignition conversion kit that comes with everything you need to convert a non electronic ign into one. Gene