Looking for info on putting a Chev HEI into a VW eng

[jinx2268]

It's been 15 years or so, but I remeber seeing an ad or article on how to convert a Chevy 8 cylinder HEI over to work in a VW 1600 eng. Like I said that was approximately 15 years ago. Does anyone have a distributor that has already been converted or know how to do it? I have a 1776 with a mag in it now, but to be honest the mag is a pain in the a**. I can't hook a tach up to it, it's to tall to run my Johnny's 4 play, it's plain out just a pain for my drag car. Any advice, help, knowledge, parts for sale would be greatly appreciated. I have the Johnny's 4 play listed for sale as I can't use it with the mag, however I still want to put the HEI in the motor as I'm more familiar (Chevy Guy by nature) with it, than I am the mag. Not sure how this form works, so I can also be reached by email at [email protected]. Thanks in advance for the help as I know someone out there will be able to. This is an awesome sight, wish it would have been around 15 years ago, I might not have gotten out of the VW race seen and be stubbling as I am now. Thanks again,
jinx2268

[myb356]

I remember that article: It was not a V8 distributor that they converted in that magazine article. It was a late 70's chevy vega 4 cylinder HEI disributor. Only difference is the V8 has 8 pickup points (4 need to be broken off) and the cap has 8 pins. I did the conversion once. I used the bottom 2" approx. (the part that slips into the case) from an old VW distributor mated to the Chevy housing.The chevy shaft slips right into the stock VW bushings and the VW drive piece will fit right on the Chevy shaft with the stock VW pin. You will need a lathe to accomplish the mating of the Chevy and VW housings. the rest is just cutting and drilling.

[Bugman Jeff]

There is a company that currently makes a drop in Chevy based HEI distributer. it's called the DUI, I think(really, I'm not making that up). I see their ad in Hot VW's.
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[Failer]

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[jinx2268]

Thanks for the replys I have received. One has even provided a link to purchase a new dist at the tune of $350.00. Still looking for the article I believe it was in Hot VW's magazine on how to convert one. Unfortunately I have no local distributor to stop in and pick up an issue or two of Hot VW magazine. Don't want a subscription, but a magazine or two from time to time would be nice. Thanks again for the replies and keep them coming.

[TimberwolfZ28]

I've been looking for a 4play intake but can't seem to find a decent retailer. How much you want for it Jinx?

[timmy74006]

[quote=" Still looking for the article I believe it was in Hot VW's magazine on how to convert one. Unfortunately I have no local distributor to stop in and pick up an issue or two of Hot VW magazine. Don't want a subscription, but a magazine or two from time to time would be nice. Thanks again for the replies and keep them coming. [/quote]

I get my issues of Hot VWs when I'm bored and want to look at what's new from the local Wal Mart.
Tim
71 Bus

[myolbug]

[TimberwolfZ28]

well, mine is a turbo application, with a homebrew EFI. it will not actually be moving ANY fuel, just air. It's just a convenient way for me to mount a throttle body. the injectors are direct port.

[myolbug]

[PHAT4]

[suicidedoordavid]

a new vw friend just mentioned this setup recently as he had a chevy distributor modified to fit in a vw. since this original thread is a few years old, anyone currently is running this type of distributor in their vw?

my friend does not have his currently installed in his daily driver, but said he will in the near future to give me an idea of what it looks like and how it performs.
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david duplessis

[jvulich]

I have 2 Chevy HEI distributors modified by the man who did the article way back when. He now goes under the business name Eyeball Engineering and makes a-arm front ends and torque bars, he no longer makes the distributors. He might still be selling the plans to modify the distributor.

[slalombuggy]

We use DUI distributors at work. Most go into old Fords. Great pieces of kit. The only problem with them on a VW is they are frickin huge. I'd rather put a Pertronix billet or Mallory in.

brad

[gprudenciop]

How about a chevy mallory comp 9000? Made by me ran perfect! And fully adjustable,only reason i changed was to go cop crank fire!

[mark tucker]

I havent seen the davis units in years,but look at what Im worken on these days,no wonder. I my self like the mopar electronics, you can make them multi spark just like the msd stuff.

[modok]

I may be wrong, but I though the original CB magnaspark used a GM module.

[DJSandberg]

I've been doing some research on this because I'm going to put a 4 cylinder GM HEI distributor in my dune buggy, so I figured I would post what I've found so far.

There was a two page article in the December 1989 "Hot VWs" about using a GM 8 cylinder HEI distributor in a VW engine. The article was about Bruce Bewarder's process that he used at Precision Automotive to do the conversion.

There wasn't much hard core information about the conversion in the article because at the time, Bruce was selling the blueprints for $5.

I contacted Bruce and he has granted me permission to post the original blueprints. I will post them and photos of the article as soon as I figure out how. He is no longer in the business of doing conversions or selling blueprints. But he still has the jigs and tools that he used and some converted distributors, so if you are interested in buying the entire lot, let me know an I'll put you in touch with Bruce.

There are two different distributors that can be used for this conversion.

The 8 cylinder HEI distributor is the cheapests to acquire, you can get them for about $40 on up. It takes the most machining to make it work, but you can keep the mechanical fuel pump in place because the distributor sits higher on the engine.

The 4 cylinder is harder to find. I bought a Cardone 30-1495 distributor on Ebay for $70 but most of them go for $100-$130. It comes without a rotor, coil or coil cover.

I haven't done the conversion yet, but it looks like I can just machine down the body of the distributor, cut a slot for an o-ring, drill out the old VW drive and attach it to the GM distributor shaft.

It sits lower (about the same height as the original) so you'll have to remove the fuel pump and replace it with an electric unit.

The main reason I'm doing the conversion is because the GM HEI distributor can create and manage over 65,000 volts. If you run that much voltage through a stock VW distributor, I expect that you will see a lot of crossfire.

The other reason is reliability. I've worked in the auto repair business for 40 years and I've only seen one failure of an HEI distributor. They are simply the most reliable distributors in the business.

I've got a lot of work to do on my dune buggy before I can get to the distributor. But when I get there, I'll post pictures and all the dimensions.

[ps2375]

You mean like this?

My father did it 20+yrs ago. the mods made to the cap are he pulled 4 of the terminals and sealed the holes with silicon and the trigger wheel on the inside has 4 of the trigger "nubs" removed. This dist will be going back into the motor when I put it back together.

[Glenn]

Why make you when you can buy one already done.

Not very popular after being around for 20 years.
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