I began the conversion to electronic ignition on my 70 lesabre. 350, currently running points distributor. hopped on rock auto, ordered a distributor from a 78 lesabre 350. figured everything would be good just drop her in there and go. Not so lucky. the oil pump intermediate shaft in my pump is a slotted drive type. The new distributor wants a hex drive. Is there any reason i cant just weld a hex end on a slotted type shaft? Any suggestions?
You got the wrong Distributor. But no you can't weld anything on the shaft because. I'm not familiar with Oldsmobile but maybe that's what you got they used Oldsmobile engines in 78 if I'm not mistaken. I know Ford engines take a hex drive and they are similar in dimension to a Buick Distributor, post a pic of it
does anyone have any pointers in the right direction on how to switch this 1970 motor over to an electronic igniton?
Sure buy a used HEI distributor or used a crane or petronix points eliminator kit... Bought a 75 Buick 350 with factory HEI yesterday for $90 They work great I have an HEI on my turbo car and my 75 regal came with HEI.
tried to return the distributor, company wont take it back. nice paperweight i guess. thanks for the info sean
Sell it to an Oldsmobile guy. Then do some research on this site. Run with points until you figure out what you want to do. Do you realize that you can run an MSD box and trigger it with the points? The nice thing about this is the points no longer wear because they aren't carrying any appreciable current. You can also have your points distributor fitted with a magnetic pick up to trigger the MSD box down the road. Or you can use one of the points conversion kits on the market. My point is you have lots of options. Lots of guys go with the GM HEI, but in my opinion, there are better options out there. That big cap can have clearance issues with the upper radiator hose, intake manifold, and the GS ram air air cleaner.
