Replacement HEI Cap & Coil....what???

flink69SS · Sep 12, 2007

If it ain't broke....don't fix it...:noway:
But isn't there a better one that will make my car go faster???
I have a good old fashion GM replacement tan cap/ coil in my Chevelle right now. Before you tell me to read the posts, I just went through 12 pages and am more undecided then ever. There seems to be 3 groups of you out there.

1) Nothing beats a good old American made stock replacement
2) After market or nothing..."your losing voltage after 4,000 rpm's"
3) Half the after market stuff sucks and that's all I have to say...

I currently have no problem getting to 6,000 rpm's at the track but.....could it be better...

What to do...What to do???

kirkwoodken · Sep 12, 2007

You should follow your own advice. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Does it miss? Does your cam duration require more than 6000RPM? You should get replacement cap with copper contacts. Even when copper oxidizes from the sparks hitting it, it still conducts electric. When aluminum contacts oxidize, aluminum oxide is the result, which is what spark plug insulators are made of.

I prefer the HEI over a CD ignition IF it will do the job. It has a much longer spark duration than a CD box, so it doesn't need all the fancy electronics to make multiple sparks. I think GM designed a pretty good system. If you are going to turn 9g's, that another story. Follow the directions with the dielectric grease, and try to keep everything clean. The MSD module is supposed to be better than stock, but I've never used one.

Camaro_fever68 · Sep 12, 2007

If your's ain't broke, then I agree, don't fix it. Mine didn't work with the stock GM module. It was broke so I fixed it with the MSD replacement module and in cap coil. Cleaned up my top end sputter.

Schurkey · Sep 12, 2007

flink69SS said:
isn't there a better one that will make my car go faster???

NO, not if your current system isn't misfiring.
YES, if your current system can't light the mixture--and it's the coil or cap that's the problem.

As far as caps go, there isn't that much that can be screwed up with one (by design.) Sure, they can carbon track, and certainly the conductors that the rotor passes the spark to can corrode. But new-out-of-the-box, there isn't a whole lot of difference.

Some folks will spend extra to get brass conductors in the cap instead of aluminum. I think this is more of a long-term durability thing than a horsepower thing.

Coils are another story. If you're using an in-cap coil, it ought to have red and yellow wires on it. It probably also will have a black wire, but early HEI coils did without the black one. For coils in general, there can be differences in the turns ratio, the primary resistance, etc. My opinion is that a stock coil is just fine, but you should have a low-resistance carbon button under it so you don't melt the cap.

novaderrik · Sep 12, 2007

Wells makes a good replacement cap and rotor setup that is red in color (so everyone will think you have an MSD cap, and thus a good cap) and has copper contacts.
it is right around $17 at an awesome chain of stores around MN called "Mills Fleet Farm"- also known as "the Man's Mall"- but should be available anywhere that sells Wells parts.

Replacement HEI Cap & Coil....what???

flink69SS

kirkwoodken

Camaro_fever68

Schurkey

novaderrik

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