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Marinizing HEI

hystat

hystat

Outstanding Contributor
Anyone ever seen it done prope

Anyone ever seen it done properly/safely? No conversion available for my 3.8 229 V6 and I don't really want points....and I have a couple of brand new car HEI units for the 229....
I suppose I have about the only application where there is no Thunderbolt IV that could be used and no conversion kits either....
Pertronix will make me a custom kit for big $
 
What motor is this one Ford or

What motor is this one Ford or chevy or biuk?

I thought the v6 was a 4.3L ???
 
Chevy. 3.8L 229 CID. Mercruise

Chevy. 3.8L 229 CID. Mercruiser V6 for 1983 and 1984. The 4.3 didn't go into production until 1985
 
"you mean the Mercruiser origi

"you mean the Mercruiser original? It is a Prestolite IBM-7014A, same one Volvo Penta and OMC used on this motor. i.e. the only marine distributor for it

The HEI unit is GM factory unit for the 229 in a 1980-1984 Malibu/ElCo/Monte etc"
 
Troy's link bears out what

Troy's link bears out what most of us have said on this site about the use of non-marine rated electrical components.
If you don't want us to read about you and your passengers in the evening news; don't do it!

Another more subtle issue in my mind is that if an insurance company can find any reason at all to not honour a payout claim; they will walk away. And a non-marine electrical component would provide just such a loophole.

If you want HEI why not repower the boat with an up to date package that comes with all new electrical components?

Just my opinion.
Rod
 
">>why not repower the

">>why not repower the boat

I just did

I wanted a 3.8 4 BBL rather than a 4.3 2 BBL for a multitude of reasons, 1 being fuel economy, the other being that I had a brand new engine sitting here for free.
The distributor, and all other electrical on the engine is new. It just has points..

Now I'm wondering about commonality between car HEI and T-Bolt IV - all I'd really need to do is take a 4.3 marine distributor and make 3 of the cylinders fire 12 degrees early and 3 fire 12 degrees later as my engine is a semi-even with firing every 108,132 degrees instead of the 4.3's 120 even spacing. If the pickup wheel is all that is different and the one out of my 3.8 distributor is the same I don't see a safety issue.
I might see if I can grab a 4.3 TBIV dist off eBay and do some comparing.

EDIT- what I'm seeing on eBay is that the TBIV is quite physically different...but also it doesn't appear to be a marine distributor much either- they just run a vent hose off the cap....scary"
 
"Hy Stat:

The only marinizi

"Hy Stat:

The only marinizing that I can see on my 1987 4.3L TB I is a dist. cap base gasket and vent nipple. As I understand it the amplifier module sends a 12 VDC pulse to the coil when the optic pickup in the dist. sends it a trigger telling it to do it. It also supplies timing advance based upon the rate it receives triggers from the sensor.

Therefore, if you change the trigger device sitting over the top of the optic sensor, the amplifier should provide the correct coil pulse.

Just my thoughts."
 
"I actually have a Pertronix 1

"I actually have a Pertronix 1563 ignitor in another 3.8, but it's not really right...they dont make the semi even fire. The 1563 is a 120 degree spacing (like the 4.3) so it fires 12 degrees early on 3 cylinders and 12 deg late on the other 3 but it actually runs pretty nice, as bizarre as that is, but they even discontinued that one. They will design me a new rotor but it's not cheap and I have to send them my distributor and then if it ever quits I'm on my own..no parts...but it's cool that they will make whatever you need."
 
"If I remember correctly,

T

"If I remember correctly,

The rotors and caps used are the same!

All you would need is a new base plate and the magnetic cam cover to properly fire the coil.

The mag sensor should be the same only difference would be the spacing between the sensor and the mag cam cover."
 
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