[HWYSTR455]

I seriously doubt the shaft size is .467, that's a ford size. If that's listed somewhere it's got to be a mistake. Just makes no sense.

It does have a rev limiter though.

Summit has a melonized gear for $33.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...5/make/pontiac

I run rollers, and would prob run the MSD gear anyway. Many run the BOP gear. But fact remains, true it doesn't come with a melonized gear.

I suspect since it most likely is an MSD body, and shaft, it has the same bearings as the MSD unit does, but one would have to check.

If you don't need it to be programmable, then the Pi or MSD box would not be needed which is an extra cost for both.


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[grivera]

Originally Posted by P@blo

The summit RTR has a 0.467" shaft diameter, and the MSD is 0.50", so they are not rolling off the same assembly line. MSD gear is melonized too the Summit is not.

I just remembered I also have an MSD RTR on the shelf as well! When I get time, I will take measurements of it compared to my Summit RTR.

[HWYSTR455]

Fairly certain the MSD one will be .500, but am curious to see what the summit one is.

If it truly has a .467 shaft, they would have had a gear specially made for a Pontiac. No aftermarket Pontiac gear would fit.



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[JLMounce]

P@blo may have just made a typo. It should be a .497 gear for the RTR summit version. The Pro Billet version is a .500 gear.

Because I run roller cams, I don't mess around even with the melonized stuff. I have a .497 and a .500 composite gear on hand depending on what I need. I've had good luck with those pieces on several different distributors, including a Ebay HEI that worked surprisingly well in the car.

But what is being discussed is also how the Summit branded part is cheaper. You get down some down market items where it may or may not really matter, but it's the same part, made by the same core manufacturer. If you're going to be replacing the gear on either part, then taking advantage of the savings if you don't need the brand name makes sense.

EDIT: I had to go verify and actually Summit does state it's a .467 gear. That's incredibly odd as it's not a standard size for Pontiac and I don't know if there are readily available melonized, brass or composite gears for that size.

[64speed]

I have the Summit distributor. It’s .500

[nUcLeArEnVoY]

I got an Autoline Reman off RockAuto and it's pretty decent quality. They're based out of Canada, use only original housings, original weights/center cam, and replace the mechanical parts (shaft, bushings, plates, etc) with pretty good stuff. Also, as luck would have it, the housing I got is a 1103315 unit which would be correct for my car ('79 400) - it even has the correct weights and center cam in it.

However, like with most new stock-style HEI's or remans, you'll have some "homework" to do with the electronics for best results. The module in it was a crappy Regitar unit that I swapped with a NOS white-dot 990, the pickup coil was wrong polarity for Pontiac engines so I had to swap that out, and finally I put in a higher quality repro terminal block harness I got off Lectric Limited specifically for Pontiac 400's. I essentially ended up with, in the end, a rebuilt like-new W72 400 distributor.

Hasn't missed a beat and the distributor has been great since.

[Formulajones]

Some of you guys have a big misconception of how you think things should be or how things are.

Just because it's old tech doesn't mean in the slightest it's unreliable. That's young mentality thinking from people that didn't live it or don't have a real understanding of how to fix and tune the old stuff and would rather modernize it

The 2 cars we drive the most to the tune of over 100,000 miles combined in the last few years both have their original points ignition systems and they are rock solid reliable. A power tour is chump change compared to the amount we drive these cars

Honestly I would be more concerned with a car running electronic ignition, especially the new PI stuff or what ever it's called.

This dinosaur mentality all over the Internet with modern swaps that are pushed way too often has really ruined a large part of the hobby as a whole. It' unfortunately appears to be changing the mindset of the up and coming car enthusiasts. I don't need a modern efi motor to traverse my daily life activities.

Carry on.

[grivera]

Originally Posted by JLMounce

Because I run roller cams, I don't mess around even with the melonized stuff. I have a .497 and a .500 composite gear on hand depending on what I need. .

Do you mean a .491 and a .500?

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

The 2 cars we drive the most to the tune of over 100,000 miles combined in the last few years both have their original points ignition systems and they are rock solid reliable. A power tour is chump change compared to the amount we drive these cars

My comment was regarding electronic boxes, not points. I also commented that my fallback was always points. I too have 100K+ miles on points.

I did have to swap out bodies & shafts because of wear though. The worn ones would eat points and not have stable timing.

Swapping shafts was a little bit of a challenge because of differences of top plates. I couldn't always use the same weights. But I was savvy enough to know that and correct it.


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[Formulajones]

I know what you were speaking too, my comments were more in general, not to anyone in particular. I agree electronic gadgets can and do fail, it's just a matter of when.
For those that just have weekend toys, especially seasonal that don't even see 1000 miles a year, I don't think it's worth being concerned about.

I have full electronic ignitions on some cars here with boxes as well. Generally speaking they are solid and reliable units but Im sure they will fail at some point. I don't care, I'll replace the part and move on.

[65 Lamnas]

I have a PI distributor in my 462. I don’t care if it’s “expensive” The distributor and customer support are awesome. You pick up the phone and talk to a PERSON, who happens to be the owner. No “push 1 for English.”

They’ve been around for 7 years, and the distributor is loaded with the finest quality parts available. They’re assembled in the USA, and the father/son team are located in FL. They started the company in 2015 or so, and hung out their shingle in 2019.

When you get decent customer service these days it’s damn near shocking. I’ve had 2 minor issues with my distributor that were taken care of.

I’ll buy one again, and recommend them to anyone that asks. I’d actually pay more than they get for their products now that I know more about their company….and there’s a reason they’re only available direct.

I’d probably begrudgingly be running a points distributor if I hadn’t heard of these guys at Progression. I don’t have a distributor machine and aftermarket parts support for points ignitions is sh*t.

[P@blo]

The cast iron points distributor is a solid option for sure and checks a bunch of boxes. Just not enough for me to go that route and since points did not come original on my cars, that option is even less likely. Also, my HEI distributors have never left me on the side of the road. Many ways to skin a cat if you ask me.

No typo on the Summit RTR 0.467" shaft and was confirmed by Summit. 64, is your diatributor on your car or onnthe shelf that you can easily measure?

The Summit distributor that needs the ignition box, $190 special, has a 0.50" shaft that necks down to the stock 0.491" diameter at the gear so the RTR might do something similar. Down to the MSD and PI here and 65 Lamnas reporting has me leaning to the PI

Autoline is in the town I live in and have a couple of their units in service. Great place for new shafts, bushings, and advance pins for $160. I go through them after like NuclearEnvoy does and can confirm they use good hard parts.

[Sun Tuned]

Theres lots of neat new stuff out there these days.

Can’t bag on the ease and adjustability of some of the higher end new stuff, hell, you don’t even get dirty changing it.whats not to like about that?


For my own use here though, I’ll stick with variations of the stock stuff.
1.iron points distributor
2. Iron HEI conversion if small housing needed.
Mine. The one I build with large HEI guts inside the small iron case.
3. Regular old GM HEI
4.the old style PRO billet MSD ‘s were always nice, yet they
never did offer one with vac adv….big mistake I think.


Still once you get one of whatever curved properly, you just won’t be messing with it much anyhow.you just won’t think about it. No real need to .

[Formulajones]

You can adapt the vacuum advance to the old pro billet. I run that one in Dad's GTO and i added the vacuum advance to it 25 years ago. It has the provisions for it and since I like to source my own vacuum cans and modify them accordingly iit was a non issue. Of course now msd sells them with vacuum cans, go figure, lol

[Formulajones]

I just recently finished a 383 for my G-body and since it was an hei originally I bought a new msd ready to run billet distributor and matching coil .500 shaft, I swapped on a melonized gear for the steel roller cam, set up the curve I wanted and dropped it in. Almost 4000 miles on the setup so far and it's fine.

[64speed]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

You can adapt the vacuum advance to the old pro billet. I run that one in Dad's GTO and i added the vacuum advance to it 25 years ago. It has the provisions for it and since I like to source my own vacuum cans and modify them accordingly iit was a non issue. Of course now msd sells them with vacuum cans, go figure, lol

What vacuum can do you adapt to the Pro Billet

[Formulajones]

It takes any points style vacuum advance

[grivera]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

Of course now msd sells them with vacuum cans, go figure, lol

You mean the RTR with vacuum can?

[grivera]

Originally Posted by P@blo

No typo on the Summit RTR 0.467" shaft and was confirmed by Summit. 64, is your diatributor on your car or onnthe shelf that you can easily measure?

I measured the shaft on the Summit RTR and it’s .500