Dumb question but I'm curious

Fishfan

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What's the disc thing on top of this distributor for. I assume it's for certain applications but what are they?

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HEI style cap terminals push into the holes and stay. Looks like it's held down by two screws.
 
Yes. It's not necessary though.

Makes troubleshooting by pulling plug wires off the cap impossible, a big Chevy improvement.

In the trade back then, they warned technicians via pamphlets that HEI was killing several technicians a year.

Don't get zapped by high powered ignitions, they can stop your heart.

Keep one hand in your pocket while fiddling about with ignition wires with engine running, not on the fender.
 
If you're currently shopping for ignition stuff, I'd recommend staying away from MSD. I'm currently fighting with an MSD system on a customer's car that was installed by his brother, and it's had multiple part failures in less than a few hundred miles. Much of what they sell is made in China, and it just doesn't seem to hold up very well.

Jeff
 
If you're currently shopping for ignition stuff, I'd recommend staying away from MSD. I'm currently fighting with an MSD system on a customer's car that was installed by his brother, and it's had multiple part failures in less than a few hundred miles. Much of what they sell is made in China, and it just doesn't seem to hold up very well.

Jeff

Mechanic at the shop installed one of these MSD E-curve distributors for me about 5 years ago. It failed within a couple of months but was under warranty so they replaced it. Recently I had the engine apart (doing a lot more of the work myself these days) and when I reassembled everything, car wouldn't start. By process of elimination I determined the distributor was fried. I shipped it to MSD and they repaired it for $140 (new unit is $611). When they sent it back, they sent one of these hold-downs with it. Thus my question. My mechanic never installed it. My ACCEL spark plug wires have big boots on them that would make that thing pop up too much. Gonna leave it off.
 
The original GM wires, and it looks like the MSD wires, have a tab, if you will, on the boot that pops into those holes in the cover to lock the wires into position.
Google MSD plug wires, you'll see what I mean.
 
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