Hot Rod Forum banner

A hot tip for all the Ford guys

1K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  paulo 
#1 ·
IF you happen to come across a performance distributor for a Lima block, M block, or Cleveland and you are needing one for a 351 W, all that is needed is to contact the manufacturer of the distributor and order a 351 cam gear for that distributor. They are all the same except for the gear. That works the other way around as well. Sorry but the small block distributor has a smaller shaft and drives a smaller oil pump shaft so it wont work in the other engines.
 
#3 ·
distributor

The Cleveland (335 series engine), Lima (385 series) and the M block all use the same distributor. The only thing required to change it over to run in a 351 Winsor is to install the Winsor drive gear. You can use a Winsor distributor in those other engines by doing the same. Thats the only difference is the gear, between the Winsor and the other three.
 
#5 ·
Ford knowledge

If youre talking about using a stock ford electronic ignition system, its not worth the hassle to convert it over. If you want to go electronic, go with an aftermarket unit.
All things considered, I suppose a Duraspark I or II would be the easiest to put in, but Ive never messsed with doing that.
 
#7 ·
ignition

Upon reading your thread, I dont recall Ford making a Duraspark unit for the FE block. Since the FE wasnt used in anything but pickups after 70. My step dad had a 74 F-250 with a 360 in it and it was a conventional points ignition. You might also consider a Petronix conversion kit.
 
#8 ·
Ok Bambi but MSD is not the way to go this time.We need the original look.Now Max,from the fisical dimensions point of view,does the Cleveland Distributor fits the 390 block? I could then try to locate one post '74 Duraspark and still use the pre Duraspark cap to keep the look.In fact the very first electronic ignition in '74 was a Duraspark with the old smaller cap,right?
 
#9 ·
distributor

Being the 390 is an FE block and not of any of the families I mentioned in my origional thread, Im not sure any of those would work. The Petronix unit is a conversion kit that goes inside your existing distributor. The outsides would still look the same.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Originally posted by Max Keith
Upon reading your thread, I dont recall Ford making a Duraspark unit for the FE block. Since the FE wasnt used in anything but pickups after 70
The FE was used up until 1976 on the Ford truck line. I have the 390 in my truck and it has the factory duraspark in it.

Reply to paulo,

Just get a stock NOS duraspark distributor from Ebay and run it with the MSD 6A box. The FE distributor is NOT interchangable with any other Ford product besides the FE.

Works great!!!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top