68electra Posted September 2, 2004 Share Posted September 2, 2004 I recenty bought a 68 Electra convertible. After taking it to a local mechanic he told me I have a fuel leak at the carborator and a gummed up distributor shaft. The carborator he thinks is no problem and can be fixed. He suggested replacing the distributor with an HEI but didn't know if it would work on this model. Can anyone help me out here?Are there any preformance upgrades I should concider? Thanks in advanceMike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Phillips Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 Why replace the distributor if all it needs is a good cleaning of the shaft. Try soaking it in lacquer thinner or B-12 Chemtool, and spray some Chemtool down the hole after you remove the distributor. If the rest of the car is original equipment, why mess it up with an incorrect distributor? I am exposing my bias, of course, and admit to being a purist for originality in old cars.Pete Phillips, BCA #7338 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFella Posted September 3, 2004 Share Posted September 3, 2004 It sounds like the mechanic may not know about points type distributors. If your just driving this to shows and as a weekend cruiser you should have no issues either way! I have a 1970 Electra and when the distributor imploded I bought a points type replacement distributor from a local auto parts store and it has run great for me for the past three years. I got the whole distributor for about 25 dollars which included the points and condenser! Just slid it in, set the timing and snugged it down. If I'm not mistaken the distributors between the 455 and 430 engines may be interchangable (I'm not totally sure on this). You'll want to pick up a shop and body manual for your year so you have all the specs and processes involved in keeping your new baby running. Even if someone else does the work on your car they are outstanding reference manuals and your mechanic surely would use them in situations just like this. You might be surprised how easy alot of it is once someone lays out the right way to do it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68electra Posted September 3, 2004 Author Share Posted September 3, 2004 Thanks Pete and John. So Pete, you'd be completely against my adding an Edelbrock carb and intake to the car It needs new seatbelts in the back. Is there a source for GM seatbelts on line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68electra Posted September 4, 2004 Author Share Posted September 4, 2004 John, do you know of a source for Manuals? I'm not having luck searching the web. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smartin Posted September 4, 2004 Share Posted September 4, 2004 You're going to want at least a 750cfm carb on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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