I have an MSD now but no vaccum advance and mine is a street car so i think its time to get one with both mechanical/vaccum advance...don't want to pay $250 for a new MSD one but I came across this... http://store.summitracing.com/default.asp?target=search.asp&type=bykeyword&searchtype=both&part=proform+distributor

Its only $160 and it comes with a 50 Volt Coil. I've heard of a couple people running these and saying they work great but am looking for more responses. This is on my 81 Camaro with a 355...it will only see a low 13 second pass, maybe high 12 anytime soon. Will I have any problems with it you think?

Also, will this distributor work with my older 6A MSD ignition box?

I have one on my driver. No problems. The only issue was too much end play. Shimming it fixed that.

I've been running one of the Proform HEI distributors in my car for about 5 years now. Never had a single problem with it...

Not sure about the compatibility with the MSD ignition box tho-

Thanks for the quick reply guys.

Pat, what do you mean by end play? How do I check this? I just thought distributors were drop in and go type deals, didn't know any measurements had to be taken.

Guys, I noticed the HEI Mallory Distributor is the same price except it has an adjustable vaccum advance...anyone have any experience with these ones too?

I have a Proform Hei as well. Works great!

The end play was about .060", which isn't really a problem. When it was re-curved we fixed that at the time. I don't recall what the original curve was but it was changed to 20º mechanical all in around 3000 rpm. This was so I could run more initial. I run 16º plus 10º vacuum at idle.

I saw that Mallory unit. I have no idea how good it is. Mallory doesn't have a very good reputation, however I have a Mallory Comp 9000 and Hyfire IV box in my bracket car and it has performed flawlessly for over 4-1/2 years.

Originally posted by Pat Kelley:
The end play was about .060", which isn't really a problem. When it was re-curved we fixed that at the time. I don't recall what the original curve was but it was changed to 20º mechanical all in around 3000 rpm. This was so I could run more initial. I run 16º plus 10º vacuum at idle.

I saw that Mallory unit. I have no idea how good it is. Mallory doesn't have a very good reputation, however I have a Mallory Comp 9000 and Hyfire IV box in my bracket car and it has performed flawlessly for over 4-1/2 years. How do I go about checking the distributor end play pat? I may roll the dice on the Mallory, I dunno yet, a few people said they have run them without a problem....I was also looking at the HyFire VI box with rev control(only 170)..I remmeber reading one guy on here that was fed up with Mallroy's stuff but hte majority things I have heard are positive..I could convince try to convince the girlfriend to buy me a full pro billet MSD distributor with digital 7 for christmas but I doubt that will go over very well!

You take the gear end of the distributor shaft and push it all the way in. Set a dial indicator up there at zero and pull on it. Measure. I had BAD spark scatter when it was too loose, and so we tightend it up to about, oh, under 30 thou if memory serves me correct. I think I'm at 15, which might be a little too tight. If I remembe correctly, you push out the roll pin, drop the gear, and add shims to taste.

My Proform distributor is now in a box, in the shed. I fought with trying to recurve it etc. for almost 5-years. I then bought a DUI from performance distributers that I love. They set the curve for me and it works great. I was amazed at how sloppy everthing was on the Proform. Whoever builds the DUI's use much tighter tolerances etc. My vote is for a DUI, twice the money, but worth it.