[Prowbar]

A couple of things got finished today. First of all, I bought a Buick V6 HEI to use. I used the 478 distributor for the gear, and installed this on the HEI. The 478 distributor is pretty outdated because is has no vacuum advance. But it does have the uniset points, which is a neat system.

I followed Peter Chronis' method by welding up the shaft and turning it, then drilling a new hole. Akin to the original I re-riveted the gear on the shaft.

From a piece of aluminum I made the bushing myself. I made new plug wires from a generic V8 set. I set plug gaps to .045" to start.

I had already reserved a 12 volt wire from the ignition to use for the HEI. The ignition pulse for the propane is retrieved from the tachometer port on the HEI.

Installation is pretty tight but once it is in, it is fine. The first startup it idled immediately, which is awesome. I set initial timing to 12 degrees. My engine seems to like more initial to idle properly. I have ported vacuum advance, maybe that is why.

The second modification is my conversion of the stock PCV system. I don't like tapping into 4 of the 6 ports, so I removed the valves and capped them off with 1/4" NPT plugs. I then converted a push in valve cover breather to use a oil filler cap connection. A random Gates PCV hose I found online fits perfectly and redirects the blowby gases to the IMPCO mixer PCV port.

HEI, propane and the PCV conversion should clean up emissions significantly. Tomorrow I'll have it hooked up the exhaust gas tester and I'll see if I can share the final results.