[ponyakr]

when i started racin the hei wasn't around yet--i think they became std equip in '75. but at the time they were much 2 expensive for me. we used nothing but the factory single point dist thru '79. used all accel points, cond, rotor, cap & wires. thru all those years i only got 1 bad set of points--they looked perfect, but would not fire. me & others examined them carefully & could find nothing wrong--they just wouldn't work. got another set off the shelf & they worked perfectly--can't explain it! used champion plugs for the 1st few years til 1 came apart in the staging lanes in a late round, possibly costing TJ the race. used nothing but accel after that--with no failures. also discovered another myth held sacred by many. back then most of the chevy guys ran dual point dist with the huge accel super coil. found out that big, heavy coil didn't help a thing. the small round coils put out plenty of fire for the single point dist. i should have figured that out sooner, since the stock set up on my goat had run so well for years. sometimes we'll follow what others say, even if it is contrary 2 what we know 2 be true. why is that?--just human nature i suppose. 1 more crazy thing i did--its proven that a motor will make more low end power if all the timing advance is in by around 3k rpm or so. many curve kits are avail to do this. but once we experienced all the traction problems with the 455--i left the advance stock 2 reduce low rpm power slightly. also tightened up the q-jet flap some--still left hard enuff 2 cut a good lite--but didn't try 2 blow the tires away every pass! ps: my recomend now would be a self-contained hei w/a good cap & rotor & a low resistance rotor button 2 prevent meltdown of cap & rotor. all the fancy msd boxes & such are overkill for street & mild bracket racing 2 well into the 11 second range. i do recommend a good rev limiter. again--if you've got the $--buy a billet dist & msd everything--why not!