New distributor options?

[Mastiff]

My truck has been taking longer to start recently, so I was contemplating just throwing a new distributor at it. This is for my '83, converted to TBI (fully computer controlled). I was looking at DUI since my current setup is coil in cap and in theory I could just drop theirs in, made in America and all that. Some old reviews online are not great for them though. Any opinions, or other non-Chinese low budget options to consider?

 

[Bent77]

What kind of wiring or connections does this use, or does it matter?

 

[Mastiff]

What kind of wiring or connections does this use, or does it matter?

I think it amounts to a 4-pin connector from the harness, plus connections up to the cap for tach and +12. There are wires from the distributor base to the cap, but it basically comes with those already wired up.

 

[Blue85]

Have you done a good physical inspection of all the ignition parts? I hate to throw parts without having a real culprit. How do you know the hard starts aren't fuel related (like priming of the pump when the key turns on) or poor cranking? Sometimes "replacing everything" sounds easier than troubleshooting, but often new parts bring new issues.

 

[Mastiff]

I hear you for sure. Part of it is just for fun to throw a (theoretically) top notch aftermarket thing in there in place of a 25 year old part.

For a while it wouldn't start at all and it turned out to be a cracked vacuum cap on the throttle body. Still taking longer than it used to though. I have very few miles on it compared to how old it is from sitting.

I hear the pump do its thing when I turn the key part way, so it's probably okay, but of course just hearing it is no guarantee.

 

[Bent77]

I hear you for sure. Part of it is just for fun to throw a (theoretically) top notch aftermarket thing in there in place of a 25 year old part.

For a while it wouldn't start at all and it turned out to be a cracked vacuum cap on the throttle body. Still taking longer than it used to though. I have very few miles on it compared to how old it is from sitting.

I hear the pump do its thing when I turn the key part way, so it's probably okay, but of course just hearing it is no guarantee.

Yeah, the pump could be cycling but not generating full pressure. I do agree with @Blue85 that finding the exact bugaboo is better

 

[Mastiff]

Yeah, the pump could be cycling but not generating full pressure. I do agree with @Blue85 that finding the exact bugaboo is better

Fair enough. Breaking into the fuel line to measure pressure is a stinky PITA job though... And if I have to drop the tank to get at that pump, maybe I'd just rather not know.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm just out of calibration after driving modern cars for so long, that fire off within half a second of touching the key.

 

[Bent77]

There’s no reason this system won’t do that if it has before. All of my factory TBI conversations fired quickly if you let the fuel pump cycle

 

[Mastiff]

There’s no reason this system won’t do that if it has before. All of my factory TBI conversations fired quickly if you let the fuel pump cycle

I don't think it ever popped off like my newer Tacoma. It takes direct injection to make that happen I think. But I can't really remember how fast my TBI went at its best.

 

[Blue85]

I'd be interested to learn of any real data that DI starts faster. I haven't noticed any difference, but it's been a long time since I had a distributor or anything throttle body. I'm sure an absolute crank position sensor will help, vs a missing tooth wheel or something that takes up to a whole revolution. When I got rid of the HEI for EDIS, I added a crank position sensor, but I can't remember if quicker starts were a bonus. Is your Tacoma start/stop? That's going to have absolute crank position, DI and other tricks available that practically fire immediately.

 

[dyeager535]

At one point I was able to get my TPI setup to fire unbelievably fast, but screwed up that tune and haven't been able to make that happen again. Can't find reference to it now, but pretty sure from the factory GM had these setups inject zero fuel until there had been 8 distributor reference pulses. So there was a definite lag "built in". Maybe that just ensured you couldn't crank the engine before some of the self tests and things like the IAC were in position?

With TBI I would expect you are going to get lag simply because youve got a longer distance for fuel to travel, and it's probably to some degree harder to ignite as fuel starts to condense due to the slow air speed in the intake.

 

[Mastiff]

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. The spark and timing should be fine as long as stuff is in good condition, but the fuel needs to be drawn in with vacuum and not condense on the intake, etc. The DI can put that high pressure fuel spray right there on the first fire of the first crank. My Tacoma has coil packs on each cylinder too, which can't hurt.

 

[6872xtc]

Just my experience, I bought a Spectra premium distributor for a TBI truck and the module started to act up in about 5 miles. Swapped the old Delco one into the new dizzy and all was good.
The bushings in the original distributor were done, but the module was fine apparently.

 

[Mastiff]

It seems like every aftermarket distrib I've looked at has numerous complaints about failing modules. Maybe there is only one Chinese source for these at this point.

 

[6872xtc]

Good chance of that. I had an MSD unit at one time, no idea if it would have been more reliable, I never used it for very long before it went down the road. Not sure how expensive they are.

 

[Bohemian]

My truck has been taking longer to start recently, so I was contemplating just throwing a new distributor at it. This is for my '83, converted to TBI (fully computer controlled). I was looking at DUI since my current setup is coil in cap and in theory I could just drop theirs in, made in America and all that. Some old reviews online are not great for them though. Any opinions, or other non-Chinese low budget options to consider?

Performance Distributors are Made In USA and I asked them before I bought.

This is what I'm running in a simular setup as you but in a tbi 89 3rd gen camaro...

Works great, no problems 3 years plus, everything was plug and play, easy starts no matter how long it's been sitting, no lags. Nothing has failed yet. I had problems with the og gm hei module going out like once a year before, not since the upgrade.

Item Number: 12620BK

GM EFI DUI Distributors – Performance Distributors

performancedistributors.com

Item Number: 31723

Chevrolet Screamin’ Demon Coils – Performance Distributors

performancedistributors.com

 

[Mastiff]

Performance Distributors are Made In USA and I asked them before I bought.

This is what I'm running in a simular setup as you but in a tbi 89 3rd gen camaro...

Works great, no problems 3 years plus, everything was plug and play, easy starts no matter how long it's been sitting, no lags. Nothing has failed yet. I had problems with the og gm hei module going out like once a year before, not since the upgrade.

Item Number: 12620BK

GM EFI DUI Distributors – Performance Distributors

performancedistributors.com

Item Number: 31723

Chevrolet Screamin’ Demon Coils – Performance Distributors

performancedistributors.com

Yeah, that's what I was looking at, except coil in cap. How does that coil mount?

 

[Bohemian]

Yeah, that's what I was looking at, except coil in cap. How does that coil mount?

factory coil mount on the intake manifold.

 

[Mastiff]

Well, sometimes I send vendors a simple question to see if they will bother to respond. My message to DUI is unanswered since Saturday. I'll probably not mess with them until I'm sure I need something, and maybe no then either.

 

[Bohemian]

Well, sometimes I send vendors a simple question to see if they will bother to respond. My message to DUI is unanswered since Saturday. I'll probably not mess with them until I'm sure I need something, and maybe no then either.

i've had a good experience with them so far, i asked a couple questions before i bought and they answered them both pretty quick, that was before covid and they are a small business maybe they're just backed up on customer support right now that seems to be pretty common right now even with bigger companies like comp cams, edelbrock (two other great american made product companies) i ended up waiting on terminal hold for 4 hours about a month ago because i could never get a call or email back. I had to wait cause i bought a cam, lifters, pushrods and the lifters did not make it into the box that fedex pitched at my front door.

anyway back to performance distributors, i've bought two sbc distributors from them, one that i mentioned before that required their externally mounted demon coil for my sbc tbi and one for my carbed sbc which has their coil in cap option.
This is the one I bought for the carbed sbc: CF12720 DUI With Cross Fire Cap & the CF-C9053BK Wires black.

Deluxe Chevrolet Street/Strip DUI – Performance Distributors

performancedistributors.com