Who makes builds the Most dependable/accurate distributor?

So I’ve kind of wondered who make a good distributor that will last season to season, pass after pass without needing a full tear down. Also wondering if those same distributors are accurate for racing or better off as street car dizzy. Whould like to hear what Mopar members have gone through with their big/small block distributors.

Crank trigger with a gutted lean burn distributor (no advance) to spin the rotor in the cap.

I've used more than one stock OEM magnetic pickup Mopar aluminum recurved (I shorten up the mechanical advance so it idles between 14 to 18 BTDC idling and has 34 to 36 degrees total advance: up:) in my race motors with good success using MSD 7 series race ECU with the proper coils

I've never had any issues w/ MSD pro billet distributors.

Any gutted cheap distributor with a crank trigger. Mine uses a 440 source. Going on 11 years 850+ passes. Never an issue. Cost wise isn't much different.
Doug

Doug...How do you ID the 440 source distributor? I have an aluminum one here but I can't find any markings on it. Sorry for the hi-jack!

I pull apart stock OEM distributors and thoroughly clean and lube the weight pivots and mechanism.

I put in Mr. Gasket #925B lightweight springs (mainly to aid in starting as full advance is all in at low rpm), set the reluctor wheel gap and put on a new Hillman nylon collar (available at Lowes). You can always lock out the mechanical advance mechanism if so desired.

We couple these with an MSD 6AL box and also add timing control (retard only).

This has been simple, super reliable and has given zero issues over the last 7 years with lots of street driving and dragstrip passes (read: abuse!).

I originally set this up with the thought process that if I did a drag and drive event I could easily get parts at any corner auto parts store. Unfortunately, it's getting harder and harder to get OEM electronic pickups, caps and rotors as time goes on. Best to have a stash of duplicates.

Same here. Stock mag pickup distributor, the Mr. Gasket spring kit, a 6AL and a 2 step retard box that activates for either start retard or when triggered by an external source. I use my NOS mini progressive to trigger the timing retard, and it pulls out 9* when the WOT switch activates. Unless the bushings or collar are worn, there isn't much to actually fail inside them.

Same here

Nor Me, other than the annoying ozone corrosion, I clear lacquered it last time and it's held up OK. I also use a crank trigger. I don't gut the dizzy. In the past I've had to revert to using the trigger in the dizzy when the crank sensor has failed, simply a case of swapping the lead

Which part number MSD BB Mopar distributors had the interior corrosion problems that MSD had to fix?

I use an MSD Pro Billet with the advance permanently locked out. Works fine - only downside is that it might rub your valve covers a little at that corner (440).

I too have a MSD Pro-billet and it's been great for about 23 years now

I have 2. MSD part # 8456. Red caps. Both had the same rust issue on the reluctor wheel and pickup, they still functioned OK. The newest one was bought in 2014, oldest in 2011. I now use the black caps on them, they use brass (or stainless) high tension posts instead of aluminium. HTH's

I had a MSD for a while, but they're big, annoyingly big, have to remove the cap to take the rocker covers off big. I recently bought a Summit pro billet distributor & its a good piece. Cap doesn't get in the way of the rocker covers & it uses the Chrysler style trigger. Comparing the prices of all the distributors on the market, I feel these are good value for money.

The Summit ProBillet is the same as the one that Fire Core used to sell - it will self destruct sooner or later! I have had three of them - all did the same thing - pure Junk

How do they self destruct? The Mechanix of it is the same as a std mopar unit & they last forever, im sure Noah had one on his Ark.

I have tried the MSD Billet distributor on two different occasions in my small blocks , both suffered from the corrosion issue . I went back to a stock type distributor and its been fine. I also use a MSD coil and 7AL2 both have had zero problems

I've been running MSD distributors for years with no issues.

If it was the reluctor this will fix it.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GA82Q...AXXTN&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Since I’m bad with my hands and rode the little yellow school bus til college, I won’t be working on a distributor myself.

There used to be about 1/2 dozen distributors used since the 1990’s, but looks like MSD is the more popular, dependable unit. It’s the big dollar, but worth it if it work as intended (or better). If the relict or seems to corroded a lot, are this in areas with lots of snow, rain and salt in the winter seasons?

It's the ozone produced by the hi voltage. When the spark jumps from the rotor to cap, ozone is produced, it's a corrosive gas and a product of the physics and chemistry going on in there.
Venting the cap better and checking phasing may help but I think the main issue was the coating, (if any), MSD applied to the iron parts in there. Seems it's less of an issue these days so perhaps processes may have changed.
It never caused any misfire or timing issues with my stuff, I just used to strip and clean them every season, a while ago I clear coated one of the dizzy's Fe parts (with a brush). Seems to have held up OK

My car almost never sees rain and never snow and the reluctor would rust, we do have lots of humidity in KY though. I never had any issues caused by the corroded reluctor, but I pulled and cleaned it once a year.

I think Tig well covered the reason for the corrosion.

Bilet polished aluminum. No markings. Uses plug style terminals. Mopar style cap retention. Cap and rotor terminals are brass. Sorry this is the best pic I have. I welded up the advance mecanisum. Also bought an extra cap and rotor in 2012 when it was purchased. Swapped in the new cap and rotor in 2018. The original was perfect. But figured I had a new one. Kept the old one for a spare. There has never been any corosion. Car has never misfired, ever.
Doug

Thanks Doug! That's what I have! Mine doesn't have any weights or guts in it so I think it was probably set up for a crank trigger....I only paid 10.00 for it a couple of years ago...

While they appear to look like the old Mallory produced Mopar distributer they are nothing more than a Chinese copy - the advance assembly will eventually break the plastic bushings and grind against the case - check the advance adjustment screws - if they start to come loose it will self destruct - supposedly they improved on it - but no way to tell which one you have - I will never trust one - for the price difference the MSD is the way to go!

I think first question should be what kind of box are you going to trigger with the distributor? And what type of signal is that box built to read? The MSD distributor is about as reliable as any I have used over the years. The MSD, stock mopar and majority of performance distributors use a magnetic pickup that generates a A/C voltage signal. That voltage increases as the RPM increases, the ignition box will trigger anytime it sees voltage over a certain threshold. Usually you will only have a problem if the pickup is generating a dirty signal, with stray voltage spikes. If you are using a distributor and ignition system on an aftermarket electronic injection system, best to ask the company what kind of signal the ECM likes, some are picky. I once used a Chinese MSD copy distributor, which actually made a higher voltage on the distributor machine than an MSD distributor, but the FiTech ECM did not like the excessive signal for example.

The other two types of sensors used by the OEM are Hall effect and optical sensors. Optical sensors are the most accurate but most expensive rpm signal you can get to my knowledge. Hall effect sensors generate a digital on off signal also very accurate.

any luck with a pertronix conversion ?
i have done two for my one buddy, one a small block, the other a big block.
they seem to be working good all these years later, but he just putts around. no performance/foot to the floor use.
i have no problem modifying a factory distributor, but i did fabricate a pair of pliers to remove that pesky clip below the rotor.