best ignition upgrade for a 258

[AMC258]

Ive been reading up on HEI and TFI upgrades for the 258, there's people who swear by both, both look simple enough, which is really best?

Thanks

[Cecil14]

Which do you like better? ;) That's pretty much what it comes down to. Both have some advantages. HEI is a bit cleaner with only one wire. TFI is probably a bit easier as you can use the stock dizzy.

Anthony

[AMC258]

That's kind of what I figured, think I'll go with HEI, as I like the one wire deal, and an integrated coil.

Thanks again

[Cecil14]

That's the one I've used and I'm pretty happy with it. My dad went TFI and seems to have about the same results. Both motors run. smile.gif

Anthony

[osceola]

both make spark .although i have heard that stock tfi is slightly hotter. but cannot verify this.not being all that familiar with hei. however it is my impression that everything is inside the hei distributor. including the module. i am of the opinion that the heat and vibration in the distributor are not good for electronics. better to mount them separately in aplace they will stay cool.

[tgreese]

I have an HEI distributor from an '81 250ci C-10 sitting on my shelf, waiting to do the HEI upgrade.

If you already have the '78-90 Motorcraft distributor, my understanding is that the TFI is just an upgrade of the stock distributor. The HEI requires you to find an HEI distributor from a GM I6, plus to change the distributor gear to make the GM distributor compatible with the AMC distributor drive.

If your car is '78 and newer, I'd say the TFI is the way to go, since you will likely want new parts (at least cap and rotor) for an HEI distributor, and you'll need new wires for either. This will make the expense about the same for either. If you have the '75-77 Prestolite distributor then you'll have to go HEI or stock.

[ March 05, 2004, 08:44 AM: Message edited by: tgreese ]

[Lindel]

www.zmjeeps.com (http://www.zmjeeps.com) has HEI dizzys for AMC engines. I don't know the cost, but it's more expensive than the TFI upgrade.

[AMC258]

well, I just found out that my father in law has a few HEI dizzys that will work, and I can take my pich, so I guess that's the way I'm going

[Jim Nester]

I was involved in the HEI swap just 3 days ago, Just had to grind a little off of the old drve gear to make it fit on the GM shaft. Super easy works great.

[Cecil14]

What did you have to grind? I've never had to grind anything on the two I've done. Had to drill the hole a bit on the first one though because one wasn't centered quite perfect.

Anthony

[sloop]

I've done HEI and Duraspark with MSD coil. I prefer Duraspark/TFI just because you keep the dist base. I have read that the TFI coil is juicier than HEI, but they are both a lot better than stock. I like Duraspark better since the parts are cheaper and easier to uprade. And, to change the coil, you don't have to take the distributor top off.

[Zorm]

wow, did my HEI about 3 years ago, got a dist gear for a 360, turned it upside down and it has worked great ever since. I did have a tach connected to the little lead on the HEI but the tach is doa now, don't know what happened.
Now that I am running "MSD Heli-coil" wound plug wires, I like the HEI a bunch better, runs soooo smoth

[Amc71601]

I went with the HEI and I'm very happy with it only one wire you can definitly tell the differance from stock of course I had a points distributor before

[carrotman]

Don't know the exact years, but mid-70's Jeeps with the Prestolite ignition have to replace the whole ignition system. Can get an HEI or TFI. Around 1980 or later, Jeep used the Duraspark ignition which can be upgraded with TFI.

When I put an HEI on my 76, I found out that the old ignition was causing my problems with hard starting, vapor lock, and stalling. All the things I was blaming on my carb, fuel pump, fuel filter and gas tank.