Greetings every one I was not sure what thread to put this question under so very sorry if this is the wrong place. I wanting to do some mods to my 460 and i'm going with a manifold headers and I was wondering what are your thoughts on a HEI? I have a proform on my 302 and like it, would I seen any gains with a HEI on my 460? or would it be better to just go with the stock distributor?
Thanks =)

I am not sure about the HEI, but if it were me doing this I would use a set up consisting of the following:

Distributor: http://www.msdignition.com/dist_17.htm

Ignition controller: http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_8_6470.htm

RPM Limiter: http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_9_8769.htm

Advance/timing controller: http://www.msdignition.com/tc_3.htm

Coil: http://www.msdignition.com/coil_blaster_1_8200_8202_8223.htm

This is basically what I have on my Duster, and it works very well.

I have a proform HEI on my 393w. I love it. I'm not sure if it alone will give you any noticeable performance gains though.

eco said:

I am not sure about the HEI, but if it were me doing this I would use a set up consisting of the following:

Distributor: http://www.msdignition.com/dist_17.htm

Ignition controller: http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_8_6470.htm

RPM Limiter: http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_9_8769.htm

Advance/timing controller: http://www.msdignition.com/tc_3.htm

Coil: http://www.msdignition.com/coil_blaster_1_8200_8202_8223.htm

This is basically what I have on my Duster, and it works very well.

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Those are some really nice parts but I can't afford all those right now. But when I do my frame up restore on my truck I want to go ALL msd but for right now I need some thing that is cheap and plug and play. Thank you very much for the times Eco I'll keep them book marked for when I am ready to go all out of this truck

I have a HEI on my truck packing a 302. I was told that I could advance the timing to like 80 degrees and run a monster .54 55 gap in my plugs.. Is this true or was he blowing a large could of hooey up my tail pipe??

I wouldn't advance the timing that far. I'd try about 10 degrees and work from there. With my HEI, it does seem to like a .054 gap though.

Thanks Tony.
By the way your little piggy there is shaking like he got in to more then the farmers bottle of Thunderbird

I've always wondered... What are the benefits and drawbacks of gapping your plugs?

If there's no gap, the plug won't fire. Duh.

The spark needs to jump across the gap. In order to do so, the gap has to be the proper size for the power of the spark. Too little gap and you won't be taking full advantage. Too much gap, spark may not be able to jump it. Always gap your plugs when you install them.

Crap... I just left mine at the stock gap for the Motorcraft plugs-- .044

How much should I have gapped them? Is it really necessary?

If you put them at stock, you are fine. Just make sure you don't assume that they are correct out of the box.

TexasNomad said:

80 degrees and run a monster .54 55 gap in my plugs.. Is this true or was he blowing a large could of hooey up my tail pipe??

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80 degrees before top dead center? At what RPM?

At idle and at start up it needs to be ~15 degrees just to be able to start. From there the timing should climb proportionally to RPM untill ~35 degrees then retard by a few degrees as the RPM goes up aka high RPM retard. 80 degrees of advance wouldent even likely run.

surewhynot said:

If you put them at stock, you are fine. Just make sure you don't assume that they are correct out of the box.

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No I uhhh... Didn't do that..............

K fine! I changed my plugs and wires way back when I didn't know jack about working on trucks, and had no idea that the gap even matter. Perhaps I should pull them and check 'em. Man that ain't a fun job.

Obviously, they are close enough to work. I wouldn't bother until you change them again.

Skandocious said:

No I uhhh... Didn't do that..............

K fine! I changed my plugs and wires way back when I didn't know jack about working on trucks, and had no idea that the gap even matter. Perhaps I should pull them and check 'em. Man that ain't a fun job.

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I use to be like that still am a lot before I found forums I use to put break fluid in my power steering... But I don't do that kinda stuff any more...sorta

Skandocious said:

Perhaps I should pull them and check 'em. Man that ain't a fun job.

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Considering the cost of new plugs and the amount of work involved in changing them you might as well pull them and replace them and possibly a compression check at each cylinder just to see where it's at - thats easy to do once the plugs are out.