Electronic ignition... worth it?

[TonyM]

Hey, I'm new to the board so bear with me. My experience has been with older chev trucks, and I know virtually nothing about these. I bought an 81 Wag, with a 258, and I am thinking about changing to an electronic ignition. I know that when I made the change on my old truck, it made a world of difference. Will this change affect my gas mileage. THanks in advance from MExico.

[Baldy]

It made a big difference for the 1975 360 I'm running in my waggy right now. Of course I also did the TFI upgrade while I was at it, which imho is definately worth the time/money.

[Cliff]

Tony, the TFI upgrade mentioned by Baldy is a V-8 system. The 258 used the HEI. It's worth the effort. If you search the archives on this site, you may find more info plus installation help.

[TonyM]

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering about following this procedure mentioned on the jeepz.com site. Has anyone tried this? Here's the link if you want to check it out. It sounds interesting.

http://www.jeepz.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Howto&file=engine_tfi

[Al Johnson]

Yes, this is the same as the TFI for the V8s, but using the parts for a six. Many folks on this board have done the TGI upgrade, and they all seem to love it. It's certainly one of the least expensive upgrades to the ignition.

HTH
Al

[Stuka]

are you saying that your 1981 wag came with a POINTS distributer?!

I thought the last year for points was 74...

in which case i switched from electronic to points because of reliabulity on the trail.

[TonyM]

Thanks again for the input. YES, my 81 came from the factory... in MEXICO smile.gif with a points distributor. I think that I will probably go with this upgrade, just because I don't have much money to spend. I wonder how this upgrade compares to an HEI.

Now, I am totally confused...I thought that HEI was an electronic ignition system... without the rotor and stuff. HELP!

[ January 04, 2003, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: TonyM ]

[Crazy_Jeepman]

I think it would be cheaper and easier to do the HEI conversion in your case

[Bob Barry]

Yes, an HEI and a Duraspark (what a TFI would also include) are both electronic ignitions. Both use a rotor, but the main difference is that the coil and module are inside the distributor on the HEI, while they are external on the Duraspark.

I would second the recommendation of using a Chevy 6-cyl HEI distributor with the AMC gear.