a friends says he can get me a pertronix ignition system for less than i would pay anywhere else. He said to give him a list of what i needed. What should i run? I want an HEI but the carbs do not have vacuum ports. the compression is 14:1 and the engine will run up to 6500 rpms before i shift. Should i go with the HEI conversion or should i get a high energy coil and new distributor?

ok if no one wants to put an ignition together for me, maybe someone can explain how they work. Im totally lost on this part. Ignitions might as well as be japanese to me.

cmon, help me out. what i dont understand is if an hei ignition can run off of 5v how does the coil deliver 50000 volts to the spark plug?

Stock HEI units run off 12 volts DC and not 5 volts DC. The input DC voltage is chopped or pulsed by points or the pick-up coil in a HEI unit. The pulsed DC is now a form of alternating voltage (AC).
The large car coil is really mis-named. It is really a step-up transformer. The input (primary) of the transformer steps up the low pulsed AC voltage and puts out a higher voltage out of the transformer secondary. This high voltage is distributed to each plug wire by the rotor. Voltage runs down the spark plug wire and arcs or jumps to ground by the spark plug gap.

ive been reading a lot on the theory of ignitions for the past few days. It is one of the last systems i didnt really understand on a car as i have never had to really mess around with one.

one of my friends dad works at pertronix and he said to make him a list of the parts i wanted for my el camino. I dont have any vacuum ports on the intake/carb, so what distributor should i go with if im not going to use vacuum advance? What is the difference between the street/strip hei and the race hei? does the race one wear out faster and/or is not street friendly? what about running the no vacuum advance distributor with the extreme 60000 volt coil?

by the way, if anyone is thinking im just some dumb@$$, i have no problem admitting that. I just turned 18 and know i have a lot to learn about mechanics.

I believe the Pertronix units are intended to replace the points system while keeping the stock distributor. I'm not sure if they manufacture an HEI system. The early models had goofy rotating rings that you could never get adjusted properly. The later models operate off the lobe inside the distributor. I had an early model go bad and it caused all kinds of problems, i.e backfires. I've got a new model ready to install.

If you go that route, it's probably best to ask for the conversion kit for the distributor and the matching Pertronix coil.

I may be wrong, but I thought HEIs weren't for high-revving applications.

Well, I don't think your a dumb@$$. The only way you learn is to ask. I been messing with cars since I was in grade school, and I still ask questions. No one has all the answers.

Does the car have an automatic? Is it going to be driven on the street? If so, you should be running using the vacuum, unless it is a very radically built engine (big cams make low vacuum). Intake should have vacuums ports. Even if there is just one, it can be split. To much to go into here (like why you need vacuum for the auto-trans on the street, ect...). Someone should be able to look at it and at least get you going in the right direction.

Good luck!